Stuffed Bell Peppers

Boyfriend has been working crazy hours this week. He has a project deadline coming up so he's been pulling all-nighters at the office :( Me, being the awesome girlfriend that I am, wanted to cook something for him that was healthy, satisfying, and delicious! I went to my usual website, Tastespotting, for some inspiration. If you haven't been to this website, you should check it out! It's a compilation of different food blogs with amazing photos of food and creative twists to old and new recipes. Plus, it just brightens up my day to look at food!

I have always been a fan of bell peppers. I love the taste, raw or cooked, the shape of the vegetable, and I especially love all the amazing bright colors!

I decided to make some yummy stuffed bell peppers. Most recipes include ground beef or ground turkey in the stuffing, but I just wasn't in the mood to cook meat, so I opted for a vegetarian version. My stuffing consisted of quinoa, black beans, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sundried tomatoes, asparagus, and tomato paste.

By the way, have you ever tried quinoa?? It's one of my favorite rice substitutes. Uncooked, it looks like this:

You can get it at Trader Joe's or Henry's. It has a nutty flavor and goes great with everything! Besides being tasty, it's also very healthy. It's one of the only plant foods that has all the essential amino acids and  is a great source of dietary fiber, iron, and magnesium. It is also gluten-free. I like to think of quinoa as "super food!" 

You can cook quinoa on the stove, but I discovered you can also cook it in a rice cooker! I LOVE my rice cooker. I used equal parts of quinoa and chicken broth (for more flavor, but you can use water or vegetable broth), press the on button, and let the rice cooker do all the work!

I washed and hollowed out the peppers, fill the inside with quinoa stuffing, and baked them with the pepper lids on at 375 for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, take out the peppers and open the lids (carefully, they will be hot and soft!). I sprinkled generous amounts of Trader Joe's Shredded 3 Cheese Blend (mozzarella, monterey jack, and cheddar cheese) over each pepper. Put the lids back on, and back into the oven for another 5 minutes! 

Take the peppers out of the oven and let them cool slightly before handling them.

Grab a fork and knife then enjoy!!!

Moving = Cleaning??

Boyfriend and I went to Redlands this weekend to help my parents move to their new house. All I can say is, WOW my parents have a lot of stuff!! I guess that's ok since they've lived in the same house for 15 years.

My mom tried to give me her old dining room tables. Yes, you read right....she has 2 dining room tables! One for the kitchen and one for the formal dining room. I know she has an emotional attachment to them because one was shipped from our old house in Taiwan, and the other was the first piece of furniture she purchased in the US. However, at what point do you say enough is enough? Everything has some sort of memory attached to it, but you can't keep everything or can you?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tables will go to someone who really needs them.

My parent's dog, Molly, wanted to make sure we didn't forget her  so she hopped in the truck and waited while we loaded up some furnitures!

My brother, Alan, and our faithful dog, Misty.

Speaking of moving, before I moved in with the boyfriend, I used to move every year. I have lived in a total of 8 different places (if you count on-campus dorm and on-campus apartment)!! My rationale behind these moves was that I better move around while I'm young and only have to worry about me before I get older and settle down. When I say moving, I don't mean all over the country or world (which would be awesome!). I mainly moved around San Diego. From UTC to Mira Mesa to Pacific Beach, and now Mission Bay. I've experienced sharing a room, sharing an apartment, having my own room, sharing a house, and living on my own in a studio. I have learned how wonderful and disastrous it is to live with friends and strangers.

I loved moving every year because it gave me an excuse to clean out all my belongings and really lead a minimalistic lifestyle. Also I think I just liked the change and experiencing different neighborhoods and people. Everytime I move, I can't get over how much stuff I accumulate over the course of just one year!! I know almost everyone holds on to things, and some people do it to the extreme, but why do we all feel the need to have so much "stuff" in our lives?? Do you like moving? What's your favorite or least favorite part about moving?

My parents' move ended with a gorgeous sunset, as seen from their amazing new backyard!

In with the very very new!

Hello! Thanks for checking out my brand spanking new blog!

Today is the day. Today I started my very own blog, which I have wanted to do for quite some time. My biggest hesitation in starting a blog is my worry that I will run out of things to say. For those who know me, they are probably laughing their butts off right now because I always have something to say. I am relatively new to the whole blog world and I know close to nothing about computers. Sure, I'm a Facebook fanatic and an avid Yelper, but that's easy stuff compared to devoting a whole website to what's going on in my head. All that being said, I just want a place where I can share interesting news I learned, stimulating conversations I had, or fantastic recipes I just tried. I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning new things. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!