“What does ‘salt to taste’ mean anyway? Just give me a measurement that works, right? After all, I am reading your recipe and need to know what works!” – My Past Self Salt. Alone it’s overwhelming to the senses, leaves you thirsty, and lingers on…
Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with…
This article will not teach you how to divvy up meal-sized portions and stow them away for lunches all week. We’re planning to eat and eat well! And planning for meal to be cooked is how we better ensure that our after-the-day-is-done time is spent in harmony and bliss. The meal is the pilotable point of any evening; mess up the meal…and likely the mood of the evening follows..
Food is one of those things we involve ourselves with 3 or more times a day. It’s something that we humans are about as focused on as any pet pup. You may think that dog “begs” all the time and constantly thinks about food. But given the blessing of an opposing thumb and the ability to grasp with his paw, and ol’ rover is visiting the fridge about as much as you do.
When I am referring to meal planning, meal prep, or meal prepping, I am referring to actively thinking about your meals. When you hear, “what’s for dinner?” You aren’t pondering the question, you have an answer.
We prep for most everything in our lives. From getting ready for work and making sure we have clean clothes, to bed time, and we even prep as we watch trailers and read reviews as to what movie we want to watch. We prep for life. But still we ask, “What’s for dinner?” How do we let one of the most enjoyable human experiences be left to “I hope we have something to cook tonight.”
I am a nurse; I’ve been a nurse for going on 25 years. And, being a fella, I am often referred to as a “Male Nurse” by my co-workers and many of my patients. But, often…my “vintage” patients will call me “Doctor.” But I am not a doctor, I’m a nurse. And, when they call out to me, “Doctor,” I offer a friendly correction, “No, I am not a doctor…I am a nurse; I work for a living.” This usually ends up getting a chuckle from the patient, my nearby coworkers, and just about everyone else in ear-shot…except the doctor. He or she usually looks up and then back down while shaking their head a bit (but I do catch that laughing-smirk from those doctors once in a while). It was the same way in the Army when it came to NCOs and being called “Sir.” Though in the Army we tended to offer a few more colorful adjectives to express our objection to being called a “Sir.”
I do work for a living…just like you. Up and out of the home and back again after the full day has passed with only a few hours to decompress, settle, cook, eat, and spend time with the family. “Work hours” seem to linger like seafood flavor in a Dutch oven; those precious “home hours” seem to go by quicker than a knife fight in a phone booth. But, if we find those tiny margins in our day, we may be able to do a bit of planning and preparation. Yes, there may be a dirty pot or dish left behind that you may have to deal with tomorrow, but that’s okay.
There are three meal time scenarios that are all too common:
Scenario #1: There’s nothing planned, nothing thawed, no quick ingredients, no hope for a meal at home tonight. “Everybody upstairs and get dressed; we’re going out to eat.”
Scenario #2: I’ve got this pound of ground beef; what can I make to go with it? Or, what can I do with these leftovers?
Scenario #3: I’ve already prepared my ingredients over the past few days and am about to create a masterpiece. Look! At! ME!!
Truth be told, scenario #2 seems to be the most common at our home with #3 happening a bit more often than #1. We’re busy, busy folks and meal planning takes time.
“Mulder! there’s no time!” Dana Scully shouts at Fox Mulder as he turns to enter a building that is about to explode in The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
But there is time. On top of that, planning will actually SAVE you TIME! But we have to see that and just agree that there is a bit of planning in order to capture that time. Spend 15 minutes in planning and save an hour in preparation. Confused? Let me explain with a scenario:
You need a few things at the ready for most any meal. Here are a few:
Okay. Hold that in mind.
It’s Sunday morning before church and I am planning a few meals this week. Tonight, I’d love me some chicken sincronizadas! Yummmm!! Beer-Brined chicken and tomato and avocados…and oh man, forget taco Tuesdays, tonight it’s…SINCRONIZADAS SUNDAY! Maybe on Wednesday, I’d like a bit of chicken stew. Friday night, let’s have Catania Jack Chicken! And next Sunday, let’s have a roast with some mashed potatoes! So far, we’ve come up with a plan for the week; we have four possible Scenario #3 evenings and stretching over 8 days (Sunday to Sunday).
