Quinoa and Black Beans - All Recipes

I recently bought several pounds of quinoa at a local store that sells damaged and close-to-date items. So, I've been looking around for yummy recipes to use it up. Here's one we tried last week and everyone loved it! I served it with tortilla chips to make it more kid-friendly and had salsa, sour cream and guac on the side.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-and-Black-Beans/Detail.aspx

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Lemon Spaghetti with Cauliflower, Asparagus, and Good Stuff

Posted a new recipe on my blog. Find it here.

Skillet gnocchi with Chard & White Beans

This has been the favorite recipe on the www.eatingwell.com site for weeks. We tried it this past week and gave it two thumbs up. My notes: be sure to use petite diced tomatoes (I used regular and added my own spices) and cut the chard into small pieces. This would easily be adapted to different flavors such as chickpeas, spinach, oregano and feta, or white beans with havarti and dill. I'm keeping the shelf-stable gnocchi stocked in my pantry from now on.

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans
from Eating Well Magazine Jan/Feb 2009

Eating well suggests serving it with a mixed green salad with vinaigrette.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 16-oz pkg shelf-stable gnocchi
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup water
6 cups chopped chard leaves
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
1 15-oz can white beans, rinsed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 Cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to a bowl.

Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring over medium heat for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook, until onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add chard and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and peppers and bring to a simmer. Stir int he gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about three minutes.

325 Cal; 7 g fat; 2 g Sat; 3 g mono; 8 mg chol; 55 g Carb; 14 g Protein; 6 g Fiber; 616 mg Sodium; 360 mg Potassium

Just a post I thought I'd share

http://mormonmatters.org/2010/04/11/mormon-vegetarianism/

Johnna, why don't you go over there and make a smart comment? I'm intimidated by those folk.

Asian Crunch Salad

I made this awhile back, and a co-worker really liked it. She wanted the recipe so I thought I would post it here, too.
I'm sure the recipe belongs to Nakano Rice Vinegar but I know I got the recipe from a magazine. I did a brief internet search but couldn't find it.
I've made a few adjustments to the recipe (such as adding ginger and peanut or sesame oil).

3 oz uncooked whole wheat spaghetti
1/3 Cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 TBS sugar
3 TBS low sodium soy sauce
1 TBS olive oil (or 2tsp olive plus 1 tsp peanut oil/sesame oil if you want)
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup minced green onion
1 cup coleslaw mix (the cabbage/carrot mix) or 1/2 cup baby peas
1/4 cup red bell pepper strips
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 (12 oz) package broccoli slaw
1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Cook the noodles, and drain, and set aside. Combine the sauce items in a large bowl. Add pasta and remaining ingredients. Toss to coat. I prefer to add the peanuts now, but the recipe says to add at serving time. Cover and chill a couple hours. This is one of those recipes that is great in the summer because there is very little heat generated in the process.

The Secret Society of the Pressure Cooker Sisters

My frequent convenience food is canned beans.  My favorite real food is homemade refried black beans, as in beans I soaked and cooked myself, then refried in olive oil like Wendy Sherman taught me to make when she got back from Guatamala.  Just before she told me to stop dating boys and find a real man.  I was married three months later.  To a real man.  Real men are dangerous that way.

Recently my real man took me to lunch and then to Sur La Table to buy himself a milk steamer implement I still don't understand.  I confessed I really wanted a pressure cooker and then it was mine.

Because, duh, pressure cooker means (presoaked) beans cook in 8-12 minutes.  Still makes my head spin.

Except, I really don't know how to use one.

In college, before Wendy's cooking lesson, my housemate had a pressure cooker.  It was like playing with dynamite, I think they were illegal at the time.  I used to make that potato soup I was living on in hers.  I didn't really know what I was doing.


Somehow, not really knowing what I was doing, I pressure cooked the beans. They might have been a little overcooked, yet still were delish.  I rinsed and wiped the pressure cooker, but I don't really understand it or know how to clean it.  The instructions are useless to me.  I need to find someone to mentor me in this one.

Do you pressure cook? For canning? For what else?

One day my kids will thank me (Right? Right?!!!)

Last night I made a lovely Tunisian Vegetable Stew (from Moosewood's fast and easy recipes book). I love that stuff. I top it with goat cheese and pistachios rather than almonds and feta.

Trying to please all the people all the time is just impossible. I was looking through my recipe books and found notes about certain dishes I'd written to myself:

"Omit figs next time"
"Girls and I loved; DH gagged"
"Girl 1 and I liked; DH said pretty good; Girl 2 cried"

I don't have the mental capacity to cook one meatless meal, and one not. The whole point is to cook less meat throughout the week (we average about 3-4 nights meatless--the others are never red meat-usually chicken and turkey and I'm trying to get my kids to like fish).

I am always and forever trying new things. But I think I should just give up, and turn into my mother--cook the same 5-7 things that everyone likes, for the next 20 years.
On some nights that sounds like absolute heaven--the nights in which someone is crying because they can't stand Chakchouka. On other days, it sounds like my personal version of hell.
I'm not a mean mom. I do try to cook a few things every week that everyone likes. But, on the nights it's something new, or particularly funky, why am I surprised when my six year old has tears running down her face? Am I asking too much of small children?
Advice?