Quinoa: Day 1 with Green and Orange

Everyone knows about how great quinoa is...ancient grain eaten by the Incans (not actually cause it's a seed), lots of protein, fiber-rich, gluten-free, bla bla bla. 


My opinion is that it's just okay. Millet actually tastes way better, if you ask me. 


Anyway, I made a huge batch of quinoa on Monday to eat from all week. So far it's worked out well but today's creation was exceptionally delicious. And I wanted to share because I am so generous. 

So many colors here it hurst my eyes. So many textures and flavors going on. Sweet and chewy cranberries, creamy sweet potatoes, crisp, green broccoli and asparagus, quinoa pop, slightly spicy black pepper. If only I had been thinking. Chopped almonds would have been the finishing amazingness. Yep. That's a word. I was missing that crunch from nuts. Bummerrr.




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Sweet Potato and Vegetable Quinoa
((serves 1))


1/2 C cooked quinoa
1-2 T orange juice
1 small sweet potato
handful of asparagus
handful of broccoli
1-2 T dried cranberries


garnish: chopped fresh parsley, chopped almond, parmesan cheese


1. Heat water and set up steamer basket.*
2. Peel and cut sweet potato into 1 inch cubes. Cut asparagus and broccoli into small pieces, too. 
3. Toss the sweet potatoes in the basket, sprinkle with salt and steam for ~8 minutes, covered. Remove. 
4. Toss in the broccoli and asparagus with the cranberries, sprinkle with salt and steam for ~4 minutes, covered.**
5. While the broccoli and asparagus cook, toss the quinoa with the orange juice and mash about half the sweet potato into the quinoa, leaving some chunks whole. 
6. When veggies are done, toss with quinoa + sweet potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish if desired. 
7. Plate up and chomp!


*I recently bought a steamer basket. Go buy one. It was the BEST PURCHASE EVER. Well, with the exception of my Cuisinart food processor, of course. 


**The cooking times here are a sliiightly estimated since I rarely time anything or measure anything, either. I'll just say, cook potatoes until tender and the green veggies until tender-crisp. OR to your liking. I won't (I WILL) judge you if you overcook your greens until they're not really green anymore, instead they're mushy and gray...... that is your choice. 
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This makes a perfect side dish or you could add some more protein and make it a meal. Diced cooked chicken, white beans, poached egg even???? Go for it. 


And of course adjust the recipe to feed more. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple, septuple, octuple, noncuple, decuple....uhhhh, you get the idea.

Enjoy color!

Culinary Marriage

Man, its been a while. I've been super "busy" or should I say, I've been super lethargic lately. It's a combination of that and the fact that I haven't made much lately that was worthy of posting. But this. Oh, this is a marriage between chipotle and sweet potato. Both of which are on the top of my favorite foods (or ingredient) list. I'm serious about this. The sweetness of the potato and the smoky heat of the pepper is to die. Doesn't hurt the colors also look lovely together as well! Hummus is SUCH an easy food to make, it's hard to imagine buying it. The flavor combinations for homemade hummus are like, infinity plus 1. 

Sweet Potato Chipotle Hummus
((makes about 1.5 cups)


3 cloves garlic
2 cup chickpea
1 sweet potato (about 3/4 cup mashed)
2 T cashew butter (or tahini)*
2.5 chipotle peppers
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t smoked paprika
1 t salt


1. First, make sure you've cooked both the chickpeas and sweet potato.**
2. Get out your food processor and toss in the garlic and pulse to chop. 
3. Add remaining ingredients to food processor and buzz until all is combined. You may need to add a bit of water to loosen hummus.
4. Store in airtight container after you've dished yourself out a hefty serving!


Note: I approximated the amount of sweet potato above because the batch I made was exceptionally sweet. Adjust to your taste. 


*I made cashew butter from raw cashew. Add cashews to food processor and buzz until butterized. I do not particularly care for tahini and also don't know how I'd use an entire container of the stuff. 
**I buy dry beans and soak them overnight then cook them on low in a crockpot for 8 hours on low. Bake sweet potatoes in a 400 F oven for about 45 minutes until tender. 