Sunday Sincronizadas: Because we plan each week, that chicken that needs roasting for tonight’s sincronizadas was pulled down this past Wednesday to thaw and was put in a brine and in the fridge yesterday. I’ll pull it out after church to warm it to room temperature before roasting it in the early afternoon while I do other things.
After the hour or so to roast the chicken and letting it cool a bit, I will debone the meat and gather the bones in a pot with three, room-temperature beers to start simmering. I spend this time chopping a few tomatoes and some onion and bell peppers (to mix things up a bit) for the sincronizadas tonight and put the waste from my chopping and slicing in the pot of simmering chicken scraps to render their flavors as well (don’t throw away those veggie trimmings, use them to make broths). I remember that on Wednesday, I am making chicken stew and will need this broth. AND, my chicken stew will need its own onions and bell peppers. Since I am chopping already and could use the extra vegetable scraps in my broth, why not cut just a couple more bells and an onion? I’ll stick those in the fridge for Wednesday. I know that the labor of my Sunday-Self will be much appreciated by my Wednesday-Self.
Think about that for a bit. When I refer to you as your Sunday-Self…a person in the “here and now,” you may be inclined to NOT cut those vegetables for your Wednesday-Self. “I’ll just do that on Wednesday,” you may say. But come Wednesday, you may say, “I wish I would have done that on Sunday.” Think about that two-self paradigm for a bit. I love me some me, but why don’t I love my future-ME as much as I love my present-ME? My present self says, “chill and let future-self deal with it.” My future self looks back and is mad and my past-self, “why didn’t I do it then? The cutting board and knife and the clean up could have happened only once instead of twice…what a waste of time!! I could have used that time to (say it with me) MEAL PLAN.”
The chicken is cooked, the broth is simmering, the vegetables are sliced and chopped not only for tonight’s meal but also for Wednesday’s meal. Let’s not forget that the chicken is cooked and there will likely be left overs for Wednesday’s stew.
But, then Monday night happens. What to make for dinner? Dang, all we have is this leftover chicken from last night. Let’s make chopped chicken burgers! The problem is there’s no brined chicken to roast on Wednesday for our chicken stew. That means Tuesday, at some point, we need to swing by and pick up a chicken to start brining on Tuesday evening for roasting on Wednesday. While we’re out on Tuesday, maybe something in the store prompts a bit of creativity and a quick meal comes to mind.
Wednesday, as soon as we get home, we are pulling out the brining chicken to roast for our chicken stew tonight. The onions and the bell peppers are chopped (thank you Sunday-Self!!) and we chop the potatoes and prep the roux for the stew. Once the chicken is cooked and cooled a bit, we debone the meat, store the bones for another broth, and start the stew creation. Wait, it’s Wednesday and on Sunday we are planning a roast with mashed potatoes. Pull down the frozen roast we’re planning to use…
Meal Planning isn’t perfect and shouldn’t expect it to be rigid and forced. It needs to flow with some “forgiveness” to the process. It will not always workout perfectly. But, then again, we’re using AWESOME ingredients and a lot of the time, that alone will mask any missing nugatory ingredients that we may have overlooked in our day-to-day busyness.
Take a few sticky notes and put the day and the planned meal down; don’t worry about all seven nights of the week. Plan for leftovers…ALWAYS plan for leftovers. There’s nothing wrong with leftovers. Rule #1: Any complainers can start doing the planning. But, I doubt you’ll have any complaints; most of the time I hear, “It’s even better than last night.”
Keep a quick list of ingredients you may need for each meal. If you got it and it’s frozen, pull it out by enough hours or days to make sure it’s ready to cook when you are ready to cook. If it needs brining, get it to the brine. If you already have the cutting board out and are cutting vegetables, what is the next meal that will need cut or chopped veggies? Chopping a few more today will save twice the time as chopping tomorrow (set up and clean up…yeah!).
