{recipe} stuffed eggplant & bell peppers

you guys! i made my first video (well, in a long time.)

i actually love making videos. i used to make videos all the time for church, for different events for my campus ministry, for weddings, for fun, etc. it's sort of my low-key hobby that i do in private because i'm embarrassed. i'm not professional at all and my videos are newby at best. i've had an itch to try making a video again since i got my dslr two years ago but never got around to it until today.

today i decided to clean out my fridge and whip up a healthy dinner (i haven't cooked in a while - we've been out all week!) i had a lot of random veggies in my fridge - including two huge bell peppers and an eggplant, and a pack of ground chicken...so naturally, i wanted to make stuffed eggplant and bell peppers! this recipe is super low-key, quick and easy to make. it's also low on carbs and pretty healthy overall. :) I served mine with a side of garlic roasted broccolini - which is my current vegetable obsessions, btw!

the recipe is below.
i hope you guys like my video! i had sooo much fun putting it together (and it only took 20 minutes or so!) I wasn't sure how to carry my camera while throwing things in the pot, stirring, etc. i had to wash my hands like, 100 times! hopefully i'll get a better at taking/making videos :)

enjoy! (and be easy on me, peeps...)

Stuffed Eggplant and Bell Peppers 
Prep time: 15 mins  Cook Time:  30 minutes
Serves 2

1 medium-sized eggplant
2 large bell peppers
1 pack of ground meat (I used chicken)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 handful of spinach
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup couscous
garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
EVOO

freshly grated cheese
breadcrumbs (i used italian)

 Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut tip of eggplant, discard. Halve eggplant lengthwise and scoop out flesh. Chop eggplant flesh and set aside.  Cut the top of bell pepper and removed stem. Remove seeds from the hollow body of bell pepper, set aside. Chop remaining portion of bell pepper after removing the stem. Chop onion and tomato into bite-sized pieces, set aside. Heat a large cast iron (or pot) and apply generous amount of EVOO. Brown ground chicken and season with garlic powder, s&p.  Add onions and saute. Add chicken stock. Add all remaining vegetables (tomato, eggplant flesh, chopped bell peppers, spinach) and stir well. Add couscous. Close lid for 5-7 minutes and allow it to steam. Coat eggplant and bell pepper with EVOO and season with s&p. Turn off heat and spoon in generous amounts of filling. Top with freshly grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until eggplant/bell peppers are fork-tender. 

{30 post challenge} ten little things

continuing the 30 post blog challenge

10 random facts about yourself that people (may or) may not know about you:

1. when I was in kindergarden, I stapled my thumb to the wall. I was trying to staple one of my drawings onto our wall and the staple went through my finger completely before getting to the paper. This memory is still very vivid to me. I think it was my first real experience of pain and fear. I still remember the feeling of my heart dropping to my stomach when I first experienced fear. it was scary!

2. the only time I ever had to check myself in to any urgent care sorta situation was when I had an anxiety attack. weird thing was I didn't feel anxious/nervous at all! I was feeling really weird one morning on my drive to work and wasn't able to drive because of extreme nausea, dizziness, headache, etc. my heart was beating so fast and I couldn't slow down my breathing. I hyperventilated so much that I started to get numbness and tingling to my fingers and I thought I had a brain tumor/stroke/aneurysm. (lol..typical hypochondriac nurse) I got a work up done at an urgent care which all ended up being negative and signed me off as having an anxiety attack. they said my stress physically manifested in my symptoms. so weird (and expensive..)

3. when I first started to pursue nursing, my dream was to be a pediatric nurse. I specifically wanted to take care of kids with cancer. however, I had the worst pediatric rotation ever and met a lot of jaded/mean/two-faced nurses, witnessed a married couple decide to divorce each other and saw a lot of kids become brain-dead during my rotation - it scarred me for life. I don't think I can ever be a pediatric nurse. :(

4. i went through an identity crisis during my middle school/high school years. (i know we all do during that life stage but i went through more than one!) it was subtle and and all of them were short lived but they are now very horrifying to me in my mind. for a short period of time, i really wanted to be gangsta and wore really baggy clothes and let my keychain strap hang from my pockets. i was really confused. here's a visual in case you can't imagine it up yourselves:

 please, don't judge me...

5. when i was in utero (aka in the womb), my mom found out that there was a tumor 10x the size of me sitting with me in the womb. they recommended her to abort me, but she decided to go through a life-threatening surgery to save my life. she was and continues to be an example of loving sacrifice in my life. my mom is my best friend and i'm thankful for her everyday!

6. i'm a huge introvert. people often are surprised when they find this out about me because i'm relatively outgoing, but i love staying at home and being by myself for the most part. this is a struggle sometimes because i really love people and love spending time with them, but naturally i prefer to be by myself. it's confusing. i'm an introvert who loves people!

7. i'm a crazy person in my car. my car is a safe haven for me to dance and sing like no ones watching (though, i'm sure people have caught a glimpse of me in action). i usually act out entire musicals during my long drives to/from work and church. sometimes, I miss so many freeway exits that prolong my drive by 30-40 minutes. this one time, i was driving home (we were living in arcadia at the time) and i kept missing the freeway exits because i was acting out songs from the musical "Wicked". I ended up in downtown LA and it took me forever to get back to my route because there was really heavy traffic. but, it was worth it!  i seriously love musical theatre.

my favorite tunes to sing to recently are Adelaide's lament + If I were a Bell from Guy & Dolls, I Can Hear the Bells from Hairspray, I'd give my life for you by Miss Saigon, Gimme Gimme + Forget About the Boy by Thoroughly Modern Millie and the Wizard and I by Wicked:

This song is so hard to sing.

