Hearty Minestrone

Hearty Minestrone
makes 8 generous servings
1 can chick peas drained and rinsed
1 can red beans drained and rinsed
1 can italian style stewed tomatoes
3 carrots diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 small onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 zucchini diced
about 1 c cherry tomatoes
1/2 green pepper diced
1 t dried oregano
1 T kosher salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
8 c water OR chicken stock OR equivalent (aka Better than Bullion)
1 c V8 vegetable juice
2 T olive oil
4 oz cooked ditalini pasta

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium high heat.  Once hot add the onions, carrots & celery.  Sautee vegetables for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic, stir well and sautee 1-2 minutes longer.  Once garlic is very fragrant  just before it starts to brown, add the tomatoes, juice & all.  Stir well to get the garlic up off the bottom of the pan.  Add everything else and bring up to a boil.  Once it boils reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 1 hour.  Taste for season before serving, adjust salt & pepper if needed.  When ready to serve place a small portion of cooked ditalini or other small shape pasta in the bowl and ladle the soup over top.  Garnish with grated parmesean cheese if desired.



Nutrition Facts calculated at Spark People recipe calculator 8 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 188.3 Total Fat 4.5 g Saturated Fat 0.5 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 1,029.1 mg Potassium 491.5 mg Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g Dietary Fiber 5.8 g Sugars 4.3 g Protein 6.8 g

Chili style stuffed bell peppers

Growing up the Kitchen Witch was NOT a pepper fan. From bells to spicy jalapenos, she hated them all. Green bell peppers might not have been spicy but they sure were bitter. And bitter is a flavor that I struggle with to this day. As the years have progressed the Witch has learned to embrace the bell pepper as an ingredient, its bitter green flavor is awesome in so many places - I can't imagine a fajita with out one! But to eat the whole bell pepper is still a bit outside of my comfort zone. Now the Witchs' husband LOVES bitter. And he loves bell peppers. And he's been clamoring for stuffed bell peppers for a while now. So when green peppers went on sale for .50 each I planned my stuffed bell pepper attack. One that hopefully even the Witch would enjoy.

It was a gloomy rainy day the day these were made so a chili style filling seemed in order. The chili style filling also gave me the perfect opourunity to use my Black Canyon chili powder blend from Savory Spice. This stuff is amazing!!! Its a blend of chile peppers, cocoa powder, garlic, toasted onion, Saigon cinnamon and Mexican oregano. The cinnamon and cocoa powder sound strange I'm sure but really they're used often in Mexican cooking, Mole is loaded with cinnamon and cocoa and its delicious!! Don't worry, your chili won't taste like a dessert, rather, it has a spicy flavor that makes you wonder exactly WHAT that delicious component is. The rich flavors blended perfectly with the ground beef, spicy tomatoes, kidney beans and rice in the peppers.


And about those peppers. The Witch decided to blanch them first, to par cook the pepper in an attempt to cook some of the bitterness out of them. It worked pretty well, the peppers were tender yet not mushy, flavorful and not too bitter. The tops of the peppers are diced up and added to the chili mix. And simply because I had it and needed to use it up, I capped each bell pepper with a crown of shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese. All in all I have to say I enjoyed the chili filling a lot more than I enjoyed the entire stuffed pepper, but that's my own strange palette at work. The Witches' husband loved the peppers and really liked the chili style filling. If you're looking for a fun retro type dish with great flavors, give this one a try!

Chili Style Stuffed Bell Peppers
makes 4 servings
4 bell peppers
1/2 lb ground beef
1 can tomatoes with jalapenos
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 T black canyon chili powder blend
OR 2t chili powder, 1/4 t ground cinnamon, 1/2 t ground cumin 1/4 t cocoa powder
1/2 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 c cooked rice
1/2 c water
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t black pepper
4 oz shredded Monterey jack cheese or colby jack

Bring a large pot of water to boil for blanching the peppers
Preheat oven to 350F

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and pithy membranes. Chop up the tops for use in the stuffing. Dice the onions and mince the garlic.

