Recipe: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

When the team gets together for family dinner, it’s all about one thing: comfort. We work so hard during the day that the sound of a glass of wine being poured at the start of the meal is music to our ears. Personally, the sound of the sauté pan working its magic is a lullaby for my stress of the day.

Last week, I shared my recipe for shrimp scampi over a bed of roasted red pepper pasta. This week, it took me a little while longer to decide on what to make. (Being a Libra, decision-making has never been my strength!) I knew it had to be healthy, easy and colorful. I love love love red and orange bell peppers. So alas, we feasted on stuffed peppers.

Everyone makes stuffed peppers differently. I chose to gather inspiration from the Southwest. The addition of corn, a jalapeno and taco seasoning made this dish shine like a Tex-Mex diamond. You can make this extra delicious using a low-fat cheese. There are pre-packaged mélanges of cheeses in the dairy section of your grocery store.  Don’t be afraid to substitute your sour cream with a dollop of Greek yogurt. Your taste buds will not know the difference!

What you need:

1 lb ground turkey

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 cup cooked quinoa

9 bell peppers , cored, with the top cut off

1 can of corn (size is up to you!)

1 package of Taco seasoning

2 cups low-fat shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil

Greek yogurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees
2. Place peppers in deep casserole dish, set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm olive oil.
4. Add garlic and onions and sauté until onions are translucent.
5. In the meantime, chop up the tops of the peppers and add to pan.
6. Add jalapeno.
7. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink.
8. Add taco seasoning, ¾ of the cheese and corn. Stir until combined.
9. Fill peppers with filling and top with cheese.
10. Add ½ cup of water into casserole dish (this will help steam the peppers!)
11. Bake until peppers are soft to touch (about 20 minutes)

Bon Appetit!

Lindsay

CW’s Winging It! Buffalo Style LIVE Wedding Pictures

As you know, CW23 Winging It! Buffalo Style challenged us to coordinate a perfect wedding with less than 2 weeks to air LIVE on the morning show. With the help of local vendors & Etsy Wedding shops, we were able to do just that. From decor, to the wedding dress, tuxedos, bridesmaids dresses, jewelry, florals, programs, wedding cake and everything in between, you could say we were proud of all we were able to accomplish. C & I now have a running joke that we wish all of our weddings could be coordinated in 2 weeks – fewer choices, less headache! Overall, we are so happy with what we get to do. View the entire live wedding here.

To view the entire wedding album, visit Jenny Lynn Photography.

K & C

Entertaining: St. Patrick’s Day Party

Thursday morning I shared a few of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day entertaining tips with our friends at The CW’s Winging It! Buffalo Style. Seeing as St. Patty’s Day is more of a “going out” holiday, I kept things simple. We’re in Buffalo for the festivities and if you didn’t know, Buffalo has one of the largest parades in town. Naturally, everyone wakes up early throws on their green and heads to their first party of the day. These entertaining tips suffice for a little pre-parade action with a DIY photo booth, “Irish Gold” recipe and funky straws. View the segment here.

A special thank you to our friends from Party HQ for the festive straws & DIY photo booth accessories!

We partnered with Southern Comfort to create this delicious recipe, unlike your typical green concoction. Find the recipe here for the “Irish Gold,” also featured in the latest issue of Buffalo Magazine!

Happy St. Patrick’s Weekend!

Karina 

 

Entertaining: Irish Gold Cocktail

{Photo c/o Michael Majewski for Buffalo Magazine}

“The Irish Gold”

2 parts Southern Comfort
2 parts ginger ale
Splash of orange juice
Orange twist garnish
Ice

Prep:
Using a shaker, pour your Southern Comfort and ginger ale first, top off with a splash of orange juice, pour and garnish with an orange twist.

I’m so excited to share my St. Patrick’s Day cocktail, the “Irish Gold” as seen in my first entertaining column for Buffalo Magazine. Seeing as C & I have our own PR firm, it’s always a bit different when you see yourself publicized as opposed to a client. My next column releases March 25th, so stay tuned!

I wanted to change things up a bit, so instead of green beer, I came up with this gold recipe. A special thank you to Southern Comfort for sponsoring this delicious libation – Cheers!

Karina

Recipe: Shrimp Scampi

{Image Via}

Recently, I made dinner for the Team KC crew. The trick when choosing a recipe is deciding to make something using wine (Cooking with a wine that you’re drinking is something you should always do!). Of course I would levitate towards my favorite 20 minute recipe, shrimp scampi. My family has been eating shrimp scampi for as long as I can remember. It’s my go-to recipe for something bikini-friendly that the guys will still love. In fact, some of the guys were practically licking their plates!

What’s great about this recipe is its versatility. You can make it with brown rice, angel hair or flavored pasta. At a recent trip to Horsefeathers, on the West Side, I picked up a bag of garlic and parsley linguini from the Pasta Peddler. When serving this dish, if you have rice, you may prefer to portion out the rice and spoon on the shrimp and the rest of the goods. Or, if you’re serving it with pasta, keep the pasta in the pan that you cooked it in, and pour in your scampi when you’re all done. This will merge the flavors well, while allowing you to still portion the shrimp. Make sure to spoon on the yummy garlic flavor when you’re finished!

What You Need:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter, cut into cubes

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 medium shallot, chopped

1 quart grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 medium shallot, chopped

¼ cup dry, white wine , such as Sauvignon Blanc

1/2 cup chopped parsley

¼ teaspoon roasted red pepper flakes, optional

2 lemons, one cut in half and one cut into equal pieces for garnish

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

12 oz package of pasta (I used garlic and parsley linguini from the Pasta Peddler)

Fresh baguette

How to Make it:

1. Prepare pasta according to package instructions.
2. On a skillet over medium, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Add the garlic and shallots, stirring continuously until translucent.
4. Add ¾ of the tomatoes and crushed red pepper, and stir.
5. Squeeze lemon halves over sauté pan, keeping out the seeds.
6. Sauté the tomato mixture until stir until tomatoes are tender, about 3-4 minutes
7. Add wine and reduce for 1 minute.
8. Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter and shrimp.
9. Cook until completely pink.
10. Stir in parsley and serve.

A few tips: Be sure not to over-cook the shrimp. They will turn bright pink when fully cooked. This is the lower-calorie version. By all means, substitute unsalted butter for the extra virgin olive oil. It will give you a rich buttery flavor you will not regret!

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did! Tweet me @lindsaygregg and let me know if you have any questions. Don’t forget to snap pics!

Happy Cooking!

-LG

PS, The shrimp was $10.99 a pound, and the pasta was 3 for $10. So, including the wine (depending how much you want to spend) expect to spend around $20-$25 for this dish!