California Quinoa Salad

On a recent trip to Minneapolis, I was thrilled to visit Whole Foods, the deli of which is always a highlight of my visit, as I love their salads. (I also love that they let you sample them.) On that particular visit, I fell in love with their California Quinoa salad, made with red quinoa, veggies and fruits and some type of light dressing that tasted guilt-free. Sadly, though, the guilt returned when I saw the price sticker on the pound-and-a-half container when I got it home--$13! I resigned myself to not buying it again (which is easy, since we don't have a Whole Foods where I live) and just enjoying the salad. Then I remembered Pinterest! This recipe is inspired by this pin and this pin.

For a no-nonsense version of this recipe, click here. For the nutrition facts, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of vegetable broth (or water)
2 cups uncooked quinoa (I used red; it's pretty!)

1/2 cup dried fruit of your choosing [I switched the pictured raisins out (too old) for Door County cranberries. You could use cherries, too.]

First, put the broth, quinoa, and dried fruit in a saucepan and heat it to boiling over medium heat.

By the way, I didn't have any broth and didn't want to use plain water, so I made my own broth! (So exciting!) All you have to do is throw some veggies (any, really) into a pot of water, season it with salt and pepper, bring it to a boil and simmer for at least an hour, then strain it.

And now, back to our show!  Once the quinoa mixture is boiling, lower the heat and cook (covered) 15-20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. To be completely honest, after 20 minutes, my quinoa was still a little soupy, but I liked its texture, so I just drained it and moved on.)

While that's cooking, prep the rest of the delicious, healthy ingredients:

2 mangos, peeled and diced (I only used one, but will use two next time.)
1 red pepper, diced
1/4 cup finely-chopped red onion
1 cup shelled edamame
3 tablespoons finely-chopped cilantro
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds (I just chopped mine.)
2 limes (zest and juice)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 orange, peeled, skin removed, and diced (This will be my addition next time.)

Don't let the coconut scare you; I couldn't even taste it.

Do yourself a favor and zest the limes before you cut and juice them! (I forgot.)

To me, the mixture looked like Christmas candy of some kind. Yum...

When the quinoa mixture is somewhat cooled, mix everything together, and voila!

While typing this, I decided I would add another mango and maybe an orange, 

because I have a sweet tooth, but it was delicious, all the same, 

and I'll definitely be making this again.

Serve warm or cold.

Makes about three quarts.

Believe it or not, I had no clue how to cut a mango, 

so I found this video, which made it seem simple.

(Keyword: seem)

P.S. Guessing that this recipe makes 14 cups (one cup per serving), 

I analyzed it via SparkPeople and got the following result:

Stuffed Green Pepper Soup

This delicious soup offers a lot of bang for the effort-buck; it really couldn't be simpler. 

It's no wonder my neighbor, Judy, chose it for her soup swap contribution! (Thanks, Judy!) 

Just brown and drain the ground beef, add it with the rest, and simmer for a while. Delicious!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef, cooked and drained

2 quarts water

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes (undrained)

      (for a little spice, use diced tomatoes and chillies)

1 can (28 ounce) tomato sauce

2 cups cooked long grain white rice

2 cups chopped green pepper (I used 1 1/4 large green peppers)

2 beef bouillon cubes

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

While you're browning the ground beef and cooking the rice, prep your veggies:

Next, throw everything into a large saucepan or Dutch Oven.

What's that, you say? That's not a skillet; it's a saucepan?

Yes, I soon realized that was risky.

However, the soup and I survived unscathed.

Cover, and simmer 30-40 minutes or until the peppers are tender.

Serve with your favorite crusty bread or nothing at all; it doesn't really need a sidekick.

Makes about 10 servings.

"What's that?" you say? "Is that a sidekick?"

No; it's the other delicious soup I made today--Black Bean and Quinoa

(for the adventurous, spinach-loving types).

Quinoa is nothing to be afraid of; it's like rice, only smaller and better for you.

You can find that recipe here.

To find a printer-friendly version of Stuffed Green Pepper Soup, click here.

Black Bean and Quinoa Soup

You'd be hard pressed to find a single unhealthy ingredient in this hearty, colorful soup; and yet, it tastes delicious, especially on the second day. [Warning: Not for spinach or black bean haters!]