Salt the water generously and blanch the bell peppers for 5 minutes.



Brown the beef in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic when been if 1/2 browned. Add the chili powder, salt & pepper, stir well to coat. Cook about 3 minutes until it smells fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, beans and water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and set aside.

In an 8x8 square pan place about 1 cup of the chili filling at the bottom. Place each of the blanched and drained peppers in the pan and fill with the chili mixture. Any remaining filling can be stuffed into the bottom of the pan to help support the peppers. Top each stuffed pepper with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Allow to cool for at least 5-10 minutes before serving.


Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 471.4
Total Fat 21.6 g
Saturated Fat 9.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.7 g
Cholesterol 72.5 mg
Sodium 1,185.2 mg
Potassium 698.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 46.2 g
Dietary Fiber 8.8 g
Sugars 2.3 g
Protein 24.4 g

Spanish rice

Spanish rice has many variations. I have absolutely no idea if this is even remotely close to being authentic, but its what we think of when we want Spanish rice. Its like all the good stuffing part of a stuffed bell pepper with out all the work, 'cause really, who needs more work? It reheats well so leftovers are welcomed at lunch also.

This rice dish is also a great fridge clean out recipe: use what you've got on hand - its very adaptable and forgiving. In the past I've used 2 cups of left over French onion soup in lieu of the chicken stock and onion. If you have any veggies that need to be used up this is the place for it!

And can I talk about health for a moment too? 260 calories people! You can always substitute ground chicken (or turkey if you like that kind of thing) for the beef, making the calorie count even lower. Brown rice is great in this dish even for picky eaters: the reddish gold color from the seasonings and tomatoes mask the darker color of the rice so you sneak in fiber with out them knowing it. Adding finely diced veggies like zucchini, mushrooms or spinach add extra vitamins, fiber and general nutrition to the dish is a piece of cake. I've fooled the most adamant vegetable haters out there into cleaning their plate with this rice. Dad and Ben, you know who you are :-)

Spanish Rice
serves 6
1 lb hamburger, browned and well drained
1/2 onion fine dice
3 cloves garlic minced
1 bell pepper fine dice, any color works
1 can tomatoes with jalapanos or RoTel tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup Instant brown rice
1 T chili powder
1/2 t oregano
1 packet Sazon Arrozo seasoning (found in the Mexican foods aisle of your grocery store) (optional)
1 t ground cumin
dash cayenne pepper
Kosher salt & pepper

In a large covered pan, brown the beef with the onion and garlic. Drain off fat. Return meat to pan, add everything else and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook 20 to 30 minutes or until rice is soft and most liquid has been absorbed.

Serve with shredded cheese.



Nutrition Facts
6 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 260.1
Total Fat 16.0 g
Saturated Fat 6.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.9 g
Cholesterol 58.4 mg
Sodium 616.4 mg
Potassium 345.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 12.8 g
Dietary Fiber 1.1 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 15.4 g

Chicken Fajitas

Gee, look The Kitchen Witch is making ANOTHER Mexican dish! I told you, we like our Mexican food around here :) I realize fajitas are really more Tex-Mex but it's still considered Mexican to me.

Fajitas were always one of those things that I ordered in restaurants and never tried to make at home. I don't really know why other than the fact that they seemed intimidating. Oh how wrong I was!! With just a few basic ingredients that a well stocked pantry should have you too could be eating fajitas for dinner tonight. Oh, yeah, the good news is that the cooking time is less than 30 minutes on these babies. How awesome is that?

This dish is always a crowd pleaser too, because you can personalize your fajita to your own tastes. Hate tomatoes? No problem! Not a fan of bell peppers? Don't add them to yours. Kids want chicken and cheese only? Can do! Everyone can find something that they'll like with these gems.

