Tex-Mex Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Quinoa is one of my favorite foods to make. It's really versatile, plus it's super healthy! Until I made these peppers, though, I had only ever made quinoa as a side dish (as seen here). I realized when I made these that it also makes a perfect base for a main dish, especially a vegetarian one! Quinoa has lots of protein (8g in one cup cooked) and you can do so many things with it.

These bell peppers are stuffed with cooked quinoa, black beans and corn, then topped with cheese. They're a fantastic summer meal with fresh corn, but you could easily make them in the winter with frozen or canned corn too. Served with a side salad, they make a great meal to be eaten al fresco!

Tex-Mex Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from I Wash...You Dry
Serves 3-6 (Some of us ate one half, others ate two)

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 diced red onion
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 3 bell peppers of any colour (I used red, orange and yellow)
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup corn
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used a tex-mex blend)

Slice peppers in half (from top to bottom) and scoop out seeds. Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat oil and sauté garlic, onion and red pepper flakes until onion is translucent. Rinse quinoa and place in saucepan with 2 cups of water (or broth, if you prefer). Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer until all liquid is absorbed (about 12-15 minutes). 

Heat oven to 350.

Add beans, corn and salt to cooked quinoa and stil to combine. Spoon mixture into hollowed peppers. Top with cheese and place on baking sheet lined with foil. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with salsa and/or guacamole. 

Honey-Lime Tilapia with Mango-Pineapple Salsa

I used to hate fish. With a passion. When I was four, I said, and I quote, "This tastes like grass" (whatever that means?). My mom isn't a huge fan either. A few years ago though, we started to eat salmon more and more, and now it's actually one of my favorite dinners! I even order it at restaurants!

The next fish I've moved on to is tilapia, and I think it is going to take less time than salmon! It doesn't taste that "fishy", and it's actually really good (and healthy too!).

This tilapia is really tasty. It is marinated in lime juice and honey, and topped with a yummy pineapple-mango salsa. I've recently started to LOVE mango. They're just so good, and fantastic in this salsa.

If you're like me and you're trying to introduce more fish into your diet, try this tilapia recipe. You won't be disappointed!

Honey-Lime Tilapia with Mango-Pineapple Salsa
Salsa adapted from Eat Drink Love
Serves 4


For the fish:

• 4 tilapia fillets (about 100g, or 3.5 oz. each)
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

For the salsa:

• 1 1/2 cups diced mango
• 1 1/2 cups diced pineapple
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice

In a shallow dish (I used an 8 x 8 square baking dish), combine all marinade. Add fish, and flip to coat both sides. Marinade for 1 to 24 hours. 

Once marinated, wrap each filet in foil and BBQ for 12 minutes, or bake for 12-15. While fish is cooking, prepare salsa. 

Serve salsa with fish. 

I had this with basmati rice and asparagus.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

There are times when you just get stuck in a cookie rut. You know, when you just make chocolate chip cookies over and over again? Well, chocolate chip cookies are my favorite, but sometimes you need to shake things up a bit. That's why I decided to make these cookies!

When I made s'mores pie, the only bag of marshmallows I could find was huuuge, so I bought it but I ended up with a lot left. Enter, chocolate marshmallow cookies!

Unlike yesterday's recipe, this recipe is much more summery. It tastes a lot like s'mores, minus the graham crackers. They're so chocolatey, and you won't be able to resist!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt
• heaping 1/3 cup of cocoa
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars, egg and vanilla. 

Slowly incorporate flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, then fold in chocolate chips.

Form cookies into balls, then add about 3 marshmallows to each.

Bake in preheated oven on well-greased (marshmallows stick!) cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

I know what you're thinking. Mac and cheese? In the summer?! Well, I made this recipe for my little sister. She left for camp on Sunday, and we asked her what she wanted Saturday night as her last home cooked dinner before camp, and she said "That macaroni that you put in the oven." Last year she said pancakes. Go figure.

I didn't protest, though! I love macaroni and cheese. It tastes good any time of year. I've tried a few different macaroni recipes, and this one is definitely one of the best ones. I used panko bread crumbs instead of the regular kind, and it made a big difference! They got so crispy on the top of the macaroni...yum!