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 large carrot, chopped

5 cups low sodium or no-salt-added vegetable broth

3 cups cooked black beans or 2 (15 ounce) cans low sodium or no-salt-added black beans, drained

4 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 avocado, chopped

[I must interject to say that I used regular chicken broth and regular black beans, with no regard to salt content in either. So, technically, it's not really healthy, but it's healthy enough for me!]

First, prep your ingredients:

I gave the beans only a slight rinse.

The quinoa is simple to rinse in a colander. 

Never had quinoa? Neither had I, a year or so ago, but it's nothing to be afraid of; it's simply a grain with a mild flavor and good a pleasant texture. It's a little like barley, I guess.

Saute onion and green pepper with 2-3 tablespoons of water in a soup pot,

until tender (about 5 minutes), adding more water if needed to prevent sticking. Add garlic and saute another 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add the tomato, cumin, chili powder and red pepper flakes and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tomatoes soften. 

Add carrots and vegetable broth, bring to a boil, stir in the rinsed quinoa, reduce heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add black beans and continue cooking until heated through and quinoa is tender, about 10 minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Mmmmm.....I love spinach!

Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and lime juice. Serve garnished with chopped avocado (optional, of course).

Makes two quarts.

The other delicious soup in the photo is Stuffed Green Pepper Soup. 

I made both soups within two hours.

You can find a printer-friendly version of this recipe here.

If this is your recipe, I apologize for not giving due credit; I simply forgot where I found it! I will happily amend the post with credit when provided such.

Banana Almond Chocolate Chip "Ice Cream"

I have a new, favorite treat.

It tastes surprizingly like ice cream, but it's much less guilt-producing!

Who knew that sliced, frozen bananas, when blended, tasted like ice cream?!

My friend Colleen's son did; that's who! (Thanks for sharing, Colleen!)

This is an excellent way to use up bananas you can't otherwise find a use for.

I have a freezer full of frozen bananas I've never gotten around to using.

Not anymore, though!

I mix the following in my Nutribullet, but I'm sure a blender would work, too.

1 sliced banana, frozen
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 1/2 teaspoons flaxseed
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of chocolate chips

Blend it all up and enjoy with a spoon or straw. Delicious!!

In addition to the nutritional information below (which I gleaned from My Fitness Pal), add 78 calories for the chocolate chips.

The same amount of ice cream would be at least 450 calories 

and contain 75% of the recommended daily allowance for fat calories.

City Chicken a.k.a. Mock Chicken Legs

This post is mainly a marker; I haven't actually made these yet, but my mother-in-law does every year, and since they're a family favorite, I figure I should record the recipe for posterity. Next year, I'll watch her make them and add more details, but for now, she offered this:

Ingredients:

4 lbs. veal (special order from the butcher)

4 lbs. pork boneless roast, also special ordered, because the butcher cuts it up for mock chicken legs, though Grandma cuts them further.)

Put on sticks (the butcher from Festival Foods throws these in with the the price of the meat), alternating pork and veal.

Dip in egg, roll in saltine cracker crumbs (w salt and pepper)

Brown in Crisco in roaster (This is the most time-consuming part, as this recipe makes about 50 "legs."

Place in roaster (covered) with 1 large diced onion over the tops, in oven at 350 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes or so (50 legs takes that long, apparently) Poke with a fork to check for doneness. Transfer to another pan to keep warm so that you can make gravy from leavings in bottom of pan.

Finally, have a family feast!

Stay tuned for updates next year! :)

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

Last summer, my niece and her kids stayed with us for some days during which I was tutoring in the morning, and this recipe seemed like a great idea; you make it the night before, let it cook all night, and let your guests eat it when they wake up. They loved it. I made it again last night for my daughter and her friends (who had a college-friends-catch-up sleepover) so I took a few pics and thought I'd share the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 24-oz bag of frozen hashbrowns 

1 lb. cooked bacon or sausage (I used one package of regular breakfast sausage in a tube.), drained

2 cups of grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Optional ingredients:

1/2 cup diced green onions 

1 green pepper, diced 

1 cup diced diced mushrooms (my addition, required, if you ask me!)

