Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

I threw this together at the last minute one night to add a different taste to the table, and it hit the spot. So good! Justin liked it too. 

 

Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

Adapted from this blog

 Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup minced carrots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

 

Directions: 

Pour the water into a saucepan, and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat, then pour in the quinoa, recover, and continue to simmer over low heat until the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape into a mixing bowl, and chill in the refrigerator until cold. Once cold, stir in the red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red onion, curry powder, cilantro, lime juice, sliced almonds, carrots, and cranberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill before serving.  Notes: I didn't chill it all the way before serving, and it was good a little warm. The only pepper I used was a yellow one. Again, really, really, good.

 

Sesame Noodles

Whaaaaat?!?! A new post?! I know. My life has been bouncing around this country in single parent fashion for about a year. Now I am settled, husband is home for a while, and I have normalcy. That does not mean I haven't been cooking REALLY GREAT FOOD! Get ready to be buried in delicious recipes.

This particular recipe was super fast, delicious (I ate a serving or two before it actually made it to the table. I couldn't stop!), and it tastes like you're in a good chinese restaurant. We ate it with some grilled teriyaki chicken. Justin grilled it in a foot of snow.

Sesame Noodles

adapted from this blog

• 12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
• ¼ cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
• ½ teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
• 4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat. Sprinkle with green onions and toss.

Notes: I used Sriracha for the hot chili sauce, I chopped instead of minced the garlic, and I wish I'd have minced it. I also did not find Thin Noodles, or "soup noodles" so I just used linguine and it did great. 

Kale Chips! (yum)

This is how most of the kale disappeared. My almost 3-yr-old said it tastes like popcorn. We went through half of the huge bag in one meal. This stuff tastes 1000x better than it looks.

Kale Chips
by Brooke

• Kale leaves (1-2 inches wide)
  
• olive oil
• salt

Preheat oven to 300-325. In a bowl, toss kale in olive oil. Spread onto a baking sheet. sprinkle with salt. Bake about 15 minutes, turning it halfway. It will turn dark green and very crispy.

Note: I added paprika to one batch, but couldn't taste much difference.

Roasted Kale and Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is from here. Thank you pinterest. I made it just for me but Justin ate half of it. I used coconut oil and it was delectable. I also used dried cranberries.

Roasted Kale and Sweet Potatoes

from She Cooks He Cleans

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ~3/4-inch dice
• Bunch of kale, stems removed, coarsely chopped
• butter/bacon fat/coconut oil (or your fat of choice)
• 2 T dried cherries and/or cranberries
• salt and pepper
• balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400F. In a small roasting pan, toss the sweet potatoes with salt, pepper and enough coconut oil to coat potatoes and pan. Cover with foil and roast 15 minutes; remove foil and continue to cook until potatoes are tender and slightly browned (shaking pan occasionally, about 10 minutes). Remove from oven. [This step can be done in advance and the sweet potatoes set aside until dinner time.]

In the meantime, heat ~2-3 T of butter/bacon fat in a frying pan over medium high heat. Start adding handfuls of kale and toss in pan until wilted. Keep adding kale until you have the amount you’d like, cooking until wilted and to desired tenderness. Add the dried fruit and a dash of balsamic vinegar and mix well.

Add the sweet potatoes to the kale and toss until heated throughout and well mixed. Adjust seasoning and serve!

Mashed Potatoes and Kale

This is how I often ate Kale on my mission. They added tons of butter.

I just steamed the kale like in my last post, added garlic as the spice, then mixed the kale into a bowl of already prepared mashed potatoes. Yummy! Easy! Something different!

Steamed Kale

I've noticed that kale is becoming a trendy food to eat nowadays, so I thought I'd bring it back into my life. I ate it all the time on my mission. Justin did the grocery run and came home with a HUGE bag of pre-washed kale, so I found a handful of ways to prepare it. I like them all. We'll be finishing the bag tonight. I'm excited to have kale back in my diet with all it's nutritional goodness.

Thanks to my ziplock steam bags, this is super fast and simple. It's another equation recipe.

Steambag + kale + spices of choice + splash of veggie stock = leafy green side dish

I zapped it in the microwave for two minutes and it came out perfect. For spices I've tried garlic and basil. Both were good.

Chick-Fil-A Carrot and Raisin Salad

Tried this for the first time on a road trip. Delicious!

Chick-Fil-A Carrot and Raisin Salad

• 4 cups finely shredded carrots
• 1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, with juice
• 1 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Chill all ingredients except sugar at least 30 minutes. Dissolve the sugar in the pineapple, then combine everything gently in a large bowl. May be refrigerated up to 72 hours. Serves 8.

NOTE: Fresh carrots are the secret, according to Chick-Fil-A.

Sneaky Smoothies

My 2 year old is pretty good about eating fresh fruit, and he'll eat some veggies if they are prepared the right way, but the variety is lacking. I've been trying to figure out how to get leafy greens into his diet, and the only way I'm successful is by putting it in smoothies. This sounds so gross, but my son likes it so much, he drinks a large glass and then is upset when I tell him it's all gone.
I have a few things I always put in the smoothie, and then the rest of the ingredients depend on what I have in my kitchen.

Sneaky Smoothie
by Brooke Hochstein

Standard Ingredients:

• 1 Banana
• 1 heaping spoonful creamy peanut butter
• 1 large handful of fresh spinach (or whatever greens you want to throw in. I put unseasoned steamed asparagus and edamame in yesterday with spinach. I fill half the blender with these greens. Other ideas: Avocado, cucumber peels, peas, cooked beans, etc.)
• 2-4 c water (to meet desired consistency)

Additional Ingredients:

• Frozen fruit to make the smoothie icy (Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, etc.)
• Fresh fruit (Strawberries, blueberries, apples, melon, raspberries, whatever you have in your fridge and need to get rid of soon)

Blend well!