To respectfully alter Mr. Robert Burns’ 1785 poem just a “wee bit:”
But cast iron chef, you are not alone,
In proving meal planning may be vain:
The best-laid schemes of mice and cook
Go oft awry,
Easy-to-Create treats for the pups in your life. This is a beef and whole wheat treat you can make as easy as cookies.
Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you’ve ever wanted to taste.
Broth from a box will get you “this is good stew” complements but, this broth will make stew so good they’ll start trying to speak “this stew is amazing” before they even swallow (so keep a napkin ready).
This is not a typical bone broth recipe and is not for drinking like a “normal” bone broth recipe. We will not add any salt, apple cider vinegar, or vegetables.
As rumor has it, there was this fella named Christopher Columbus that sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Poor fella; was searching for India and the peppercorn plant and found the Bahamas and the bell pepper. Good ‘ol Christopher saw all those peppers and said, “¡Eso parece una campana!” No, that’s a lie. He may have said “that looks like a bell” in Latin or jotted it down in his secret journal in Greek. No, I don’t know what the fella said, but it is generally accepted that Columbus is credited for naming the fruit (from a flower and seeds on the inside). Looking for India, Peppercorns, and “love in all the wrong places.” Ha! Now you’ve got that song stuck in your head.
I’ve got an old reprint of a cookbook called Boston Cooking-School Cookbook from the late 1800’s and there’s a great stuffed bell pepper recipe…rumored to be the first stuffed bell pepper recipe ever. But, I am not so sure about that. There are so many different cultures with their own version of the stuffed bell peppers.
We’re gonna swap this up a bit; of course we are! We’re Beer and Iron. We’re gonna add beer! This recipe may sound complicated with all its steps and parts; but don’t let the step-by-step shy you away. I am presenting this recipe in two ways: 1) Step-By-Step and taking nothing for granted and 2) The Quick-And-To-The-Point recipe (the printable version). If you print this recipe and need a bit more explanation, you’ll have the Step-By-Step to refer to.
NOTE: You will likely have more stuffing than bell peppers to stuff. That’s A-OK. Better than the other way around. Bell Peppers come in all kinds of sizes and subsequently stuffing space (and also depending on your pepper packing proficiency…OKAY! Three time fast!).
Also, this article has affiliate links.
We are going to cook this recipe in a cast iron baking pan (what you will find in the photos). However, a cast iron skillet or even a cast iron Dutch oven will work very well with this recipe. Use what’s in your arsenal of iron!
9 x 13 Inch Cast Iron Casserole Pan. This will hold about 4 bell peppers (8 halves). If you don’t have any cast iron bakeware, use any cast Iron baking pan/pot/skillet large enough to accommodate the number of bell pepper halves you plant to cook. And, that also depends on the size of the bell peppers you are cooking with (affiliate links).
5- or 7-quart Dutch oven for browning and sautéing (a 9-quart will be okay too and, if you don’t have a Dutch oven, use a 12-inch cast iron skillet or larger).
3-quart Cast Iron Sauce Pot for cooking the rice (okay, if you want to use a different pot for the rice, we’ll let it slide…this time).
A nice lager or a Belgian will work well. I’d avoid an IPA; we love that hoppy touch to a beer but the remaining bitters may be a bit overwhelming in this recipe. Avoid the beers with a sweeter flavor like porters and stouts.
A common ingredient in many stuffed bell pepper recipes is rice…oh glorious rice! And how do we make rice better? We cook it with beer.
Step 1: Preheat your Oven to 400°F (205°C) and your cast iron pot that you plan to brown the ground turkey meat in and sauté the onions in.
Step 2: Start the rice cooking on the stove top (See Beer-Rice Recipe).
Step 3: Cut the washed bell peppers lengthwise and through the stem and then cut out the “placenta” but leave the stem on the pepper (not all halves will be able to keep the stem depending on the stem location).
