Party Foot (and a new cooking challenge for you to vote on!)

Early last summer, when we thought the pandemic had gone on forever, we were eager to get out of the house and enjoy the warming weather, so we took a family walk. As we neared home, we saw neighbors out too, and stopped at a safe distance to chat. After a minute, Cate burst outside saying, “I heard Ben’s voice!” Ben, unable to give her a hug, but giddy at the sight of a friend, stripped off his shoes and socks, and waved his socks in the air with a cry of, “Party Feet!”

Last month I came up with this recipe for Moroccan Stuffed Peppers, and Ben loved it so much that he wanted to make it for Ben’s Day Wednesday. He did a great job this week, and kept his shenanigans to a minimum, which is good because my back was in the process of going out. That was two days ago, and I’m now completely debilitated. 

Chef Ben and I faced some creative differences over the raisins, and he wants to stress that they are optional. For the record, the first version that he loved so much contained golden raisins, and he ate four stuffed pepper halves in one sitting, so how offensive could they be?

Moroccan Stuffed Peppers

6 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, pith and seeds removed

1 cup cooked couscous

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground beef

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)

1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary

1 teaspoon chili powder

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

3 tablespoons golden raisins chopped, or chopped dried apricots (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

6 Laughing Cow cheese wedges* cut in half (optional)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400º, and place pepper halves on sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt, and bake for 15 minutes.
2. Heat olive oil in large pan, and cook beef. Remove beef, add onions to pan, and cook until onions begin to soften. Add garlic, ras el hanout, rosemary, and chili powder, and cook a minute or two.
3. Add tomatoes, and one teaspoon salt to onion mixture. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
4. Add cooked beef, raisins, cocoa powder and vinegar to tomato mixture, and cook 5 minutes.
5. Scoop cooked couscous into pepper halves, distributing evenly.
6. Place Laughing Cow cheese wedge halves on top of couscous.
7. Heap the beef mixture on top of the Laughing Cow cheese, top with mozzarella cheese, and bake  20-25 minutes.

Ben seemingly spent a fair bit of his day Monday shoveling snow. Our driveway is pretty long, but he gave it his best shot, and should we need a cleared 18-inch track there, we’re good to go. I also learned later that he shoveled the sidewalk right up to the Chandlers’ house. Again, Ben’s voice, this time talking to himself, (“I’m doing an awesome job!”), brought a Chandler to the door, where Amy thanked him for his hard work. Could it be that Ben is growing up a bit, and is seeing himself as an important contributing member of the community?

No doubt about it, we’ve had some setbacks in the last week. I was scheduled to get my first vaccination Saturday, but was notified by email on Friday that, “Due to recent severe weather and limited appointment availability, we need to reschedule your upcoming vaccine appointment”… to March 17th! That’s one heck of a severe weather incident! I know that appointments are limited. That’s why I made one. I’m thinking maybe they should have put a teacher in charge of rolling out the vaccines. I, for one, have excellent one-to-one correspondence and counting skills. One dose, one appointment. One dose, one appointment. Not once, in my 33 years of managing field trips, have I returned with a different number of kids than I started out with in the morning. Just sayin’.

I know. I know. We’re all just doing our best here – including those overseeing the massive job of vaccinating everyone. I’m just disappointed about my dis-appointment!

Since it looks like our stay in purgatory seems to be stretching on, we could use a change of pace. The one year mark we are nearing in March means that we have been hunkered down for a full year. To keep us distracted in March, we are planning a month of Ben’s Day Wednesday cooking challenges. It’s participatory, people! Please weigh in with which challenge you would like to see us meet each week.

Our first one is the Pandemic Boredom Challenge! What letter of the alphabet would you like to see us use to select our next meal’s ingredients? You comment on Facebook or the blog, choosing the letter P for pandemic, B for boredom, or C for challenge, and we’ll make a dinner using just ingredients that start with that letter. (Oil, butter, salt, and water don’t count!) Please make your choice before Friday so we can tally the votes and make a plan! Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and joining us in our cooking adventures!