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Over the past week, we have endured a record breaking heat wave in the northeast that brought temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.  To say it was hot would be like saying that Michael Jackson was a little off-kilter.  It was scorching.  The weather also came during the 4th of July holiday and in many ways it put a pronounced exclamation point on the fact that summer has set in.

Close to home we enjoyed the conditions as best as possible.  In between work and the other minutiae of life we had some beach trips, BBQs and many hours in the pool to help stave off the oppressive heat.  So in light of the sweltering temperatures, we had a really good "4th of July week".  Both kids hit some milestones with their aquatic courage.  After all of the vests and swimming devices etc. we've bought for the kids, it ended up being two small tubes that probably cost a combined $.50 that got them out of our arms, off the stairs and swimming around the pool on their own.  In a little more than a month they've both now gone from not wanting to let go of Liz or I in water that's over their heads to swimming off to explore on their own.  Of course we have to be right there on top of them but it's a pretty cool thing.  It's a lot nicer to swim around with them vs. swimming around for them.

We capped off the week with a trip to NY for my niece's birthday party. (some photos below)  My sister-in-law and her husband Mike knocked the cover off the ball as usual and it was a great party.  It was good to see the family, have a few laughs and of course strap on the feed bag.  Mike really outdid himself this time serving up stuffed tomatoes, peppers and roasted lamb as the main courses.  I brought some shrimp ka-bobs and there were of course numerous tasty salads to round out the spread.  I think my mother-in-law made the macaroni salad.  When everyone else had cake, I had more macaroni salad.

I didn't get to sample the stuffed peppers as they had a meat filling (what else right?) so that was too bad.  Inspired by Mike and not to be deterred, I decided to make some "vegetarian" style for dinner tonight.  They're a bit of work but pretty simple overall from a recipe standpoint.  Here's my attempt at a basic recipe with a healthy tilt.  This is no genius as there are hundreds of recipes like this out on the net.  I lifted the inspiration for this one from a cooks.com article as I recall which is a pretty good place to go for meat versions and some other great ideas.

You Likea Da Peppas Stuffed Peppas

Ingredients:

• 5 - 6 good size bell peppers - pick ones out that will stand upright on their own.  This will be important later.
• 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 2 cups (cooked) long grain brown rice
• 12 oz soy crumbles (fake meat - Morningstar and Boca both make great versions)
• 1/2 cup of diced onion
• 1/2 cup of diced celery
• 1/4 Egg Beaters
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp sea salt or regular kosher salt

Brown the soy crumbles like you would brown ground beef and make the rice.  Set both aside.  Cut the tops off the peppers and set them aside.  Remove the seeds and other stuff from the peppers.  Fill a pot with water and add the sea salt.  Submerge the peppers in the pot, bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let them simmer for about 3 - 5 minutes.  Remove the peppers from the pot and set aside.

Dice up the pepper tops and throw them in a sauce pan with the olive oil, onion, celery and garlic.  Saute on medium heat for around 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Next add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasoned salt, oregano, and Italian seasoning.  Let it simmer for another 5 minutes.  You can add salt and pepper as well as hot sauce to taste at this point.  Go easy on the salt though.  If you use hot sauce like Frank's, there's enough sodium in there.  Also you've already got Lawry's in there to jazz things up.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine the Egg Beaters, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy crumbles, rice and about a cup or so of the tomato mixture.  Mix well and fill your peppers in a 3 - 4 inch deep baking pan or stone.  Spoon the rest of the tomato mixture on top of the peppers.  Cover the pan in tin foil and bake for 45 minutes.

At 45 minutes, remove the tin foil from the pan, sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the peppers and then return to the oven for 10 more minutes.  Remove, let cool for a few minutes and then serve!  We scarfed ours down so quickly that I didn't get a photo of all of them in the stone.  Here's the one extra I made that managed to survive the first round.

Hopefully they measured up to the peppers that inspired them.  So, a good weekend and a good week come to a close.  Here are a few choice shots from the festivities yesterday.

That looks like a Arbor Mist inspired smile on the left...

Wyatt and Uncle Mike engage in a fearsome bubble battle

Wyatt called "Grand Bear" before the part and told him to be in the pool.  Seriously.

Tonio and Abby look on in fear...

Behold, the power of cake...