And what better to dip into your hummus than chips? What about homemade chips?? Or are they crackers? I don't know..and I don't care. These were ever so slightly sweetened and earthy tasting, in a good way. Aaaaand they're a cracker-chip you can feel good about eating. 




Whole Wheat Flax Cracker Chips


60 gram flax seed
120 gram whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1 T honey
1.5 T coconut oil (melted)
~1/3 C water


1. Heat oven to 300 F. 
2. Pulse seeds in food processor.*
3. Melt coconut oil and honey together in microwave.
4. Pulse all ingredients except water in food processor until combined.
5. In a slow stream, add water just until dough comes together.**
6. Turn dough onto floured surface and roll very thin. 
7. Transfer dough to a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, turing once halfway through so you achieve even browning. 
8. Allow to cool and break into regular cracker size pieces. 
9. Dip into your favorite hummus!


*Nutrition from broken flax seeds or milled flax seed is more easily absorbed. They're packed full of good compounds but aren't accessed when whole. 
**Do NOT over mix the dough. When water and wheat flour are combined, it starts to active the formation of a gluten matrix. This is good in breads because it gives breads chew, but who wants that in a cracker?!? Not me. 

Because cooking consumes approximately 127% of my thoughts, I've been thinking about other hummus combinations. Lemon + thyme. Apple + peanut butter. Can't wait to experiment. As far as I'm concerned, hummus must have: chickpea, fat (tahini, cashew butter, olive oil), salt, spices/herbs and flavorings. 

Actually, I lied. Cooking has NOT been consuming my mind lately, this has:

Oh and this:

This too:

Cruzin and boozin in two dayzzzzz. OH.MY.GOD.

HOORAYYYYYYYY!!! Now to sleep soundly and dream of the Caribbean. :D

-S

THE Burger

I didn't think I'd post again today, but alas, here I am again! Woo! I just HAD to share this burger I had for dinner.


This makes me wonder though, what is the definition of a 'burger', culinarily speaking? Without doing a ton of time consuming research, a burger is made from ground meat. So, if I make a 'burger' from mashed sweet potato and black beans, can I technically call this a 'burger'?? Hmmmm.. more research is needed on this topic. Maybe this would be a good question for my beloved Alton Brown. Yes, I think I'll ask him via Twitter. 


Anywho, I unfortunately cannot take credit for this burger recipe. Believe me though, this thing is ahhhhmazing. Then again, I do love sweet potatoes, a lot. Easily my favorite vegetable. It's a quick dinner if you make a batch on a Sunday and freeze. They're easily reheated in the oven/under the broiler when you're hungry and want some foods on the fly. 


Sweet Potato 'Burgers'
((serves 6-8))


1-15 oz can black beans
3 C mashed sweet potato
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 C cooked quinoa (or other)
6 T oat flour (or other)
2 T sunflower seeds or pepitas
chopped parsley and/or cilantro
1/4 t cayenne
1 t chili powder
1/4 t corriander
1 t cumin
1/2 t salt


1. Sauté onions and garlic until tender and starting to brown. 
2. Meanwhile, mash half the beans into a paste and keep the other half whole. In a separate bowl, mix all the spices together and set aside.
3.  Combine all the ingredients except spice blend. I like to season with the spice blend to taste, so add accordingly. Also, if burgers are too wet, add flour until they're just right. 
4.  Divide evenly and shape into patties and freeze on a sheet pan. 
5. Once frozen, wrap in plastic and foil and store until ready to eat.


To reheat: place burger on a pan and heat in a 450 F oven for about 20-25 minutes. If the top is not yet browned, set oven to broil until desired doneness.


I like looooove, Ezekiel english muffins. They have so much flavor and great chew. Not to mention, an awesome ingredient list. These babies make a perfect bun. Toast, spread on some tomato paste, top with burger, a fried egg (sprinkled with smoke paprika) and you've got yourself a FANtastic dinner. Eh, and maybe throw in a side of steamed veggies.

So there you have it. 






Shoot! It's already 8 and I'm trying to put the final touches on this personal statement. eeeeek. 


-S