1 dozen eggs

1 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon dried mustard (optional)

Directions:

First, cook and drain the meat, crumbling the bacon if that's what you used.

Layer the hash browns, meat, veggies, and cheese 2-3 times, ending with cheese. My crock pot is big, so I just made two layers.

Whisk eggs, milk, and seasonings together

and pour evenly over the stuff in the crock pot.

Set to low for eight hours, checking after seven hours but making sure the eggs are cooked. This recipe can burn around the edges if you let it go too long. Here's what mine looked like after seven hours:

I served it with ketchup, and it was fantastic. YUM

I just realized that this recipe would be perfect to make at our family reunion next summer; it can easily be prepped ahead.

For a printer-friendly copy without the pictures, click here.

I found this recipe here.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Years ago, I started Mrs.4444 Cooks, inspired by the one and only Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I actually got to meet her once, in the lobby of BlogHer '09 Chicago, and I'm happy to confirm that:

*That she's every bit as down-to-earth as she seems on her blog (and on her cooking show).
*Her husband is a smokin' hot gentleman.
*Her boys are adorable little rascals who reminded me of puppies playing together (They were bored 4-5 year-olds at the time, and I didn't blame them.)

Anyway, although I don't get to Ree's blog very often, I am "friends" with her on Facebook, and she shared some tempting after-Thanksgiving recipes, so I thought I'd give one a whirl.  I liked it very much, and Mr.4444 proclaimed it "wonderful," so I thought I'd share it here.

This recipe reminded me of my Chicken Spaghetti recipe in the way that's it's prepared, so if you've made that, this one should be a snap. I'll warn you, though; this recipe is not for anyone in a hurry. I estimate that I was in the kitchen for an hour and a half, as there are a lot of ingredients to prep (or maybe I'm just slow):

Yes; that's stuffing on that plate with the turkey.

No, I didn't use the stuffing, and that was far more than enough turkey, too.

The containers in the middle-back hold frozen turkey broth; I had to thaw it.

Here's a handy photo of the ingredients after prepping

(click to make it nice and big):

Here's a list of the ingredients, in order of use:

4 Tbls. butter

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 pound of mushrooms (the best part, IMO!), cleaned and quartered 

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)

1/3 cup flour

4+ cups turkey or chicken broth

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened 

3 cups shredded or chopped turkey

1 cup finely-chopped black olives

1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed

4 slices of cooked, chopped bacon

1 cup grated Montery Jack cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

After you prep everything, put the pasta on to cook. When it's done, drain it and set it in a very large bowl (I use my biggest Tupperware bowl.).

Heat a large skillet to medium-high and melt the butter. Add the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add the mushrooms. At this point, I must interject to advise you that the best way to clean mushrooms is to wipe them with a clean, dry cloth.

See? Nice and clean and not slimy! Oh, and yes, I rebelled against the quartering advice and cut some of them in sixths and even eighths!

Add the salt and cook some more (2-3 minutes)

Pour in the wine and cook 5-7 minutes, until about half of the liquid has evaporated.

Next, sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and use a whisk to mix it in.
(Congratulations; you have made a "roux," which is a flour/fat mixture used for thickening sauces.)

Then add three cups of the broth, and cook it a few more minutes to thicken it a little. For what it's worth, I couldn't get mind to thicken much at this point, but I had added four cups of the broth, instead of three. It didn't turn out to matter, though.

Next, reduce the heat to low and cut the cream cheese into small pieces, adding it to the roux.
Stir to mix it in well. This is about how much it will melt in.

Then add the remaining ingredients: turkey, peas, bacon,

and cheeses.

Mix well. At this point, pour it all over the spaghetti in a very large bowl and mix it well.  Add the extra cup (or more) of broth now, as you want it to be nice and moist, as the spaghetti is going to soak up some of the broth. When I made this, I used four cups of broth, plus another 3/4 cups.

Top with breadcrumbs and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the top is browned.

For what it's worth, this recipe made enough for me to generously fill three 2-quart casserole dishes. I cooked one for Mr.4444 and me and froze the other two without putting the breadcrumbs on the ones that I put in the freezer.

The only thing I might do differently next time (and there will be a next time) is maybe add finely-chopped celery to the mushrooms/garlic. Sorry I don't have a photo of the finished product; I was too busy eating!