*Note: This article first appeared in the Neighbors section of Wisconsin State Journal for September 2012
Neighborly acts can occur in so many wonderful ways, but a recent test of patience, creativity, and even friendship– may be one of the funnier cases of neighborly-ness I’ve witnessed in a long time.
It started with a simple invitationto dinner from a long-time friend on Madison’s east side, who also asked a few neighbors to join us at her home. But, problems ensued almost instantly as we arrived to find our host forgot about the date she’d arranged!
So, what’s a good group of neighbors and friends to do in this situation? The easy answer would be to order food for delivery.
Nope.
This is a pretty artsy bunch who considers a small bump in the road a creative challenge. One started rummaging through cupboards, another grabbed a cookbook, while I took to Pinterest. Our friend opened her fridge to find a few bell peppers and some salsa. It was all we needed to decide– we’d make the peppers the main part of our meal. The visiting neighbors ran home and returned with a mix of ingredients: tomatoes and croutons from next door; taco seasoning, mushrooms and onions from down the street; canned corn from a third neighbor, and the contribution from another? Cheese and baked beans.
This would be interesting!
A simple stuffed pepper recipe I found called for ground turkey and cooked rice. We didn’t have either one, so as our hunger grew we wondered if we could tastefully substitute items to hold this thing together? Bring on those baked beans! We drained and mixed the beans with onions, corn, tomato, chopped up mushrooms, and threw in the croutons for good measure. But why stop there? Taco seasoning could only help, and the salsa would serve as the glue. We mixed it up and spooned it into the peppers, crossed our fingers and put it in the oven. This gave us time to talk.. and though we didn’t arrive as close friends, our little test was opening the door to reveal what can happen, when people work together for a common goal.
O.K., in this case, it was food. And we were hungry!
Amidst much laughter, we pulled the peppers out of the oven. We still had an unused ingredient– cheese– so plopped some of it on top. None of us knew what to expect, but as we dug in, the delight was obvious. This gathering would end in success and give us all something to remember about the neighborhoods we live in. Dinner can bring residents together to work through challenges of all types. Someone just needs to offer an invitation.
Emergency stuffed peppers made from the pantry ingredients of a dinner-party host’s neighbors
Here’s the “Neighbor-Night Emergency” recipe:
-Half and remove seeds from bell peppers, place in pan and roast for 20-minutes in 400-degree oven.
-Mix together chopped onions (about 1 cup), 1 can of drained baked beans (some real recipes call for black beans), corn (about 1/2 cup), chopped mushrooms (about a handful), chopped tomatoes (1/2 cup), handful of croutons, 1/2 package of taco seasoning and as much salsa as needed to coat and hold the ingredients together.
-Spoon mixture into peppers and roast for another 20-minutes.
-Sprinkle with cheese.
-Serve.
This can be topped with sour cream and your choice of ingredients substituted for any we used in this “emergency” recipe.
Enjoy.. with your own neighbors!
Teri Barr Media: Always Wondering. Always Wandering. 
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