Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers

Remember how I used to post three times a week? Yeah, me neither. Holy crap I’ve been busy. I last posted on February 27, so pretty much two whole months of silence. Sorry about that.

So here is a recipe that I made this week, it is a hybrid of a few recipes that I found on Pinterest and ended up with a bonus dinner out of it as well.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey breast

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup (or more) frozen corn

1 cup quinoa (uncooked)

6-8 fresh red bell peppers

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 green onions, sliced

Sour cream (optional)

Instructions

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 350 DEGREES. I swear if I cook one more thing and am not told to preheat the oven at the top of the recipe I never remember until I’m about to throw whatever I’m cooking into the oven. And mine takes FOREVER to heat up.

You’re going to want to start with you quinoa and get that going first. If your quinoa has directions, by all means go with those. Here’s what I did. Rinse quinoa under running water. Bring one and a half cups of water to boil with quinoa in a pan. Once it boils reduce to low and simmer until most of your water has evaporated, kind of like cooking rice, for about ten minutes.  I, of course, forgot to set damn timer, so I had to strain mine because I had no idea how long it had been cooking and didn’t want to overcook the quinoa.

Cut off the tops of your peppers, removed the seeds and set in a large baking dish. Mine could only hold six so that is what I went with.

I cut up the remaining bit of pepper from the top scrap and ended up with almost a cup of of sweet peppers to use later this week.

Dice your onion and start to sauté that in a nonstick pan with some butter or oil. Once your onions are mostly done add your turkey and brown that.

Add salt and any other seasoning at this point, give a good mix and then add your tomatoes, black bean and corn. I used two cans of tomatoes and as you can see that was A BAD IDEA. Almost no room to stir everyone together. Simmer this mix for about ten minutes.

If you have the room, add your quinoa in and stir together, if you’re an idiot, grab a large mixing bowl and add turkey mixture and quinoa and give it a good stir.

Fill the peppers with your turkey mixture, cover with foil and toss (gently) in the oven. Cook these bad boys for about 40 minutes and then removed foil and top with cheese. Cook for another five or so minutes until the cheese has melted. Serve with green onions and sour cream. Yum!

Extra bonus recipe. I had a decent amount of leftover filling, so I added two small cans of tomato sauce and some spices and made Santa Fe Chili! I’m so smart. I let it cool and then tossed it into a freezer safe container and put that in the freezer for a day I’m too tired (lazy) to cook.

cheesy orzo with broccoli and bacon

Tonight for dinner we had salmon, which we usually make with baked potatoes, however, salmon takes like 5 minutes to cook and potatoes take an hour in the oven. We also didn't really have good potatoes soooooo I had to improvise something. We are in desperate need of food so I was kind of limited in my options. Enter that Betty Crocker app Jacque told you about last week. I entered orzo and broccoli and didn't really get anything, so I took off the broccoli and started scrolling through the orzo recipes until I stumbled on this one. I did not have the right vegetable (asparagus) or cheese so I decided to make up my own version and here it is:

cheesy orzo with broccoli and bacon

4 slices of bacon
chicken broth (14 ounce can)
1 cup uncooked orzo
half a bag of frozen broccoli
1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers (optional)
1/2 (or more) cup shredded cheese

Assembling the mise en place for this one is fairly easy. First you need to cut the bacon into strips. I usually do this by layering all the bacon together and then cutting it with scissors directly into the pan once it is hot, or a small bowl. You will also need to do a rough cut on your roasted red peppers. I had some left over from a previous recipe so I was happy to add these guys in, but if I didn’t have them already I would have just left them out.

Start out by placing a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once that gets hot you’ll add the bacon and cook until it is nice and crispy.

Set your bacon aside and clean out your pan, or get a new one. I used a stainless steel pan and not a nonstick one because that’s what we have and I needed my nonstick for the salmon.

Add chicken broth to your pan and get that to a boil. Add the orzo, reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for five to seven minutes.

Add half a bag of frozen broccoli and the roasted peppers. Cook until the orzo is al dente.  I’m not really sure how long this took, I was too busy cooking my salmon. After my salmon was finished, roughly six or so minutes later, I tasted the orzo and it was under and the liquid had all cooked out. So I added some more chicken stock and cooked for another eight (maybe?) minutes. Basically you will want to keep an eye on this and you might have to bump the heat up closer to medium.

Once your orzo is cooked, add in your desired amount to cheese and give it a good stir. Garnish individual servings with bacon and serve with whatever you have going (for me this was salmon).

I hope you enjoy. Hit me up in the comments if you want to know how we cook our salmon. Here’s a tasty sneak peak look. MMMMMMmmmmm, salmon.

top four winter skin essentials (mary kay sponsored post)

Hi all!!! Well I don’t know where all of you are located around this lovely continent we live on but I am guessing most likely you are cold, like me. This winter has been outrageous. I am sick of it. It wreaks havoc on my nails (they are so dry if I look at them they spilt I swear…), makes my head itch like crazy and, of course, dries out my skin! So today I’m going to share with you some of my favorite Mary Kay winter skin savers! This time of year is all about removing the dry, flakey, dead layer and moisturizing the new!

First of all, your science lesson for the day: WHY does skin get dry? Oil that is naturally produced from the skin is what keeps it soft and moisturized. Hot baths, low humidity and dry climate strip the oils from the skin and leave it feeling dry and itchy.

MOISTURIZATION IS ESSENTIAL!!

We have a few things products that I would like to highlight that will help replenish that moisture and get you back to feeling good.

Our Moisture Renewing Gel Mask

At only $22 this is a cheap lifesaver for dry skin. It is an amazing formula that dries to the touch so you can sleep in it or wear it around the house on cleaning day. It helps de-stress skin, de-puffs skin and reduces the appearance of pores. And it hydrates and locks in moisture. Your skin feels amazing after you use it.

 

Our Oil Free Hydrating Gel (purple) and our Intense Moisturizing Cream (pink)

These little babies are at the top of the line when it comes to adding moisture back. They are $32 each and sssoooo worth it. A little goes a long way. I can usually get through about two winters with one jar.

The purple one is for oily skin. It’s a smooth gel that doesn’t clog pores yet provides moisture for oily skin. (This can be tricky for oily skin. The pores are usually larger and therefor get clogged easier with a heavy cream causing more breakouts.)

This pink is for us dry people. It is so thick you can take the top off the jar and shake it up and down and it will not move. It is the ultimate moisturizer.

They both hydrate for up to ten hours leaving skin feeling soft and locking in that essential moisture. Love. Love. LOVE!!

Now let’s talk about lips. I work in an office four days a week and I talk on the phone most of the day so my lips gets dry. Enter SATIN LIPS!!

This little two step duo is pure magic. First you use the lip mask to scrub off the dead skin and then use the balm to keep those lips moisturized for at least six hours! I don’t know about you, but I never got into the whole chapstick thing, putting it on a million times a day only to have your lips STILL be dry, forget that crap. This is just a million times better. I love to use it before bed a few times a week and I never have chapped lips, even in the coldest weather. The set is only $18, I have spent that on an okay lunch at Applebee’s. Such a deal!!!

So there are my top four picks. I hope that I helped you and you considering adding a few of these goodies to your routine. We also have other options as well so contact me and I’ll find you a perfect fit, at a great price.

Thanks! Stay Warm!

Robyn