8. as long as I can remember, i always had the heart to adopt. even at a young age, I was able to appreciate adoption as a beautiful thing. after I became a Christian, I saw how much earthly adoption reflected the spiritual adoption that happens to us as Christians when we're saved!  God-willing, eugene and I are hoping that adoption is in our family's future and that God would use it to magnify the love and beauty of the gospel through our family. we're praying about it and excited to see what the Lord has in store!

"... in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." (ephesians 1:5-6)

9.  a few times a year, my pinky toenail comes out/off. I am a huge klutz and I bang it on corners/walls all the time. I never realize how much damage I caused until i try to cut my toenails and the entire nail comes off. my pinky toenails are really thick now because of the multiple times it had to regenerate (so many layers!) sorry if its TMI.

10. sometimes i'm a little morbid. i think a lot about what would happen if i died or if i found out i was dying. (not much, i suppose! except eugene would go hungry, maybe - haha) more than anything, i think a lot about how i would spend my last days/weeks/months of life. if i found out i was dying, there would be a lot of things that i would want to say.

sometimes, i wonder if i should draft an email or a blogpost of all the things that i wanted to say before I died. I would probably talk about how much I loved you or how important you all were to me but most of what I would say would be about Jesus - the great hope that I have found in the gospel and how deeply I long for all of you to know Him. i draft this particular email a few times a year, just to see what I could get out. there's a unique sense of courage that comes when you know you're dying. and people listen more intently to the words of the dying, in my opinion. i hope that I would not wait until my dying day to say things that are heavy on my heart and that I long to share. constantly praying that I would have the courage and boldness to speak of Christ -in life and death!

in the meantime, watch this. this is one of the most powerful videos i've ever seen. the glory of God was magnified in his life and in his dying. God is still God, and God is still good. to God be the glory! (here's the link in case the video doesn't show up: http://vimeo.com/9796056)

this is my prayer, too!

"...as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death" (philippians 1:20)

happy may!

man, the weather has been crazy hot these days. 

summer is definitely eager to get here!

april was a sweet month. i did pretty good with most of my goals: i was able to eat 30 salads during the month of april (though, not always once a day... sometimes i forgot to eat lunch!) we juiced/smoothied a lot. i'm still working on finishing my books (i am so sloowwww) but i did manage to do a new art project (acrylic painting - so fun!) this month flew by and eugene is just a few weeks away from summer break (finals start next week....yipes!) here are some highlights from april.

thursday therapy continues with my sister kat - though, not always on a thursday ;) we still call it "thursday therapy" because it sounds better that way.

took a few detours on my way to work so that I could drive down PCH. the ocean is so good for my soul.

we've been trying to keep it simple for the most parts. we make up for "simple" my slamming down on that avocado. yum yum :) 

our portos visits have definitely died down a lot  (we went so much when we first moved here!) but its nice to live close so that we can surprise our friends with these little goodies.

no better way to start a day. (especially a work day....powering up!)

my weakness. (they were mini so they were evil and deceiving and delicious!)

we yolo'd one night and watched a late night showing of captain america. we got home past 1am and we both had work in the morning (eugene at 8, and me at 7am.) this was a m&m commercial, i believe. 

we are super into breakfast tacos. it's definitely one of the most frequently requested items in the tseng household. here I am trying to be artsy with some flowers from a sweet wedding we attended (hello, mao's!) i love love love yellow.

fruit infused water is definitely a lifesaver when trying to detox from sugary drinks (i.e. juice, lattes, etc)  

my version of retail therapy. 

here's my april craft. this is one of my favorite songs ever. (it will probably be one of the first songs we teach our kids... hehe) i'm practicing it on the piano!

his & hers breakfast. told you we're  eugene is obsessed with breakfast tacos. : )

this month i'm going to try to venture out on this 30 day blog challenge. (fyi, this will probably roll over to next month since i can't see myself posting everyday!) if you have a blog - i challenge you to try it too!

so here it goes -
list 10 random facts about yourself:
1. i became girly after i came to college. most of my friends in high school were boys and they would make fun of me when i would dress girly or wear nail polish (miss those times!)
2. i'm a starbucks snob because i used to work there. i don't like it when they let my espresso shots die and definitely don't appreciate bad customer service!
3. my favorite food is always asian food.
4. i am a total homebody. if i could stay at home all day i totally would. (i'd maybe just keep the windows open for ventilation)
5. i'm a stress/emotional eater. it's really bad on work days..
6. i never discovered the magic of trader joes until after college. (so sad!)
7. my current hobbies are painting, cross-stitching, crocheting, home-making, playing piano, and reading. i also really like writing poems. i'm usually too ambitious for my own good
8. eugene and I talk about medical/pharmacy/hospital-related things all the time. if someone lived in with us, they would think we're so boring but we love talking about medical things. (i.e. eugene just asked me why patients with afib are on anticoagulation meds...hehe)
9. i used to have a hamster named sweetie. i don't know why we wanted hamsters. it always bit our fingers and didn't really do much but eat/sleep. my sisters hamster tweety ate my hamster. (literally. it was so traumatizing!)
10. i've never had a green thumb. i kill almost every plant that comes into our home (i blame the lack of sunlight/bad ventilation system in our apartment!) but seriously, i have the thumb of death. this definitely needs to be fixed by the time we move into a bigger place because i really want to have a vegetable garden!

i'm brainstorming some goals for this month! will keep you posted!
goodnight, sweet friends!
xoxo