Fiesta Quinoa side dish or snack

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Quinoa is just awesome. And this easy to make, looks like you worked harder than you did dish makes it even better! This can be served cold or at room temperature so it is perfect for summer.You can make this for your next BBQ or to keep in the fridge ready to take out and eat as a snack or side dish.  (** the picture above does not have black beans OR cilantro)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Cooked Quinoa
• 1.5- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half (you can cut it again to make it smaller if you wish)
• 1 large avocado
• 1 can or 2 cups black beans (you can get canned black beans or make them fresh! Follow bag directions for fresh black beans)
• 3 ears fresh corn
• 1 batch cilantro chopped 

Directions:

• Cook your Quinoa and then set aside to cool off completely
• dice tomatoes 
• chop cilantro
• dice your avocado 
• if you are using fresh beans this may take a whole night to prepare. Follow package directions. You can use cans if this is all you have.
• I think fresh corn is BEST for this dish. So try to avoid the canned stuff. How to make corn? You have options:

1. grill
2. boil
3. bake (simple and comes out really good! Add salt and paper to the corn before you place in the oven)

Let the corn cool off and then CAREFULLY cut the corn off the cob. 

After everything is prepared and cooled off you will get a large flat dish to lay out your quinoa. On the side mix the avocados, black beans, corn, tomatoes and cilantro. To this mixture add 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and one whole juicy lemon! Salt and pepper to taste. 

Place dressing and vegetable mixture on top of quinoa. Do not mix. The vegetables are meant to say on top of the quinoa and get mixed in as people serve themselves.

This makes an amazing dish. If you have leftovers it keeps great in the fridge! Enjoy!

Mashed Cauliflower

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Easy to make. Tastes Delicious. What more could you want?

My friend Liz sent me an awesome cauliflower recipe from Linda Wanger's blog. I read through the ingredient list and realized I had everything but my Almond milk had gone bad... gross! So I nixed the almond milk and changed up the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

water - I did not measure but I would say it was about 1 cup  (while you are blending the cauliflower if it still feels too thick add more water)

2 oz of goat cheese (Linda's recipe asked for 4 oz but I did not have 4 oz)

pepper and garlic powder to taste

Directions:

I followed Linda's suggestion and cooked my cauliflower her way and it worked out great:

"I’m all about speed and ease so this is my shortcut to steaming veggies. Fill a pot or saucepan with water about 1 inch deep. Add 1/2tsp sea salt and bring to a boil. Add chopped vegetables and cook until soft, about 3-6 mins depending on the vegetable. Drain the excess water and you’re done!"

After the Cauliflower was steamed I let it sit in a strainer for about 4 minutes just to cool off a bit. I then placed the cooked cauliflower in a blender, added some water and blended away. I added the goat cheese, pepper and garlic powder and blended some more. The goat cheese melted nicely because the cauliflower was still a little hot!

The end result was yummy, but I do have to say the cauliflower has a strong taste. The taste was not a  cauliflower taste, it is hard to explain. More like a garlic taste that you can't get our of your mouth. I am not sure if this taste was so strong because I did not put much dairy? Next time I will try it with the almond milk to see if it dulls the strength of the cauliflower.

*If I were to make this again I would add something to make it a bit more creamy, whether it be almond milk or a cheese wedge!

How do you make mashed cauliflower?

Black rice... very nice!

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This past weekend, I tried black rice for the first time. I had never heard of, seen, or tasted black rice before. It tasted similar to brown rice, kind of nutty in taste and sticky in texture, but was a little chewier.  When it's cooked, black rice turns into a DEEP purple. Now, we know that brown rice has more nutritional value than white rice, but how does black rice compare? My curiosity got to me and I have done a little research on black rice and its nutritional value:

Benefits of black rice:

• has anti inflammatory properties
• has similar nutrient levels to brown rice
• has high amounts of antioxidants
• has high fiber and iron
• is packed with anthocyanins (Anthocyanins are phytochemicals that are found in foods with a deep purple color like blue berries. These phytochemicals are said to fight chronic disease such as cancer and heart disease.)
• has the same superfood properties as blueberries, but it is much cheaper
• has more fiber and less sugar than blueberries
• has the highest amount of protein when compared to white and brown rice and double the fiber of brown rice
• A 100g serving of black rice has 8.5g of protein, 3.5mg of iron and 4.9g of fiber 
• A 100g serving of brown rice has 3g of protein, 2mg of iron and 2g of fiber

NOTE: Different resources listed different amounts for protein iron and fiber for 100g of the black and brown rice. I took the average.

Have you ever tried black rice? What do you think? I am personally going to try to cook black rice more often!