A Sweet Quinoa Snack

As I wrote yesterday, most of what I blog about is dinner.  However, I make lots of other fun stuff too, it's just not as strategic as my weekly dinner preparations.  So here's something different.

I decided to make this quinoa recipe that several of my friends pinned on their Pinterest pages (which I don't use that much for food because I have the blog!).  It looked sooo delicious.  In my kitchen, quinoa is usually cooked in vegetable broth and eaten with savory things like cheese and vegetables.  Making a sweet more breakfasty, or after school snack in my case, version was very intriguing.   I didn't have any of the ingredients the recipe used (she even used a different kind of quinoa), so I made my own version which is basically the same method, just different flavors.

1/3 C quinoa (yellow/white)
1 C vanilla almond milk
half a bananna, sliced
a handfull of walnuts, crumbled
a generous drizzle of honey
several sprinkles of cinnamon to taste

rinse quinoa.
bring almond milk to a low boil (careful not to let it boil over, keep the flame medium and watch it) when milk starts to bubble at the sides, add the quinoa.
add cinnamon.
return to low boil and turn the heat to medium.
cover.
cook for about 10 minutes or until quinoa is done and desired amount of liquid remains.
add to boil and sprinkle with toppings and honey!

I like mine a little soupy.

It tasted like breakfast (and this is very similar to the hot cereal that I eat most mornings for breakfast). Which is ok with me because I like breakfast and don't mind eating breakfast foods as snacks one bit!

Enjoy on a cold winter afternoon. I did....

It was delicious.

Weekly Menu February 13-18

It's Winter.  I'm taking 12 credits this semester. And, I work. It's a busier than usual week at my house. So, let's use the crock pot!  This week's menu includes two soups to warm us up... and should be relatively easy to prepare with limited time.  In planning the menu this week I browsed food gawker and came up with recipes from some other food blogs out there.  I also "phoned a friend",  actually we Skyped, for a recipe.  I love hearing about others' go-to recipes..

chunky tortilla soup with black beans

slow cooker squash stew with chickpeas

salmon Patties and steamed broccoli (one of my go-to meals)

Jordan's go-to baked fish with veggies.

    

Goes well with white fish such as sole, tilapia, etc.  Cut up a few medium sized tomatoes, one good sized zuchinni, chopped onion.  throw in about half a can of chickpeas and throw it all in a baking dish, drizzle all over with olive oil, cumin (go heavy on the cumin!), paprika (also consider using turmeric, coriander, garlic, and/or fennel) and a little bit of cayenne pepper, cover and throw in the oven, 450° for about 35 min. 

I mostly blog about dinner here, but thought I'd include a breakfast or snack recipe for a sweet, cinnamon quinoa.  I'll probably try it sometime this week.  

Have a great week everyone.

Thanks Cara and Anu!

Hello! Inspired by Cara's post about her cooking class, I couldn't wait to make Anu's lentil recipe.  It went perfectly with the yogurt marinated chicken I had planned.  On a cold night, it was prefect to crank up the oven to 500 to roast the chicken and make something a little spicy.

 I had all of the ingredients on hand!  Even curry leaves (they can be found at Namaste Indian grocery here in Des Moines.)! They were required for a round of Indian cooking Ryan and I did a few months ago, and upon reading that this recipe called for them, I remembered we stored the extra in the freezer.   I used split red lentils and a 16 oz can of tomato sauce instead of fresh tomatoes. I can't wait to try this when we have some fresh garden tomatoes!

 

The yogurt marinade on this chicken makes it super tender and juicy.  I usually half the recipe, but use the full amount of yogurt and double the amount of spice (1 tsp. each coriander and cumin).  

Anu's Delicious South Indian Daal

Good afternoon from India! I've been here just over a week, and I have already had so many wonderful food adventures! There are several Indian ladies around town who have yoga students over for lunch. Just call ahead, tell her how many are coming, and at 1 pm a delicious home cooked meal is served at their table!

We are in Mysore, so this is all south indian, vegetarian cooking. Some local favorite cooking ladies are Shaila, Nagarathna, Anu, and Sandhya (Sandhya even has a cookbook published. If you want to cook South Indian food I assure you she is the real deal! I ate at her house yesterday).

Curry leaves and chilli peppers, very important ingredients!

Curious to learn some authentic Indian cooking skills, I signed up for a cooking class with Anu. There were 8 or so of us, and she first showed us the spices she keeps in her round Masala tiffin (turmeric, mustard seed, coriander, cumin, black peppercorns, fenugreek, and fennel seed.) Next she had little bowls of each of the different grains and legumes she keeps in her kitchen. Very helpful! The shelves of the grocery stores here are filled with these, but I only recognize a few).

Masala tiffin to keep all spices handy (round, on the left) and different lentils, beans and rice.

Anu describes her well-stocked Indian pantry.

Chai tea break!

Anu in her kitchen.

 After a break for some delicious chai tea, we joined her in her kitchen to make the day's menu: Daal, Sweet Pumpkin Delight, and Chapatis.

 I've included Anu's Daal recipe below. It was truly delicious. It seems the secret is in the sauce. Follow her instructions for cooking the spices in the oil, and you'll have a great base for many Indian dishes.