Chicken Fajitas
serves 4
2 chicken breast
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 t cumin (fresh toasted and ground preferably)
1/2 t chili powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T EVOO, divided
1/2 t kosher salt
pepper to taste
2 bell peppers (I used 1 small green, 1/2 of a red and 1 poblano pepper)
1 medium onion
1/2 c water
flour tortillas
toppers: sour cream, guacamole, cheese, tomatoes, fresh jalapanos, salsa, olives, etc.

Make marinade for chicken by combining lime zest, juice, salt, garlic, pepper,spices and 1/2 the EVOO together. Pour over chicken and allow to marinate for 2-3 hours. Don't go much longer than that, the acid in the lime juice will cook the chicken and after heat's applied it can dry out.

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: if your running short on time you can pound your chicken very thin, or butterfly the breasts, exposing more meat to the marinade. 20-30 minutes in the marinade is enough time to give your chicken flavor when its very thin like this~*~

Slice peppers and onions into julienned strips. Toss with remaining EVOO to coat.

Remove chicken from marinade, pat dry for best browning. Be sure to scrape off any large pieces of garlic as well so it doesn't burn.

Cook chicken in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. When chicken is done (160* internal temp) remove to a plate, cover with foil and allow to rest while peppers and onions cook.

Using the same pan add the oil coated peppers and onions. Cook about 5-7 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until peppers start to soften and onions brown on edged Deglaze pan with the water, scraping the cooked on bits up. This will turn your peppers and onions a deep mahogany color. Mmm...



Slice chicken thinly across the grain, squeeze a wedge of lime over top before serving with warmed flour tortillas and your favorite toppings. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving (NOT INCLUDING TORTILLA OR TOPPINGS)
Calories 148.2
Total Fat 4.8 g
Saturated Fat 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.8 g
Cholesterol 49.3 mg
Sodium 57.9 mg
Potassium 337.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 5.7 g
Dietary Fiber 1.1 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 20.4 g

Ghetto fab Taco Meat

Its no secret, we love Mexican food here. Enchiladas, taco, mole, we love it all. Some form of tacos/nachos/tostadas/taco salad is bound to be found on our dinner table at least once a week.

Back in the day before I educated myself about nutrition and healthier eating I was a pound of burger and a packet of taco seasoning mix. Then one day I read the ingredients on that taco seasoning packet and was amazed at the JUNK in there!! Oh sure, theres spices but why is there partially hydrogenated oil? Why is it in there? Some of them have high fructose corn syrup too. Umm...again why? Why do we need corn syrup and almost plastic oil in tacos I ask??

Now a days I make my own taco mix. Its so much fresher tasting, has more flavor, less sodium and NO partially hydrogenated oils or HFCS. That makes a Kitchen Witch happy! I also throw in a fair amount of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and beans - something the little Witch doesn't realize, so we're getting a serving of veggies in our tacos, gotta love that!

Taco meat is so very versital, last night it was transformed into nachos. Today for lunch it might become taco salad. You can change the meat too, with fantasitc results, try ground chicken for light fresh taste and save yourself a LOT of calories too!!

Oh, we call it Ghetto Fab because its not fancy gourmet like, nope its pretty ghetto. But man, sometimes its so good to slum it :)



Ghetto Fab Taco meat
serves 4-6
1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, pork)
1 can RoTel tomatoes or store brand tomatoes with chilies
1 t chili powder
1 t cumin, fresh toasted & ground if possible
S&P
1/2 onion diced fine
3 cloves garlic minced
1 bell pepper diced
1 can beans, pinto, black or kidney, drained & rinsed
1/4 c water
2-4T vinegar based hot sauce like Taco Bell mild sauce or Franks Red Hot (optional but it really doesn't add much heat, more of a subtle spicy tang)

Brown meat, drain fat well. Add onions, garlic and bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes until the onions and garlic start to release their fragrance. Add seasonings and tomatoes, juice & all and the beans. Add the hot sauce & water if needed. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.



