2 small red bell peppers, thick slices
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
6 cloves garlic, roasted
3 ounces feta, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried basil

1. Preheat oven broiler.
2. Cover bell pepper slices with olive oil and dried basil and place in a small baking dish.
3. Place the dish a few inches away from the broiler until the peppers start to char.
4. Garnish with feta cheese, roasted garlic and walnuts.

Makes 2 servings

1 pound cornish game hen
2 small potatoes, quartered
1/2 cup brown basmati rice
1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a pot and add rice. Reduce heat, cover and cook until all liquid has absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat and add onion and 1/2 the mushrooms.
4. Once mushrooms have reduced and onions have softened, add the sage, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
5. Combine the rice with the mushroom and onion mixture and stuff it into the cavity of the hen.
6. Rub the hen skin liberally with salt and pepper and place on top of potatoes and remaining mushrooms in a small roaster.
7. Place the roaster in the oven and roast until a meat thermometer can be inserted into the breast of the hen and read 160 degrees, about an hour.
8. Allow meat to rest, slice hen in half and serve.

Makes 2 servings

The supermarkets sell these tiny cornish game hens for really cheap. They're always previously frozen so I'd never picked one up, but we grabbed one last week and I decided to try it out. These little hens are perfect for 1 or 2 people like us and perfect for stuffing and roasting with a variety of different combinations. I did a simple rice stuffing for my Mushroom Stuffed Cornish Game Hen and I thought it was great. Since the bird is a lot smaller and doesn't require as much cooking time, it'd be really easy to crisp the skin a lot, if you like that sort of thing. The brown rice is a lot healthier than the traditional bread stuffing and the flavor is quite comparable. The texture is different, though.

I roasted the hen with potatoes because they're cheap and I love roasted potatoes. We're trying to save money right now and happen to have a huge sack of potatoes, so I've been trying to incorporate them into meals. It's not hard, potatoes being so versatile and all. Potatoes and rice added a bit more starch than usual to the plate, so I just made a simple side dish of Red Pepper, Walnuts and Feta. Of course, you really can't go wrong with roasted red peppers no matter what you pair them with. The chicken and potatoes could've easily been a meal in itself, but it was nice to have another flavor compliment to the plate. Feta and walnuts work really well with the brown rice stuffing. I was originally contemplating making an amaretto based dinner with an almond stuffing, only to realize that the amaretto has disappeared. I was excited about trying the amaretto carrots too. Soon!