Sunday, August 24, 2014

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

stuffed peppers quinoa

Happy Sunday everyone! Last week, I made stuffed peppers for the second time. They are quickly becoming a weeknight dinner favourite in my house. They are fairly easy to put together and you can add whatever kind of meat and veggies you’d like. The quinoa really fills you up! This is a dish that can be made vegetarian by simply skipping the meat. I hope you give them a try.

red peppers stuffed

stuffed red peppers quinoa

stuffed pepperstuffed red pepper

stuffed red peppers

stuffed red pepper quinoa

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable stock
500g ground pork
1 head of broccoli chopped
½ onion finely diced
4 cloves of garlic
4 large red peppers
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 400  ̊F. Add quinoa to vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer on low for 15 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, steam broccoli for about 10 minutes and chop into small pieces. Cook onions and garlic with ground pork in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and some salt and pepper, until the pork is no longer pink. Cut the tops off the peppers and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Once your quinoa is finished cooking add the pork mixture and steamed broccoli and stir to combine. Spoon the filling into the peppers until filled all the way.

Topping
3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tbsp butter
½ tsp Italian seasoning

Melt the butter and combine ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle on top of the stuffed peppers and bake for 30 minutes at 400  ̊F

After stuffing the 4 peppers fully, there was some filling left over, which I ate later that week for lunch, but you could definitely stuff 6 peppers if you wanted too. 


Sunday, August 17, 2014

White Wine Sangria - Party Sized!

white wine sangria summer

For summer vacation, I went home to Canada for the week. The weather was cooler than Seoul, but it was a refreshing break from the heat. My mom and dad threw me a lovely barbeque filled with food, friends, and fun. I thought it would be nice to make a classic summer drink to enjoy, so I took advantage of the Ontario fresh fruits and whipped up a HUGE party sized white wine sangria.

veggie tray
Fresh veggies from my parents garden!
mexican dip
A delicious artichoke and cream cheese dip.
sangria white wine


Ingredients
2 bottles of dry white wine 1 bottle of sparkling dry white wine
2-3 cans of soda water
1 lemon
1 lime
1 peach
1 pear
1 granny smith apple
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup strawberries


Cut all of your fruit into slices or small chunks and throw into a large pitcher. Pour one bottle of white wine, sparkling wine, and one can of soda water over top. As you drink the sangria add in more soda water and the remaining bottle of white wine. Don’t forget to enjoy the delicious liquor soaked fruit!

This recipe made enough sangria for about 8 people to have 3 to 4 glasses of it and there were still leftovers!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Fruit Infused Water

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I went home to Canada for my summer vacation and had a busy week back in Seoul following that. The hot summer temperatures continue in Seoul and boy is it humid! Just last week the weather report indicated that it would be 32 degrees and 97% humidity.What IS that!!! With it being so hot, I've tried to increase my water intake. Our school has lots of water coolers for me to refill my bottle daily, but I've haven’t been doing such a great job.

fruit infused water seoul korea

Last year, a friend of mine showed me her CitrusZinger and I was intrigued. It’s a water bottle that essentially has a citrus juicer built into the bottle. All you have to do is pop a lemon or any other citrus fruit inside the bottom and fill it with water. The Simmering Seoulmate had noticed that I was interested and got her to pick one up for him. He surprised me with it and I've been using it ever since. I mostly use it with lemons, but recently I've been using grapefruits and WOW is it good!

I've wanted to increase my water intake at home as well, so I made some fruit infused water in a jug. I made it with nectarines, sliced blueberries and of course grapefruit. All you have to do is fill a large pitcher half full with ice. Then, add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of your desired fruit and fill with water. Leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and enjoy.
Drink Up!
fruit infused water seoul korea