Kitchens here are equipped with two, perhaps 4 propane fueled burners, and that's it! Pressure cookers are very popular for fast cooking hard lentils and beans.


You can find more recipes on her adorable blog: http://www.anu-foodonthetable.blogspot.in/



Daal 
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Moong, masoor, and cowpeas, or other legumes, in any combination
5 cups Water or as required
2 tbsp Oil (Anu used rice bran oil)
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp Cumin seeds
4 Green chillies, slit 1
one-inch piece ginger, freshly grated
4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped OR a pinch of asafetida
1 cup onion finely chopped
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 cups Tomatoes finely chopped or puréed
Salt to taste
3 tbsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp Ghee

Adding the spices.

Boil the lentils until soft, or pressure cook them to two whistles.  You may use either one of the listed lentils or a combination of all three in equal proportions. In a heated pot, add the oil.  Add the mustard seeds and heat until they pop or sputter.  Add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and chillies and fry for 30 seconds; then add the garlic, ginger, and onions and fry on a medium flame until the onions are opaque.  Add the turmeric powder and fry for 15 seconds on a low flame.  Add the tomatoes and mix well.  Add ½ cup water and cook on a medium to low flame until the tomatoes are soft.  Add the cooked legumes and salt.  Water may be added to obtain right consistency.  Bring to a boil and turn off the flame.  Garnish with ghee and coriander leaves.  Serve hot with rotis or rice and green salad with onions.  Squeeze lime juice over the lentils in your plate, and add a few raw onion slices just before eating to create a divine taste.

The full meal included many dishes, including beets, a cucumber salad, and a delicious sweet/desserty dish known as kesari bath. Enjoy the photos, the recipe, and if you do make it you should let Anu know, she would be so happy!

Your friend,

Cara

Cooking the Cover

The cover of the January issue of bon Appetit has been beckoning me for over a month.  When I turned to the recipe and saw that it required pastry I got scared.  Then there was something about the inclusion of eggs that didn't challenge me enough though... I already make frittatas on a regular basis so why try this?  I just decided I didn't want to make it.  But I kept looking at it and I finally sat down and read the damn recipe.  There were a ton of roasted vegetables (hooray!) and I was really craving that, so I just realized that no matter that I was scared of the pastry really did want to make it... and finally, this week, I did!  By the way, since I have a food processor, making pasty isn't that difficult, I just need to build my confidence. 

I didn't use eggplant but used zucchini instead.  I used half and half instead of heavy cream.  It took about two hours to make it.  IT WAS GOOD!

There are two lesons here friends:  1.  Don't be afraid of the recipe just because it calls for a technique that you aren't quite comfortable with.  Use is as an opportunity to practice!
2.  When you don't like an ingredient in a recipe... substitute!

It looks pretty good, huh?

Weekly Menu

Last week's Indian food was great, and we had plenty of leftovers so we just got to those fish tacos last night.  Let me tell you... they are tasty! What makes it for me, is the sauce!! This is a recipe we go to time and time again.  Try it.

This week's menu includes a lot of veggies. I haven't done a lot of veggie roasting lately and that really sounded good to me as I made the menu.  Perhaps because it finally feels like winter now that we got a decent snowfall this weekend.

Homemade Pizza!! I have seen a lot of people posting about homemade pizza lately on facebook. This makes me happy! I love homemade pizza. It makes so much more sense than delivery or frozen pizza... you can choose your toppings, it's less greasy and it costs far less.

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables inspired by Rosemary Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Vegetable and Red wine Ragout from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison 
I plan to use whole wheat linguini, roast some vegetables and go from there...

Tandoori Style Chicken from Martha Stewart with quinoa and chickpeas.  This marinade leaves the chicken very juicy and tangy. I try to get it done so it can marinate overnight and all day while I'm at work.


Roasted Vegetable Tart from the cover of the January 2012 Bon Appetit.  Again, this will be "inspired" by this recipe, as I did'nt want to get all the ingredients here (I don't like eggplant) but really like the premise of the dish.  This will, however be my first time cooking with fennel!

Thanks to all the readers out there for your feedback and comments.  I love writing this blog and sharing it with all of you... it's great to know that people find it useful. 
What are you making this week?

Staying Organized.

It snowed all day Saturday so I took some time to reorganize the spice cabinet.

BEFORE.

It's not easy to keep things organized in this cabinet because I use them all the time. I have three shelves and two spinners.  I try to keep the spinners alphabetized.  The first shelf is the most often used spices... salt, pepper, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, chili powder, etc.
The second shelf is less often used spices... cloves, fennel seeds, ground mustard, etc.
The top shelf is a mix of jars for items that came in bags or other odd containers and other less often used spices such as coriander seeds, star anise, a big refill size box of kosher salt, and black peppercorns. 

I  have so many spices, and like to be able to see everything, so I use the spinners, but they do take up a lot of space.  Someday Ryan may build some organizing gadget for me to keep the spices in... but for now this will have to do.  I just have to keep on top of the organization, which can be tough when things get crazy in the kitchen, or I have new spices to work into the mix. 

AFTER.