quinoa lunch salad

I'm trying to eat more quinoa, so I incorporated it into a greek salad takeoff that I made the other day. Mahesh loved it, and I want to remember the recipe, so here it is:

-- 1 c. dried quinoa, cooked (probably about 3 cups cooked)
-- 1 can garbanzos (or 2 cups cooked from dried)
-- 2 1/2 tomatoes, chopped (roughly 2 cups)
-- 1.5 cups chopped cucumber, I use the small crisp ones -- 7 of them
-- 4 Tablespoons minced onion, or one bunch spring onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
-- 4 Tablespoons minced parsley
-- 1/2 cup olives, pitted and roughly chopped
-- 3/4 cup feta cheese, cubed into small cubes
-- salt and pepper
-- the juice of one lemon
-- spicy pepper sauce (like Tobasco) to taste (optional)
-- 2 teaspoons flax seed oil (optional, to increase Omega 3 content)

To cook garbanzos from dried, soak 1 cup dried beans in water for 8 hours or overnight, then cook in pressure cooker for 7 or 8 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally, and you have the most delicious garbanzo beans on the planet.

To cook the quinoa, put 1 cup dried in a pot with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring ocassionally. Keep an eye on it at the end to make sure it doesn't run out of water and burn.

Mix everything together in a bowl, and chill. It's better if you can let it sit until the next day (although I rarely can). A complete protein and iron-packed meal, easy to take for lunches.

tuna lunch

So I was about to grab a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli for lunch, but then I saw the can of tuna next to it and made this instead:

1 can tuna
3 T. minced onion
3 T. minced red bell pepper
3 T. plain yogurt
salt, pepper, spicy tabasco sauce

-- mix the above together in a bowl, eat with celery sticks (3 large).

It was OK if a bit TOO healthy even for me, I think I will need a snack later on.

Quinoa Loaf with Sun-Dried tomato gravy

I found out that quinoa is really high in iron, so I have been looking for ways to serve it for dinner. Today I made this quinoa loaf with a few modifications, including:
-- sauteeing the onion, adding in garlic and celery
-- adding in 1/2 jalapeno and some chipotle sauce
-- making it in a muffin pan for mini muffin loafs

I wanted to make a gravy for it so I tried this one (minus the bacon):

Overall, the quinoa loaf was a lot of work, I was thinking it wasn't going to be worth it, but it is such a healthy recipe, and tasted pretty good with a delicious brown crust and soft middle, so I will make it again. But the sun dried tomato gravy was not that great (but ok), so next time I will try it with a mushroom gravy, I think that will be better. Mahesh loved it and compared the muffins to a pakora he likes in India.

Why did I not think of this before: Oatmeal with hummus flavors

Each week I've been cooking up a big pot of steel-cut oatmeal on Monday, so all I have to do is heat some up in the mornings. I've added in berry and apple flavors, but today I had the brainstorm of adding in hummus flavorings to my oatmeal -- a delicious change for someone like me who prefers savory breakfasts to sweet.

The recipe, roughly:

-- 1 cup cooked steel-cut oatmeal, re-heated
-- 1 1/2 tsp. tahini
-- good squeeze lemon juice
-- salt

You could also add minced garlic, but I felt it would be too strong this morning. This would be good with a few sprouts, or maybe oniony greens sprinkled on top.

Veggie Trini Curry

Okay, so I finally tried my hand at making a vegetarian Trinidad curry, I think it is OK but could use a few tweaks, here is the tweaked version I will try next time:

INGREDIENTS

-- 2.5 Tablespoons Trinidadian curry powder
-- cooking oil
-- 1/4 tsp. methi seeds (optional)
-- 1 pinch cumin?
-- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite size florets
-- 1 large or 2 small potatoes, cubed into 3/4-inch cubes
-- 1 can garbanzo beans (2 cups cooked from dried would be better but who has the time)
-- 1 onion, minced (or thinly sliced)
-- 3 cloves garlic, minced
-- 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
-- cilantro (optional)

METHOD

Heat cooking oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sprinkle the methi seeds in and let them fry a little. Mix the curry powder with some water to make a "curry slurry" and add the curry slurry to the oil. Fry until it changes color, adding more water if necessary.

Add in the minced onion, garlic, and jalapeno, fry until soft, adding in some salt and pepper and spicy sauce if you want to add more.

Add in 1 cup or more of water and the potato chunks, mix around and cover, steaming, for 7 minutes or so. Add in cumin.

Add in the cauliflower florets and garbanzo beans and mix everything up, steaming until potatoes and cauliflower are tender, adding enough water so there is a good amount of sauce. Taste and add salt or spice if necessary.

Serve with rice or, if you are lucky, roti

Mexican cole slaw

So I just made my Mexican black beans today, and I wanted to make them into a wrap with some sort of healthy but creamy cabbage topping like this recipe. Also, I was thinking of making a healthier version of the cabbage and cream topping on baja fish tacos, and how that might taste with black beans in a burrito.

So I took what I had on hand and made this up, all measures approximate:

-- 2 cups shredded nice-looking green cabbage
-- 2 tablespoons minced onion
-- 1/4 cup minced tomato (could use salsa)
-- 1 tablespoon minced cilantro
-- 1 tablespoon ripe avocado, mashed, or more to taste
-- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt (could use sour cream)
-- hot sauce, to taste
-- squeeze of lemon or lime juice
-- salt and pepper

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl. It came out really delicious! It would make a great healthy mexican cole slaw on it's own, or you can use it in sandwiches or tacos/burritos like I did today, with black beans and cheddar cheese.

rapini wrap

After a weekend of parties, I needed a health kick for dinner, so using some vegetables and leftovers from the party I whipped up this delicious wrap:

-- 1-2 cups brocolli rapini, cut in 1-inch pieces
-- 2 cloves garlic, minced
-- olive oil
-- salt and pepper and red pepper flakes
-- 1/2 small red bell pepper, sliced
-- a couple small pieces feta cheese, maybe 1/2 ounce (leftover from party)
-- 1 pita bread (leftover from party)

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1. Sautee garlic in olive oil until fragrant, add in brocolli rapini, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and sautee until tender/crisp, I added in some water and steamed it a bit to get it done enough.
2. Rip apart pita along the edges to make 2 circles, lay the circles sort of overlapping to make a rectangular type shape
3. Layer red bell pepper, feta cheese, and rapini, fold up the bottom and roll up

mmm so green and so good