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Adapted from Kirbie's Cravings

Serves 6

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim...because that makes it healthy, right?)
• 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Preheat broiler to high.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook macaroni according to package directions, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together milk, Dijon mustard and salt. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Once fully melted, whisk in flour. Let cook a few minutes, then slowly incorporate milk. Whisk constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and becomes thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in 1 1/2 cups of cheese.

Once pasta is cooked, drain (don't rinse) and add to sauce. Stir to coat, then pour into an 8 x 8 inch pan.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese, then top with breadcrumbs. Put under broiler until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

Fruit & Nut Granola

I really like granola. I like it in both cereal AND bar form. Yum. I especially like this granola. It's got really summer-y flavours because it has dried cherries and blueberries in it, as well as pecans, walnuts and almonds. It's the perfect summer breakfast for people who like oatmeal in the winter, but want something cold in the summer.

When I adapted this from the original recipe, it made so much. As in, I didn't have a bowl big enough to mix it in. My neighbours now also have a lot of granola.

Well, now this granola is sitting in a big tupperware in my cupboard and tempting me every time I walk in the kitchen. Also, I'm pretty sure my dad has had upwards of three bowls today. Not even joking.

Fruit & Nut Granola

Adapted from allrecipes

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 Tbsp. hot water
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit (I used dried cherries, blueberries and cranberries)
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a medium bowl, combine oil, hot water and honey. Whisk until combined.

In a separate large bowl, mix the oats, nuts and sunflower seeds. Pour the honey mixture over top. Mix until all of the mixture is fully coated.

Spread the granola over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake for ten minutes, then stir, and bake for another ten minutes, until granola is golden.

Add dried fruit, then let granola cool completely (granola will harden more as it cools), the store in airtight containers.

What I Ate Wednesday: Paris Edition!

Bonjour from Paris! I've been here for the last five days, and tomorrow I leave for home.

This is the first time I've done a WIAW post, and I'm excited that I get to share what I've been eating here in France. I've been eating mainly French things (like croissants, pain au chocolat and jambon et fromage sandwiches on baguette), and they have been so tasty!

Many "What I Ate Wednesday" posts are not actually from this Wednesday, but because of the time difference here in France, this post is entirely what I ate today! So here we go!




Breakfast was from the most gorgeous Starbucks I have ever seen. It has really high ceilings (complete with chandeliers), and the building seems to go on forever!

After days of croissants and bread, I was craving some fruits and veggies. For breakfast, I had a huge fruit cup and a fruit & nut granola bar. One thing I found really funny was that the Starbucks' here serve pancakes and French toast (which, no, they don't just call "toast").

After a morning of touring and shopping, we ate lunch at the top of a big department store. The restaurant was called "Deli-cieux", which was a bit of a play on words, because "delicieux" means delicious, but with the hyphen, it meant "Deli of the Skies", which it really was! It was nine floors up, and we got a gorgeous view of all of Paris.

 

My lunch was a salad with mozzerella, parmesan, tomatoes and olives (which I picked around). I also had a peach iced tea, which I've been having at lunch every day. They don't seem to have plain iced tea here, but that's fine by me because it's so good with the peach flavor in it!

For dinner, I had the best duck I've ever tasted! It was served with fig sauce and mashed potatoes, and it was SO good!

 

For dessert, I had molten chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream. Again, SO good! I think this was the best dinner I had while in Paris.

Overall, Paris was great, and this dinner was a great way to finish a fantastic trip!

The Food of France: Part One

My posts are going to be a little on and off over the next couple of weeks - because I'm on vacation in France! This week, my family is staying in a villa in the south of France, then next week we're off to Paris!

I'm going to try to post some of the food I'm eating here, and today I'm going to start with the delicious French macarons that I had yesterday.

These are the more traditional French macaron, the ones that you've probably seen in stores (I've even heard that they're being called "the new cupcake"). They're very cute and colourful, and they come in lots of flavours (the ones above are chocolate, pistachio and lemon...yum!). 

The other type of macarons that I bought were the St. Emilion kind. I had never seen these before, but I liked them even better than the other ones! These are only made in St. Emilion, which is a town in France that we visited, and it's beautiful. It has lots of old architecture, and cobblestone streets. 

These are little cookies made from just almonds, sugar and egg whites. They are so good! The recipe dates back to the 1600s! Yum! I definitely recommend trying them.