Step 4: Coat the outside of the peppers with the oil.
Step 5: Place the cut and oiled bell pepper halves open-side-up in the 9 x 13 Inch Cast Iron Casserole Pan (or other) and put them in the preheated oven.
Step 6: Roast the bell peppers for about 25-40 minutes depending on thickness.
Step 7: Place the oven-pre heated pot over a medium-high burner, add a bit of oil (about a tablespoon or two), and brown the ground turkey meat.
Step 8: While the turkey meat is browning, drain and rinse off the black beans then put them in the bowl you plan to mix your stuffing in.
Step 9: After browning the turkey, set it aside in the colander to drain.
Step 10: Using the oil/fat left behind from the turkey, sauté the onions until they “clear up.” If there is not enough oil or fat left to sauté the onions, you can add a bit of oil here.
Step 11: Add to the mixing bowl:
Step 12: Remove the bell peppers from the oven and fill them with the prepared stuffing by using the silverware spoon. Just “mound” the stuffing slightly.
Step 13: Put the stuffed Bell Peppers in the Oven. Warm everything up to an internal temperature to around 165° F (75°C). I use a wired thermometer like this one (affiliate link):
Step 14: Pull the hot, roasted, stuffed bell peppers out of the oven.
Step 15: Preheat the oven to BROIL!
Step 16: Sprinkle (or coat) the tops of the bell peppers with cheese.
Step 17: Place the cheese-topped stuffed bell peppers back in the oven on broil and let them brown (keep a close eye on them; they will burn)
Step 18: Once the cheese is toasted, pull them from the oven and top them with fresh and chopped cilantro or parsley, avocado, or sour cream (Greek yogurt works pretty okie-dokie too).
Stuffed bell pepper with a Spanish…Mexican…Texan…American…Idahoan “piquant after-dinner flavor – heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness.”
There’s tomato, turkey, pepper, cumin, rice and the bell peppers with mild and sweet flavors of the yellow, orange, and red varieties and the “green” grassy flavor of the green bell pepper.
Then there’s the cheese…oh my gracious! CHEESE! Smooth and such a flavor bolus that really brings these peppers to life!
Though I threw in the “Idahoan” part there (that’s where I’m from) this is definitely a dish that screams “South of the Border” with an Italian hint…after all…if people can be Heinz 57 so can our food, right!!! (HIGH FIVE!).
With the tomato acids, this meal will pair well with a nice amber ale. And, with the Tex/Mex flavors, most any lager should be a nice addition to the palate-satisfying finish.
Think Mexican lagers like Corona, Pacifico, Modelo, and Tecate would be some examples. My fellow craft beer lovers likely have some of their favorites come to mind with these lager examples (though that Modelo is pretty nice for a less-than-craft-brew).
Sulae’s Suggestion: Lager / Mexican Lager
We’re not looking at courses here, we looking to balance the meal with a side dish or two like French fries with a burger.
Stuffed bell peppers are a meal in and of themselves. There’s the fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Fiber…sure enough!
My 14-year-old tends to go back for the second and sometimes the third bell pepper. Often times there is “spillage” of the stuffing that has made its way out of the bell peppers and sits on the plate. Having a nice side to “mix” this stuffing with is a nice way to “clean the plate.” So, often I will create some sides for this meal. Some great foods and recipes that pair well with stuffed bell peppers are:
Basic Polenta – Keep it simple; the stuffed bell peppers are the star of this show.
Corn Chips – Great with any Tex-Mex themed meal. But easy does it!
Mashed Potatoes – This goes with everything. Though not my go-to with this recipe, it’s sure good at “gathering up the stuffing spillage.”
Cauliflower Rice – Yes, there’s rice in this recipe…but cauliflower rice ain’t rice that’s for sure.
