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!

Dairy free tomato soup! YUMMY!

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Yesterday I made a tomato soup. I read different recipes and came up with my own. The final product was delicious. A definite thumbs up!

Ingredients:

10 vine ripe tomatoes cut in quarters

5-7 garlic cloves

EVOO

1-1.5 tsp cumin

1tsp coriander

salt

pepper

basil

oregano

1 Cup chicken or vegetable stalk

cayenne pepper (optional for a little kick)

goat cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450

Dice tomatoes into quarters and put them in a baking dish. Cover the tomatoes with EVOO and add plenty of salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. I would say add enough salt not TOO much, but do not be afraid to add the pepper, oregano, and basil.

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In the dish place 5-7 garlic cloves. They will get nice and soft as they cook in the oven and will add great flavor to your soup.

Place the tomatoes and garlic in the oven for 35 minutes. As they cook you will notice juices emerging from the tomatoes and a wonderful smell will fill in the air! Mix the tomatoes twice. Once after 15 minutes and again after 25 minutes.

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After the tomatoes are cooked, carefully take the dish out of the oven as the tomatoes will now be sitting in a lot of tomatoes juices.

Heat a large pot (one that you would make a soup in) and add EVOO or vegetable oil, crushed garlic, cumin, coriander, and a little cayenne pepper if you want a kick.  I would add about 1/2 tsp-1tsp of each, less for the cayenne. Feel free to add more of the seasonings and make sure there is enough oil so that the seasonings do not get stuck to the bottom of the pot. Do not let the garlic burn. Put the fire on medium to low heat. You want it to sizzle for about 3-5 minutes. Keep mixing.

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Add the tomatoes and all of their juices to the pot of seasonings and mix for a minute.

Add 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock. Mix everything and simmer on low for about 3 minutes.

Take the tomato mixture off the heat and let it sit and cool down. After about 10 minutes  blend everything. You can puree if you have an immersion blender. Or you can pour it in your blender like I did! Works great.

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I made the soup with a grill cheese sandwich on the side. YUM. For my camera man I added a tsp of crumbled goat cheese, in his bowl, to give it a little more creaminess. Camera man said he LIKED the tomato soup!!!! This could be one of the very few dishes he has given positive feed back on. WOW.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Healthy Holiday Recipes for your next Holiday Party!

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I searched the web to find what I felt were the top 3 easy to make and  healthy holiday recipes for you to bring to your next holiday party!

Stuffed mushrooms

Goat Cheese and Apple Canape

Quinoa Pizza Bites

I have never tested nor tried these recipes but I am planning on making the Quinoa Pizza Bites tonight, with a few changes. Have a healthy and happy holiday! Let me know which ones you make and how it goes!

Cabbage, kale, white bean, carrot, celery and brown basmati rice soup!

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I love making soups. Soups are usually easy to make and are a nice low calorie option to keep you warm during the cold winter months!

This soup does not look great, but it tastes great. I put this soup together myself, so no recipe followed. You can tweak the measurements if you feel necessary. This recipe makes a lot of soup. So cut in half if you wish to make a smaller batch! As I was writing this blog I realized that I need to do a better job at recording my measurements for people who like to cook with measured amounts of seasonings and such, which hmm is probably most people. Sorry I'll do a better job next time!

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Ingredients:

• half head of white cabbage (fist time I used it in a soup and I love it!)
• 3 carrot sticks
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1/2 onion (I left this out, but you can add!)
• Kale- 5 leafs? I am not really sure but that sounds about right.  You can use more or less.
• White beans (I used raw white kidney beans and then cooked them myself, you can grab a can if you wish)

• 1cup of basmati rice (you can use regular brown rice, or you can totally leave this out)
• 6 cups chicken or veggy broth (for soup) I know so MUCH. you can add half water half stalk.
• garlic, minced about 2 tbs
•  salt to taste (don't be afraid to add it. Mine did not have enough)
•  pepper to taste
• EVOO- 2tbs, add more if needed
• dried thyme to taste. I added a lot. It was so good. Don't be afraid
• Cumin (if you wish)

Directions:

• First I dealt with the raw beans.  I brought 1 cup of white kidney beans to a boil took it off the heat and let it sit for an hour as I was prepping the soup.  This allows the beans to soften a bit.
• dice the carrots, celery, and onion
• Slice the cabbage in little strips, you do not need to make the strips small but try to not have them too thick.
• In a pot add some EVOO and mix in some garlic, let is sizzle a little then add in diced onions, cabbage, carrots and celery. Mix for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. You will slowly see all of your veggies shrink. Mostly the cabbage.

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• Add in your 6 cups of broth,white beans and kale. Mix and then let it sit uncovered until it comes to a boil.

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• Lower heat to "Low" and let it cook for (SHOOT I didnt time it but this is an estimate) about 45minutes-1hour. Mix every 20 minutes. You should test and just feel it out. When veggies seem cooked, you are done! Take off heat and enjoy.
• **As your soup is cooking, make your brown rice. Then mix into soup at the very end. This is optional. I did it and find the soup more filling.

Butternut Squash.. DELISH!

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OK. Go buy butternut squash and bake it. It is so good!!!  Squash  is also rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins B6! My cousin from a far away land emailed me a salad recipe. One of the ingredients in the salad is baked butternut squash. I had intentions of making this salad and blogging about it, but could not get past step one in the directions! I could not stop myself  from  eating the warm, baked, butternut squash. It was SO GOOD! I put NOTHING on it. Just baked it at 375 degrees for about 30 min- to an hour (or until a fork will easily go through it). Do not rush the baking process.

I tried the butternut squash plain, and then I dipped it in my favorite ketchup. YUM!  Below is a comparison of sweet potato and butternut squash. They are both delicious and  healthy but have their differences!

                         Butternut squash 1 cup                   Sweet potato 1 cup

calories                        63                                                                         130

carbs                          16.4                                                                         33

fiber                              2.8                                                                          4

sugar                            3.1                                                                          7

protein                        1.4                                                                           2

fat                                   0.1                                                                       0.0