Channeling My Nonnie....

My grandmother, Nonnie, was one of the best cooks I've ever known. She was a cook of the 1950 and 60s when it was important to use each grocery item to it's fullest potential, often making an onion, or a pound of ground beef serve two different purposes. Freezing, stretching and "doctoring up", in her words. I learned how to cook, in part, from watching her. Her process was "a little of this, a dab of that" and it wasn't uncommon for her to stray from a recipe and use "to taste" more than one time when writing it out to share with her friends. SO SO many of her "old faithful" recipes, like deviled eggs and orange roughy went un-written and I kick myself to this day for not asking her to write them down while she was here. When she passed away, I was fortunate enough to receive her Recipe Box containing years and years worth of traded, clipped and hand written recipes, something that was more special to me than my other cousins receiving a piece of her jewelry. Cooking was just one of many things that made Nonnie and me kindred spirits....

Tonight I made a recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers that I found on pinterest. The finished product, ended up amazing, but I found myself going through the process and tasting, dabbling and adding my own spin on the actual ingredients and quantities. When I finished the last taste of the mixture, it TASTED like Nonnie, if that's possible! I have no idea how I somehow stumbled upon a random combination of ingredients that she would have used, but I swear that somehow she channeled through my fingers, into my spice cabinet and controlled each dash until it was up to her standards.

Now, I realize that "Cooking from Heaven" may not be the world's next best-selling cookbook, or even a plausible concept, but I like to think that I shared a little kitchen bonding time with Nonnie this evening. And because of that, I decided to make sure the recipe was written down to share with any and everyone from Nonnie and Me. :) Enjoy!

Stuffed Bell Peppers
1lb ground beef
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2c white rice
1/2 c sugar
1tsp salt
2tsp creole seasoning (or more "to taste"-- I have no idea how much I actually put in :) )
1/4tsp pepper
1/4c Italian Blend Cheese
4 large green bell peppers, rinsed, de-seeded and with the tops cut off

1. Make white rice according to package directions
2. Brown ground beef with onion and garlic and drain
3. In mixing bowl, combine 1 and 1/2 cans tomato sauce, and the rest of the ingredients (besides the peppers) and mix.
4. Stuff bell peppers with mixture and place in an 8x8 baking dish
5. Mix the last half can of tomato sauce with 1/2 can of water and pour over the peppers, making sure that the bottom of the baking dish gets covered.
6. Cover peppers with foil and bake at 375 for an hour.