Makes awesome nachos, tacos, burritos, tostadas and taco salads.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
**nutrition is based on ground beef, values will changed with different meat**
Amount Per Serving (5 servings approx)
Calories 316.0
Total Fat 19.2 g
Saturated Fat 7.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.3 g
Cholesterol 68.0 mg
Sodium 484.1 mg
Potassium 483.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 15.0 g
Dietary Fiber 4.2 g
Sugars 2.5 g
Protein 19.5 g

Roasting Peppers indoors

Roasted peppers. They just sound good, if you ask me. Really roasted pretty much anything & I'm a happy camper.

Have you ever spent $4 to $7 on a jar of roasted red bell peppers, eaten & enjoyed them of course, then thought, Geeze, what the heck did I spend so much money on? Its just a pepper, right??

Yup. You're right. Its just a pepper. Someone did about 5 minutes of work for you and charged you $5 for that work. And theres usually 2 peppers in the jar, max. Oh, I forgot, they put it in a jar with some preservatives and junk too, thanks, I was looking for extra chemicals in my peppers! What a rip off!

Most of the time bell peppers run about $1 each here. I can find them cheaper sometimes and when I do I stock up. But what do you do with 12 bell peppers? There's only so many stuffed bell peppers one family can eat, and after a week of sneaking them into everything I make I'm kinda over them. The answer is roast and freeze them.

You can roast ANY pepper, from sweet red bells to the spicy chilies and anything in between. Roasting really brings out the best in a pepper, it enhances the natural sweetness and brings a smoky flavor to your dish. I roast all my peppers before using them whenever possible, it adds an additional depth of flavor to my food and gives everything a nice chef like touch. And, since you remove the skin from a roasted pepper, you won't have curled up chewy pepper skins in your meal. An added bonus indeed.

Roasting peppers

Turn your broiler on (HI setting if you have an option). Put peppers onto a sheet pan.



Put the sheet pan in the oven on the top rack closest to the broiler. Close the door and wait about 2-3 minutes. You want the skin to be blackened and blistered. Once it starts to blacken flip peppers over (using tongs) and continue to blacken on all sides.



When all sides are black, remove peppers to a smallish bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The steam from the peppers will help steam off the skins, making removal easy. Allow to sit in the bowl about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle.



Scrape off skins using your hands or the back side of a knife. Open pepper, remove the seed pod, shaking out seeds. Cut the veins out if you want less heat. Rinse briefly to remove any remaining charred skins and seeds, but don't go overboard here, you want some of the black to stay, that's your roasted flavor.

My knife is removing the vein, this helps reduce spiciness of hot peppers. In bell peppers remove this part as its very pithy, sponge like and tends to be bitter. Not to mention that its just not pretty.

For long term storage I freeze my peppers. They'll last fresh in the fridge for about 7 days, frozen up to 6 months. Since I don't have a blast freezer where I can IQF (individually quick freeze, like the factories do) I have to improvise. Here's how the Witch does it.

Line a sheet pan with plastic wrap. This makes for easy clean up. Take 1 roasted & seeded pepper and lay it out open on the sheet tray. Repeat for as many peppers you have. Put the sheet tray into your freezer and allow peppers to freeze until solid. Remove frozen peppers from tray and put into freezer storage bags, squeezing out as much air as possible. You can put sheets of parchment between frozen peppers if desired to make removal of single peppers easier. Remove the plastic wrap from the sheet pan & its ready to be used again, no muss no fuss :)

Don't you want to just peel that blackend skin away? I sure do!

Spiced Beans

Canned beans are a staple in the Kitchen Witch pantry. My daughter LOVES beans, so anytime I can throw them into a dish, I do. Its the one thing I know she'll eat! But canned beans have a tenancy to be lackluster, to say the least. Have no fear, the Kitchen Witch is here to spice up those beans for you, turning them from a pantry staple to a quick and easy side dish.

