Happy first birthday

I cannot believe it. It has been one year from today that I began blogging and I have to say I've enjoyed every minute of it. Even if I never wrote another word, it's been amazing to look back over twelve months of food, photos and memories. I couldn't even consider stopping, though. I find new inspiration everywhere and I can't wait to be celebrate birthday number two.

As a little birthday present, hungerhabit received a little face lift a few weeks ago, and a few glasses of wine might have clinked with celebration. I think of this first year as an experiment. At first, I was just hoping that I could pull it off and I wouldn't be too embarrassed of my photographs. As time went on, I know now what this blog represents to me. It's a place for me to express my passion for cooking that is tangent and although it's not something I can touch and feel, like paper, I know it will be something I can look back on with pride in the future.

It also just so happens to be St. Patrick's day. Although my husband is more Irish than most of the folks staggering from bar to bar in green t-shirts around my neighborhood, I have to admit that we don't go all out for this holiday. Corned beef and cabbage aside, I am partial to soda bread and a good Irish breakfast. I'll let you find recipes elsewhere for these dishes and fill you in on what we cooked tonight instead: stuffed peppers.

Before spring has officially sprung, a supper of stuffed peppers was definitely in order. It's a dish that screams comfort food and served with mashed potato, it has some serious rib-sticking qualities.

I am lucky enough to have a cookbook that my Mother hand wrote for me and presented to me one year for Christmas when I was in my early twenties. It was at the time that I was really getting into cooking, but living so very far away . It is filled with family recipes and ones from her regular repertoire that we ate growing up in Indiana. I know I've said it before, but it means a great deal to me to see her writing, particularly in recipe form, now that she is no longer around for me to question her lack of seasoning.

Needless to say, I have added a little oomph to this recipe in the form of Bhutanese red rice and of course, some extra seasoning and herbs. This does takes a while to cook on the stovetop, but these stuffed peppers are as easy to put together as meatloaf.

You can blanch the peppers first to reduce harshness if you'd like, but I tend to go for red or orange peppers as they seem to be a bit sweeter than green.

May I also warn you that there is nothing hotter than tomato sauce and to be careful not to let it bubble too furiously and burn you. I tell you this from experience, albeit several years ago, as the sauce once bubbled and burnt my wrist badly enough to warrant a trip to the ER. My husband also called me "Captain Burnside" for months.

Stuffed Peppers

Serves 4-6

4-6 peppers

2 lbs ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 free range eggs

3/4 cup of rice (your choice- I used Bhutanese red rice)

2 28oz cans of diced tomatoes

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or crushed dried chilli

Cut the tops off of the peppers and de-seed. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and stuff into the peppers. place each pepper into a large pan and pour the tomatoes in and around them. Bring to a pleasant low bubble and cook with the lid on for about 1 1/2 hours until the peppers are soft, but not falling apart, and the beef has cooked all the way through. Check from time to time that the bottom of the sauce is not burning and continue to stir the sauce and pour over the peppers.

Serve with whipped mashed potatoes.