The foolproof method of creating the perfect rice is right here. A four-ingredient recipe that will offer hints of fresh-baked bread as it simmers followed by a sharp flavor with the perfect, billowy texture. First of all, this recipe is meant to be used with…
We’re talking easy here. Like in measure, mix, DONE! This is our go-to Taco Seasoning that we’ve been using for years and years. Sorry, there’s no beer here as an ingredient. I put this little recipe here to reference from other recipes that are found…and…
I will have to confess, I love a good stew. It’s the one-potted-ness of it all. One pot! One meal! It’s also the stick-with-it-ness that the stew provides; you know…that rib-sticking kinda meal that just stays with you for a few hours. I do like a good soup too, but there is just something about a stew that does it for me.
Now, I’ve heard a lot of y’all using “stew” to describe a soup…not you in particular but other folks I know (tongue-in-cheek). And it is for your benefit that I share this stew vs soup tale so you can help those poor folks out when they start proudly showing off their “soup” photos and proceed to post all about their wonderful “stew” recipe (I’ve done that before so I ain’t innocent either).
In a way, it’s all soup. The simple definition of “soup” is “a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in stock or water.” (Definition from Oxford Languages) However, when I think of “stew,” I think of “stewing.” This takes the “soup” definition to another level. When we “stew” meats and vegetables in a liquid for a longer-than-soup cooking-time, we are making “stew.” In a stew, the ingredients are only barely covered with a liquid and simmered for a long time in a covered pot. A stew is a soup-like dish that has larger pieces of solid meat and vegetables “stewing” in less liquid than you’d normally find in soups.
The thickness of the liquid is really not the “say-so” of the soup vs stew dilemma. Some soups are thickened with a béchamel sauce or other ingredients like flour or cornstarch. And, in these creamy soups, the pieces of meat and vegetables are much smaller than those cuts and chops in a stew.
Chowders are soups that contain seafood like fish, lobster, or clams (there’s a debate as to the chowder-worthy-ness of “corn chowder” and other non-seafood “chowders). Chowders are creamy and chunky; they are normally created with milk/cream and have larger pieces of meat (seafood meat) and vegetables (potatoes come to mind [but don’t count toward your “5 a day”]). For me, I would say that a chowder is kinda like a stew but instead of broth being the liquid of choice, milk/cream is the base in which the stew-sized meats are cooked.
Additionally, seafood normally does not need the benefit of being cooked low-and-slow. In comparison to a beef stew and where the beef is being stewed in a pot of broth that was thickened by starches or flours, the chowder is not usually cooked as long as the stew. Remember, in a stew we are “stewing” the meats and vegetables.
I love a good tomato soup. Most of the time my tomato soups are slightly thick and have no chunks of meats or vegetables. It is a soup (there is nothing to “stew”). Tomato soup is just that: soup. It’s not tomato bisque.
A bisque is a soup like tomato soup but created with seafood. A bisque is not chunky like a chowder. Cream/milk is used as the liquid base with the ingredients being pureed like the tomato soup.
Though, personally, I consider chili in a class of its own, if I had to put a finger on what “class” to put chili, I would have to say that a chili is a stew that uses smaller pieces of meat (usually ground) and vegetables that are chopped a bit finer than the chunks of veggies in a stew.
One day I will talk about Gumbo…that’s an article all and on its own. You should subscribe to get the updates. And…no worries…I hate spam too.
If there’s a debate and beer involved, I am happy to participate. However, I have seen folks debate the soup vs stew issue like they were talking politics or religion. Me? I don’t care one way or the other what you call what (it’s the Libertarian in me). If you want to create a “Chicken and Rice Bisque Stew,” then I have one request: Send me an invite; I’ll bring the beer!
Quick and Easy Beer-Broth Hamburger Stew Cooked in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven This is very (VERY) similar to the Hamburger Soup recipe on Beer and Iron. And, if you’re askin’ me…which you haven’t yet but I am sure you will…the “stew” version is my…
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I am always sharing fresh, flavorful, recipes cooked up in well-seasoned cast iron awesomeness with a bit of my liquid, hop-based, happy-maker as an ingredient.
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