Black beans are my personal prefereance for this dish, they go so well with cumin and lime. However the day I photographed this dish all I had on hand was pinto beans. They were pretty darn tasty, too. Almost as good as the black beans. So feel free to use whatever kind of beans you have in your pantry.

These beans are a great side dish with your favorite Mexican meal. I also like to use these beans with some grilled meats in a taco salad. They also make for mean nachos. Pretty much no matter what you decide to serve these beans with you'll be happy you did.

Spiced beans
serves 4 as a side dish
1 can beans, drained and rinsed well (black or pinto are good choices)
1 t fresh toasted and ground cumin (preground cumin seed works fine too)
1 T minced onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and diced (more or less depending on your preference)
1/2 c water or chicken stock
S&P
squeeze of lime juice
drizzle of oil

Heat a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add oil and onions, allow to cook about 3 minutes. Add cumin, garlic, bell peppers and jalapanos, stir well to coat in oil and cook 2 minutes.

Add beans and water or stock, stir well. Reduce heat to low and allow beans to simmer for about 20 minutes.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 64.3
Total Fat 0.4 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 40.5 mg
Potassium 189.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.8 g
Dietary Fiber 4.0 g
Sugars 0.1 g
Protein 4.1 g

Pepper steak sandwiches

While browsing one of my favorite food blogs the Pioneer Woman I found her recipe for 'The Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich'. It looked delicious but not exactly the healthiest thing under the sun. What I liked about Ree's recipe most of all was the idea of using cube steak for a sandwich. Honestly until I saw that recipe I had always seen cube steak as chicken fried steak, that's it! But her idea to slice it thin against the grain and tenderization lines was brilliant!! What you get is nice thin slices of meat that are tender and perfect for sandwiches.

Running with that idea I thought about what we like on steak sandwiches. Peppers came to mind first. Lots of bell peppers, a touch of onions. Maybe a bit of cheese. And what about a sauce? Things could get kinda dry in there without one. Well it IS steak so why not use steak sauce? Add a touch of soy sauce for the umami factor, a bit of balsamic to boost the acidity and subtle sweetness and some horseradish for a spicy background kick. Hmm... sounds like the Witch is on to something here.

This sandwich is pretty big. I had 1/2 a sandwich, the husband had a whole one and the little one had a few strips of meat. And she even tried a bell pepper!! So if you have adequate side dishes I would bet that you could serve 4 people off this recipe. I fed 3 of us and we had a bit left over.


Pepper Steak sandwiches
Makes 2 large sandwiches
2 cube steaks
1/4 onion sliced
1 bell peppers julienned
2 T A-1
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t soy sauce
1 t balsamic vinegar
scant 1 t extra spicy horseradish, use more or less depending on taste
seasoned salt
4 slices swiss cheese OPTIONAL
2 French bread sandwich rolls
butter for rolls

Slice steaks thin, against the grain & tenderization lines. This will allow the meat to be very tender. Mix the liquids together to make a sauce.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once its nice & hot add the beef and onions, laying onions on top of beef. Cover and allow to cook about 3 min or until you have a good amount of browning on the beef.

Flip meat and add bell peppers. Cover and cook about 1 minute, then add the sauce and a generous sprinkling of seasoned salt. Stir to mix, reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered until liquid is almost cooked out, about 5 minutes.


Butter the rolls and grill until golden. Place cheese slices over the hot beef and peppers. Cover and allow cheese to melt while buns are toasting. Assemble sandwiches and enjoy!




Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Serving Size: 1 sandwich
Amount Per Serving
Calories 434.7
Total Fat 18.0 g
Saturated Fat 9.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.7 g
Cholesterol 101.7 mg
Sodium 796.3 mg
Potassium 631.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.2 g
Dietary Fiber 2.1 g
Sugars 4.4 g
Protein 38.0 g