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4 fresh bell peppers
1 lbs ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove crushed garlic
1 1/2 cup long grain rice
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 8oz can tomato sauce

Cut the tops from the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes. Rinse. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in the peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and drain well.

Brown the beef, onion and garlic. Drain.

Cook the rice half of the recommended cooking time in boiling salted water.

Drain the diced tomatoes making sure you reserve the juice.

In a large dish mix the beef, rice, tomatoes and italian seasoning until well combined. Stuff into the bell peppers.

Mix the tomato sauce, the juice from the diced tomatoes and another 1 tsp italian seasoning.

Place 2 peppers in a freezer bad. Place half the sauce mix into a quart freezer bag. Place both bags into a 2 gallon size freezer bag. Lable and date the bag. Place in the freezer.

When ready to cook thaw in the refrigerator. Place the 2 peppers in a baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can also top the peppers with grated cheese near the end of the cooking time.

Jenny asked about sweet potatoes. This is what I do with sweet potatoes.

For all of these recipes (except the fries) wash the potatoes well. Dry them. Drizzle with oil and using your hands rub the oil all over the outside making sure you coat all of the skin with oil. Place them in a baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees until cooked soft, maybe and hour to an hour and half, depending on the size of the potatoes. The skins will cook crisp almost like dry leaves. As they cool the potato will shrink away from the skin. When they are cool enough to handle gently peel away the skin.

Baked Sweet Potato - You can stop at this point, slice in two and place a nice big pat of butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. This is an excellent side dish as is.

Candied Sweet Potatoes - Cut the baked potatoes into nice size chunks. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar and cinnamon, add a little butter and place under the broiler until the sugar is melted and gooey. OR Cut the raw, peeled potatoes into chunks and boil until they just begin to soften. Strain them out of the water and place in a baking dish. Save 1 cup of the water they were cooked in. To it add 2 - 3 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, grate a little nutmeg and pour over the potatoes in the baking pan. Add a few pats of butter and bake in a hot oven until the potatoes are fork tender, basting occassionally. This is great to throw in 1/2 cup of raisin to the juice or a few prunes and waltnuts. Remember everything sweet needs a little salt. I salt after they get to the table.

Sweet Potato Pie - Make exactly like pumpkin pie only use the cooked sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin. Use the Libby's pumpkin pie recipe.

Sweet Potato Pone - Mash the baked potatoes. In a large mixing bowl add 1 tbsp butter for every potato. 1 tsp cinnamon, mix well. 1 beaten egg for every 2 potatoes, mix well. 1/4 cup cream, mix well. 1/4 cup flour, mix well. Pour into a buttered baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees. It is done when a toothpick pressed into the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Slice into squares. The end result should be firm and hold the square shape but should be creamy when you bite into it almost like the texture of a moist gooey fudge brownie.

Sweet Potato Casserole #1 - Mash 4 baked potatoes. Add a couple tbsp of butter, a tsp or two of cinnamon, 1/2 cup milk and spread in a buttered baking dish. In a bowl take 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 stick of softened butter and cream the sugar into the butter. Mix in 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Sprinkle this over the top of the sweet potato mash. Bake at 375 until the toping is a nice tender crust.

Sweet Potato Casserole #2 - Mash 4 baked potatoes. Add a couple tbsp of butter, a tsp or two of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 cup raisins and spread in a buttered baking dish. Bake until just done. Remove from the oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows over the top. Return to the oven and bake until the marshmallows are toasted.

Sweet Potato Baby Food - bake the potatoes. Allow them to cool completely. With a fork mash them until they are creamy. Feed your baby.

Sweet Potato french fries - peel the potatoes, slice lengthwise into strips like regular french fries. Deep fry, sprinkle with salt. Serve with Hamburgers and ketchup. My kids love these.

Please note, these recipes are not with exact measurements. These are done by feel. I might use more brown sugar based on the potato. Taste the potatoes after you have baked them to judge their natural sweetness. In the deep cold of winter I like more cinnamon. In the late fall I like less. You can really adjust these to fit your specific taste and preference.

Select fresh, juicey ears of corn. Shuck, desilk and wash the ears in cold water. With a deep pan and a very sharp knife, cut the tips of the kernels from the cob. When you have the entire cob detipped rake your knife over the cob to milk it of all the delicious juices and inner fillings of the kernel. This is a job that will create great splatters until you get the hang of it. It can be very messy and require much clean up, but it is worth your efforts!

In a cast iron frying pan melt a stick of butter, gently, do not let it melt too fast or it will burn. Whent he butter and pan are hot, pour in the creamed corn, juice and all. Keep the heat low and stir frequently so that the corn does not scorch and stick. Add salt and pepper to taste until the corn is tender and soft, not crunchy to the teeth.

If you follow the same process and cook that corn in drippings from fatback you will then have "fried creamed corn". Equally as delicious as it's cousin cooked in butter.

How to choose perfect ears of corn:

Do not be shy in your produce market. Be selective of the corn you choose. Old corn will be dry and not have much milk and it will taste like eating cow feed. With your thumbnail break the husk on the corn so that you can see the kernels. With that same nail push into the top of the kernel. It should break easily and give you a burst of corn milk. That is a good ear of corn.

When you get home with the corn, do not let it sit for more than a day in your refrigerator. The corn will dry out much too fast and your dish will not be tastey. When shopping at a farmer's market I always buy a bushel at a time. I take it home and get busy right then, shucking, desilking and creaming it for the freezer. Juicey corn waits for no man and will turn hard on you in no time.

There are also two schools of thought on corn.

1. Yellow
2. White

I prefer white with some yellow mixed in for creamed corn. For corn-on-the-cob, roasted on the grill or boiled, I prefer yellow. For corn-on-the-cob to be cook in the same pot as summer peas I like some of both.

For those who are health conscious and are gasping at cooking in real butter and fatback, you are missing out on some of the best eating you will ever partake of. It is the fat that lends great flavor. In my kitchen butter and pork fat RULE! It is good stuff and in moderation it is not bad for you! Fatback and butter are not causes for remorse!

Peel and slice the tomato thinly and arrange the slices on a plate, letting the edges of the rounds slightly over lap, a beautiful red circling of tomatoes. Sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper.

Get yourself a mess of butterbeans. Sit on the porch in late afternoon or early morning and shell them into a pan. At the sink in cold water look the beans, searching for imperfections and flaws that would be evidence of insect feasting, throw those out. Once looked and washed place them in a pot of cold water, enough water to be twice as deep as the beans. They need lots of water to make good pot liquor. Add one thin strip of fatback or ham, NOT bacon!, and gently simmer until the beans are fork tender.

I have been making some of my own recipes with tastes that I like. Here are a couple we are having for supper today.

Angie's Broccoli Salad

1 head fresh broccoli
1/4 grated cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped spanish olives
2 tbsp finely minced vidalia onion
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 tbsp Dukes mayonaise

You must use Dukes, you might even substitute Sauer's Mayo, but for any other mayonaises I can't say it will taste the same. I hate Kraft, Hellman's and all those other yucky mayo/dressings. Ack!!!

Wash and drain the broccoli. Snip the flowerettes apart in small bite sizes. Peel and slice thinly the tender stalks. Mix with all other ingredients and chill.

This goes well with some left over cold chicken diced, too. However, I did not add the meat to this dish tonight. Steve had too much meat last night.