In my recent beginnings of Operation Uberfrau, I've also been trying to find healthier "cleaner" and more nutrition filled foods. I've read a lot of how quinoa is one of those "wonder foods". It contains a balanced set of essential amino acids and is a complete protein source for a plant food. It's higher in protein than rice and is a good source of dietary fiber,phosphorus, magnesium and iron. And it's fun to say (it's pronounced "keeenwah!!") :)
I've had quinoa for a while but never gotten around to it. I can screw up any kind of rice so I was nervous...but I finally made some up: I went to the Savvy Vegetarian and followed their instructions for quinoa and it worked perfectly: I soaked 1 cup of quinoa in hot water for 5 minutes and then drained it. I then brought it to a boil in 1 1/2 c water with a spash of olive oil and salt. I put on a lid and turned down the heat so it simmered for 15 minutes, then took it off the heat for another 5 and voila! Fluffy slightly nutty flavoured quinoa. And I must say - I love it. It's easy to cook, has a unique texture and flavour and can take the place of potatoes, rice or couscous in a lot of meals. We had it with some curried lentils and it was yummy.
I had some more last night and made up a salad with it:
1 c quinoa, cooked (ends up as about 2-3 c cooked)
1 c black beans
1 c corn
1 tomato diced
1/4 c red onion (would do with a bit less next time)
I added a dressing from 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil, some cayenne, salt, basil and pepper, as well as 2 T lemon juice, 1 t lime juice and a few splashes of rice vinegar whisked together.
Stirred that all up and had it with a homemade burger. Yum. That salad could be a meal on it's own really with some more beans tossed in.
Mmm. Quinoa.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
quinoa
Monday, September 27, 2010
Pumpkin pancakes
On sunday I wanted some healthier pancakes. With fall comes my obsession with pumpkin and squash...so I hunted up a recipe for pumpkin pancakes at my favourite recipe site (allrecipes.com) and OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH MAN they are delicious. Pictures? I was too busy making groany noises to remember to take them. There's a photo on the website...
The recipe makes a bunch (I probably could have halved it for just the 2 of us) so I have some tucked away in the freezer for lunches too. Squeee!
The recipe is here. All I did was replace the spices with plain old pumpkin pie spice (I had no ginger or allspice kicking around) and used 1 cup whole wheat flour with 1 cup white flour and they were VERY soft and fluffy, and healthier than my regular pancakes (only 2 T of oil) and seriously delicious. The batter is thick making nice thick fluffy cakes, which is the way I like them. Cook them on medium heat tho - the sugar in the pumpkin browns up quickly...and you get fluffier cakes that way too.
5 gold stars - They are on my list of fantastic breakfasts now.
Try some soon - you'll be glad you did!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
mmm...forbidden sauce...
If you know me, despite my best efforts at being a sophisticated adult who eats "real" food, I still loves me my ketchup. Ketchup on tuna fish sandwiches. Ketchup on french fries. Ketchup on burgers...not as bad as I once was, but you get the idea. My husband, who was raised British and doesn't get this whole extra sauce thing will maybe dip fries in mayo or salsa and cringes at the stuff.
Silly man.
Just when I thought I could perhaps wean myself over to the occasional salsa or BBQ sauce dippings my visiting family brought me some of this deliciousness:
Country Ketchup from Stonewall Kitchens
"What's the big deal? " you say. "It's just fancy overpriced ketchup!"
Oh my friends you have no idea.
It's got little chunks of tomato and garlic and some zesty spices that make it quite honestly the best ketchup out there. I hesitate to even call it ketchup because...well...it's better than ketchup. It's the Jaguar of the tomato saucy world. Honest. I could eat it with a spoon. I'm going to have to try some of this company's other stuff and see if the rest of it is as delish as this.
If you see it around give it a try. Yummers...
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Greek style chicken taco wrap...things
On the way home from work on Saturday I had an idea so I picked up a few things and went home to experiment and came up with my version of what a Greek taco would be like. They also took less than 15 minutes to make- bonus.
You'll need:
2 small chicken breasts, cubed up
1/4 c white wine
~3 T lemon juice
1/2 t Greek spice (Cavendish low salt)
1t oregano
3 cloves crushed garlic
ground pepper to taste (~1/2 T)
splash olive oil
Toss all this in a pan and saute the chicken until all liquid is absorbed and it tastes tangy and spicy and yummy. Resist the urge to eat it all then and there.
Next dice up:
1 large tomato
1/3 garden cucumber (about 3/4c)
1/4 c red onion
Toss together in a bowl with a splash of greek seasoning, 1T of lemon juice or a bit of balsamic vinegar.
Then get the rest of what you need:
Shred up about 1c of lettuce
1/3 c crumbled feta
Tzatziki (~1/3c)
1/4 c balsamic and fig dressing (Kraft)
5-6 whole wheat wraps
In each wrap put chicken, topped with a few T of tzatziki and a tiny bit of fig dressing, then cheese and a generous scoop of veggies and some lettuce. Wrap up and eat, making groany noises....
Experimental success! These are definitely going on the monthly food list of yummy fast meals. :) We had a bit of white wine with them and felt absolutely posh...
Monday, May 17, 2010
mexican corn bean salad
It's been a while. Sorry. Some time I'll catch up on all my recipes as of late (some have photos even) but for now, I thought I'd share with you the Mexican style salad I had for supper last night, along with some marinated BBQ'd pork tenderloin and tin foil steamed snap peas. It was deeeelicious.
2 c romaine lettuce
1/2 c corn (I thawed out some peaches and cream corn)
1 c cooked black or white beans (I used canned rinsed black beans)
1/4 c diced green onion
1/4 c diced tomato (called for a handful of cherry tomatoes, but I don't like them so there)
1/2 c fried wontons (originally called for crumbled corn chips but I didn't have any)
Dressing:
1 avocado smooshed up with a fork
3 T lime juice
3/4 c salsa
1/2 c fat free sour cream
4 splashes Tabasco sauce
Put salad in bowl with the rest of the stuff on top. Smoosh avacado with the lime and add the rest and stir well. Pour dressing over salad and toss right before eating. Eat it all up - it will get all soggy if you don't eat it that day.
I have to note that this made about twice the dressing I would use on a salad. BUT, I think that's great because guess what I'm having for lunch today?
Yes! More yummy salad. Yum.
I loved this salad - it's healthy and easy and a good accompaniment to anything really. You could have it on it's own for a meal too. Another great recipe from Vegetarian Times. I love that magazine....
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Old lady salad rocks!
I am so glad my husband loves what everyone else seems to think of as granny salad. It's so easy and yummy. Not too bad for you either. I make it all the time...
It's this easy:
Grate or finely chop up ~2 c green cabbage and throw in 1 diced apple & a handful of chopped nuts (almonds, pumpkiin seeds or walnuts are great). You can even add in 1/2 c seedless grapes cut in half add to this (or add them instead of the apple OR cabbage). Add ~ 1/3c low-fat mayo (just enough to cover/ coat things) and stir together. Let it sit about 15 minutes for the natural sugars to seep out of the fruit and there you go - simple easy delicious coleslaw/old lady salad.
Love it. I'm toying with replacing some mayo with fat free sour cream to see if it tastes the same to cut out some fat. I'll report on the results :)
