Quick! Grab that from the Pantry Quinoa Salad.

I have been quite neglectful of this blog lately. Whatever, life happens. Parenting happens. School happens. So be it.

So, here is something I made a while back and forgot to upload. It's a semi-quick quinoa salad thing. It sounds kind of weird, I'm sure of it. But believe me, it is delicious. My parents can vouch for that.

Start by making quinoa.

Dates, the secret ingredient. Chop them up...

My photos are lacking because this really was a last minute, kind of forgot to document meal.

Light oil, garlic, celery.

Add some baby spinach.

After spinach is a little bit cooked, throw the celery / spinach into the quinoa and continue cooking as usual.

Meanwhile, can of black beans - heat for a little bit until they get a nice flavor.

Beans, dates, bowl.

Add quinoa/spinach/celery

Add some sliced almonds. Mix.

Voila. Quick, painless, and pretty darn good.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Inspired by a few different recipes and some personal favorites, I created this recipe! So tasty.

Bell peppers, tomatoes, jícama, onion, mushrooms, tomatillos, carrot, spinach, cilantro, (not in photo: corn, olives, quinoa)

I prepared everything; finely chopped carrot.

Chopped onion.
mushrooms.
Spinach.
¡Jícama! ¡Me encanta!

Chopped.
I used canned (ALWAYS ORGANIC, the majority of us corn is genetically modified, eek) corn and olives.

Cilantro.
Take the tomatillos, with husk, and roast them for about 5 minutes (maybe 7) at 450 degrees.

In the mean time, start cookin'! In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil and add the onions, carrots, and mushrooms. For about 5 minutes. Stir periodically.

Between stirrings, mash cilantro.

After five or so minutes pass, add spinach, garlic, and some turmeric.

In the mean time, prepare tomatillos. Remove husks and wash.

thin, quartered slices.

After the spinach is good and ready, add the jícama, corn (I only used half of what I planned on using), and olives (keep some set aside for garnish). Also, add quinoa and water.

Bring to a boil, add tomatillo and cilantro, cover, and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until water is mostly gone.

Dice tomato & thinly slice tomato.

Once water is gone, remove from heat, add diced tomatoes, keep covered for 5 or so minutes and then fluff/stir.

During those 5 minutes, cut peppers in half. Put on pan & pour some water on bottom of pan.

Stuff those peppers!

Cook at about 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes covered with foil. After time has passed, add tomato slices, olives, and your cheese, if you so desire. I hadn't ever tried Daiya vegan cheese, but I read it was plant based and the best, so first time for everything! Bake for another 5-10 minutes (until cheese is melted).

Put some avocado on it and it's done and delicious! And for the record, the Daiya cheese was pretty fabulous.

Stir Fry Series - Eggplant over Quinoa

A friend asked me about preparing eggplant this past week and I gave her a few different ideas. I had already been wanting to make something with it because it is soooo delicious.

Eggplant, leek, tomato, snap peas, mushrooms

Tip: after cutting/slicing/cubing your eggplant, cover with salt and let sit. The salt with pull out the water from within the eggplant, and it will cook a lot nicer! Just remember to clean the salt prior to cooking or else you are going to have one disgustingly salty dish.

I sliced the mushroom caps and minced the stems.

Beautiful and organic leek. To clean properly, cut green section off (you can use this in soup recipes, fyi). Cut vertically towards the roots, but don't cut entirely! Then, it is very easy to clean and easier to cut.

Yum.

Diced tomatoes.

Wildwood sprouted tofu.

I forgot to take photos of the snap peas prep. It is oh-so-hard. ;) Just snap off ends.

Quinoa. Two parts liquid to one part quinoa.

Oil, garlic, leek, mushrooms.
Eggplant.
Tofu.
Tomatoes

YUM.
Add snap peas.

Quinoa, fluffed with fork and finished.
Stir fry, finished!
El fin. So good, horrible photo.

Oh and this just got serious. I went to the library today and checked this book out:

Apparently, this book is so golden that is sells between $60 and $130, depending on the seller. Woah, I think I will stick with the library copy.