Slice of Tasty: The Quinoa Way

I don't know about you, but when I don't follow a recipe, I go overboard.

Blame it on me keeping the fridge well stocked with the food I love. Obviously. So, when I decide to throw something together, I want to throw it ALLLL together. Believe me, it can get weird. Every once in a while it doesn't turn out like my taste buds imagined, but I won't share those flops with you.

What I will share is the dish that took me twenty-seven minutes to make, and roughly twenty-four SECONDS to consume. Not to toot my own horn, but it was that good : )

Side Note:  I'm a RICE LOVER. Not the brown rice that is decent for you. The starchy, long-grain, jasmine white rice. The unhealthier one. Story. of. my. life.

Well, folks, I've found a new substitution that I almost equally love and is much healthier. A protein. Quinoa.

This recipe, (that I promise I will get to. . . eventually) is the 4th meal I've made this week, that included Quinoa. It truly is versatile. You can prepare it SOOO many ways. And this is one of them.


When I began to concoct this dish, I knew of course that the base would be the quinoa, but like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I couldn't decide what to add and leave out. Some of the options from the pantry/fridge were sun dried tomatoes, onions, capers, spinach,  an avocado, hummus, cauliflower, broccoli, artichokes, garlic, plum tomatoes, and so on. TOO many decisions. Really did contemplate adding it all, but that would be overboard, and my need for a quick lunch didn't allow it.

So this is what I ended up using. Minus the hummus and plus some seasonings.

INGREDIENTS - all approx. I didn't exactly measure when I made it ( :

1/2 cup - uncooked, pre-washed, quinoa (make sure it is pre-washed so you don't have to worry about rinsing it yourself and removing all the bitter coating)
1/2 cup - chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 avocado
couple handfuls of baby spinach
1 sweet onion
1/2 tsp garlic
teal knife ( : (optional)
S&P to taste
few drops of sriracha or a hot sauce of your choice.

DIRECTIONS

First cook the quinoa. You can prepare it ahead of time like I did the night before( just left overs from my previous quinoa meal), but to cook it you just add the quinoa, broth, and 1/2 cup of water to a small pot. Turn the heat on high. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down, cover it, and let it simmer for about 15 min or until the liquid is absorbed.

Next, slice your sweet onion and saute it. Just like in the brussel sprout recipe.

It should look something like this. You know. 

Then, add the spinach until it wilts and looks something like this.

After that, add the garlic. Then the avocado (you could slice it up before you add it, but I just scooped the half out and sliced it up with my spatula while I was stirring it in). Throw in 1/2 cup of the cooked quinoa, S&P, and sriracha. Stir around for a bit, til its nicely mixed and smell-good. 

You know what to do next.

This only made one serving and I probably could have eaten for 3. So if your hungry or you make it for more than one, definitely double it ( :

Slice of Tasty : Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts and tasty probably don't seem to go together, but after you try this recipe, you may think different!

The hubby politely ate the dish and said it tasted. . . "healthy", which put a smile on my face and made me giggle, because we all know it wasn't beans and cornbread, or biscuits and gravy, which he would have rather had. And I know, it was probably too girly of a dish and should not have been the main course, but hey, it was "healthy"!

I, on the other hand, LOVED it! I honestly didn't think brussels sprouts could ever be prepared to where I would crave them, but this dish did it. So try it and fogetaboutit ( :

I have to give credit to Williams-Sonoma's Dinner Parties, for the recipe, which I of course then "tweaked" a bit.

How attractive is that dish! 

What you need:
1 lb Brussels Sprouts
1 Sweet Onion
1 TBS butter
EVOO to taste
Balsamic Vinegar to taste
Pancetta or Bacon (optional)
S & P to taste

Chop the onion up in thin slices and saute it with roughly 1 tbs of EVOO and 1 tbs of butter, for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.
Wash the brussels sprouts and remove any bad leaves (if you cook them the day you buy them, you don't have to worry about it, because there shouldn't be any). Then slice them in half and mix them with salt, pepper, EVOO, and about 1 tbs of the vinegar. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast them at 450 F for about 15-20 min or until they are tender when pierced and edges are lightly brown.

Once they are done roasting, mix them with the onions and another tbs of vinegar while heating it on the stove for another few minutes until all of it is mixed and then serve it up!

(If you add the pancetta or bacon, cook the meat first and then add it at the end when you mix the sprouts with the onions, and you can also saute the onions in the meat grease, but that would make it less "healthy", but of course more flavorful).

Seriously, try it. Don't let the sprouts scare you. It is quite simple, and will definitely be made again in this household (although it might be for lunch, while the hubby is at work : ) )

Notice I roasted mine a bit longer for added crispiness, and don't notice the quality of my photo taken with the magnificent LD (low definition) Iphone camera itself!

snow day No. 3

Last night Brian and I got out of the house, braved the icy and snowy streets, and went to hang with some friends. This is where I received some refreshing recipes that I could try during my 3rd day snowed in at home.

This morning I experimented. . .

A chocolate banana smoothie. Delish! (and it took all of two seconds to make. . . so much for making the day go by fast until my hubby got home from work!)

I didn't measure anything out. I usually don't, so I'll just estimate and you can just work with me.

1 Frozen Banana
1 Tablespoon-ish of Nutella (MY FAVE)
1 Liberal Glug of Soy Milk

Blend it (in a blender), sip it, and forget about it! YUM!

Next time I might add some greek yogurt or some other tasty items to it, but I was ALL out so I obviously didn't this time around.