You could also put some greek yogurt or whatever you want to make it creamy. I leave this out since I've cut dairy out of my diet. The banana makes the smoothie creamy enough for me. Sometimes I'll add two.
I'm sure there are nutritionally balance recipes out there. These are usually called "green smoothies." The color of mine tend to be a purple-orange color (is that possible?) with green specks. The appearance doesn't seem to effect the consumption rate at this point.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I love this. We make them every time we grill now to replace french fries. We're still tweaking how we do it, so I might adjust this post with time.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes
by Brooke Cheesman Hochstein

• 2 Sweet Potatoes
  
• Olive oil
• Seasoning to taste (eg. Rosmary and Basil)
  

Scrub the sweet potatoes clean, but do not peel. Slice potato into 1/4" slices. I try to angle my cuts to make them a little longer and more oval-shaped. I'm sure there is a term for that which I do not know. In a small bowl, mix the oil and seasonings in a small bowl, and then brush the mixture on each side of the potato. Place the potato slices on a medium-hot grill. Cook for 5 minutes on each side (This time will vary depending on the thickness of the potato slice and the temperature of the grill). Only flip once if you want clean grill marks.
Notes: I've been playing with different spice combos. Sometimes I use different peppers to give it a kick, sometimes I use more subtle spices to just enjoy the potato. I'm no pro on spices so it's more of an educational experiment each time I make these.

The Perfect Boiled Egg

For Easter, we boiled eggs, but I wanted them to be good, so I did a search for the perfect boiled egg. This is what I found on eHow.com

Instructions

Place eggs in the saucepan, it does not matter if it is 2 or 12 eggs, this way works. Just cover them with cold water, not too deep. Do NOT salt the water. Place on burner on HIGH heat.

Place on burner on HIGH heat. Once they start to boil turn on the timer to 3 minutes.

When the timer goes off, quickly take off the heat, put on the lid and reset the timer to 8 minutes.

When 8 minutes are up, take to sink and run cold water over them for about a minute, let them soak a bit to cool off. They will peel best if you set them in the refrigerator for about 1/2 to 1 hour, but you can eat them now!

Never have green or gray yolks again!

Sweet Potato Soufflé

I LOVE Thanksgiving! ! ! ! I especially love the food that only seems to appear on the table at this time. I made this for a church dinner the other night, and it was a hit. I made a few adjustments to my mom's recipe, not that it needed it. I just wanted to experiment. I'm posting the original recipe for future use. Thanks to my Granny for reading this whole thing to me over the phone :)

Sweet Potato Soufflé
from the kitchen of Carol R. Cheesman

• 3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add ½ cup butter. Beat until smooth. Spoon into greased 2qt. casserole.

Combine flour, sugar, 1/3 cup butter. Add pecans. Sprinkle over top of casserole.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

NOTES: I threw in a dash or two of nutmeg and cinnamon while I was beating the potatoes in my kitchen-aide. I'd seen a few other recipes which called for them and it seemed very holiday-ish. I really couldn't tell that it was in there, but it tasted really fabulous, so I thought I would mention that I did so.

I also substituted marshmallows in for the streusel on top. Add the marshmallows AFTER you bake the sweet potatoes, then put in the oven just long enough to melt the marshmallows. I also sprinkled some brown sugar on top because I thought it might look cool, but there was no cool factor at all. I'd leave that out next time. I toasted the marshmallows on accident, but I think I like it better that way.

Oven Potatoes

Oven Potatoes
by Ruth Roberts, Family Favorites Cook Book

• 1 1/2 dried bread crumbs (I use Panko)
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground nutmeg
• 8 medium potatoes, washed, pared and cut into quarters. Not peeled.
• 1/2 c. melted butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine bread crumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Dip potatoes in butter and roll in bread crumb mixture. Place in a greased pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until crispy and tender.

NOTES: Next time I will use a shallow pan (like 9x13) so that the potatoes are more crispy. May taste extra good with some cheese thrown on.

Quinoa Pilaf

I'd heard quinoa was the best grain you could eat, so I wanted to see if it tasted good. I had a hard time finding it first, but they sell it in the "healthy" section of the commissary on our base, next to the power bars and such. I got the kind that is already rinsed, since I guess you have to rinse a bitter flavor off the grains before you cook it. It makes a good substitute for rice.
Anyway, this is from Cook This, Not That! p. 294, and even my 15 month-old liked it!

Quinoa Pilaf

• 1 c. quinoa
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 3 c. low-sodium chicken broth or water
• 2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 c. golden raisins (these make it so good!)
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the quinoa in a large bowl and rinse in several changes of cold water. Drain thoroughly (or buy the already rinsed kind and skip this step)
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and carrot until softened, then stir in the quinoa and cook until lightly toasted and giving off a nutty smell, about 3 minutes. (I could only smell the onions, I never got the "nutty smell")
Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the liquid is fully absorbed, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Stir in the pine nuts, raisins, and parsley.
Makes 4 servings

Gravy

I used this for the Thanksgiving Turkey. Everyone loved it.

Gravy
from the kitchen of Helen Robertson

• 3 T oil
• 3 T flour
• Turkey drippings
• Can of cream of chicken soup
• Broth*
• Corn Starch*

Brown the oil and flour. Add drippings and cream of chicken soup. If too thick, add the broth. If too thin, add the cornstarch until you reach the desired consistency.

*maybe