SuzyQ Quinoa or End-of-month Quinoa... both veggie and meaty recipe.

Its the end of the month. Looks in fridge. Hmmm... what do we have to work with. My friend Lorna will be thrilled, NO mushrooms (sobs madly). Ah well... This recipe is interchangeable in its veggies. Use what you have, just try and make it fairly even amounts of each. I used literally what I had left. And this is what happened :)

Also, this can be a vegetarian dish, or, a with meat dish. I kept the meat separate, so that if I want some of this yummy stuff for breakfast tomorrow, I won't overdose on protein. The name? For some reason, my friend Suzy (who is Vegan) kept coming to mind, Ashley too... :) Q is for Quinoa... So, its a friendly dish, all around. A lot of steps I know, BUT, its one of those COEMT! :) Makes a HUGE batch. YUM!

A note about the Kabuto or whatever they are called tomatoes. These are weird in color, brownish/red. Weird ugly, but oh SOOOOOO tasty! They are I think kind of like heirloom tomatoes, sure taste like them! If you can't get these, (they can be pricey, these were 50% off :) get regular tomatoes, preferably fresh off the vine (hard in winter, I know :|)

Oh, and if you value your sanity, do NOT eat Quinoa with chopsticks. Seriously!


Ingredients:




1 large head of broccoli (about 1.5 lbs), chopped small, and evenly.

1 cup of baby carrots, sliced lenghtwise

1 med onion, sliced

2 cups of sliced almonds

garlic puree, divided

Kabuto Tomatoes (or any heirloom tomatoes) 3 sm-med, sliced in thin quarters.

Mirrin sauce (about 2 tsp)

salt and pepper

soy sauce

olive oil

butter (or olive oil if you prefer)

Cooked plain Quinoa (about 4 cups cooked)



If adding meat, prep the following

1 lb steak

1 lb shrimp, raw and shelled.



Steak Marinade:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp sodium reduced soy sauce

salt and pepper (about 1/8 tsp)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp fine sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp garlic



mix well.



Cut steak in small bitesize pieces, try to cut evenly.

Add marinade, and mix well. Put aside. (while you are cooking, you will mix it every once in a while).



Shimp Prep:



I used raw, shelled shrimp.

In bowl, add shrimp, 1-2 tbsp garlic, to taste, salt and pepper (about 1/8 tsp), 1 tbsp olive oil

mix well. set aside. you'll stir every once in a while, just like the beef.

~~~~ COOKING ~~~~ I cooked everything on high



In large teflon pan, put 2 tbsp butter OR olive oil, 1/8 tsp of salt and pepper each.

Add 1/2 sliced onion, brown well.

Add quinoa, break up any lumps, and stir-fry for about 8 minutes or so, until heated through, and you see some of the quinoa get toasty.

Put aside in large bowl.

Add 2 tbsp olive oil, heat.

add 1/4 sliced onion, and brown well.

add both broccoli and carrots, and stir fry for about 7 minutes, veggies will become bright green and orange. Salt, garlic (1 tbsp or to taste) and pepper to taste.

Add almonds, mix well, stir fry, stiring constantly, for another 3 minutes or so.

add 2 tbsp soy sauce, and mix well. (the soy sauce adds flavor, and being liquid, will help "steam" the veggies.

At this point, if you are doing the veggie Quinoa, skip the steps below, and go to Final step.



Remove veggies in a separate bowl.



Add steak in hot pan (do not drain), stir fry until evenly brown. The cornstarch makes a kind of pasty coating, this is normal, just tap your spatula on the side, and mix it back in. When the meat is dry, and there is no more "pastiness", its ready. Remove.

is ready :)

Add 1 tsp olive oil, heat. Add last 1/4 sliced onion, brown well.

Add shrimp (and all bowl content), stir fry for abour 2-3 minutes on each side (depending on size of shrimp. do NOT overcook!)

do NOT overcook shrimp! these are just about done, as we'll be frying them a bit more in a minute!

Add beef, ad stir-fry vigorously for another 3 minutes max!

Remove from heat in a bowl.



FINAL STEP:



Add Quinoa back into pan, and add veggies. Stir-fry until fully warmed through, then add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry very briefly, to not overcook tomatoes. Serve immediately, with sesame seeds sprinkled on top if desired.

IF using the meat recipe, serve Quinoa mix in bowl, and add 4-6 tbsp of the meat mixture on top, sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy!

With meat

Without meat

I hope you've enjoyed this recipe, I'd love to hear your comments... You can email me at ladybug(@)mail2freedom.com (remove the brackets () to send) :)

Cyncerly, Cyn

Not your average egg salad!

So with all this "you have to eat" more (Doc's orders) you'd think I was happy go lucky about it right? Not so much, my imagination at times gets stretched, and the brain cells hurt. But sometimes, the memories come back, of weird but tasty dishes I've made in the past. I'd seen in restos around salads which have hot bacon grease poured on them, and I cringed at the thought, but realized, "taste". I was also told to eat more eggs, which sadly, I can only do if they are farm fresh. Thankfully, the Lord provided, and I know a little place where I can get them. All this to say, sometimes, a wedding of flavors, temperatures, and textures can lead to a satisfying crunch that won't leave you empty, but full-yet-not-overly-so. So here's MY take on "Egg Salad". Not sure how well this would spread on bread tho. ^_^

YUM! quick and simple!

Romaine lettuce, 4-5 leaves
10g cheeses mixed (I used very finely shredded mozzarella and baby parmesan)
15g garlic roasted almonds
4 grape/cherry tomatoes, quartered (the colored ones are so tasty)
2 large eggs, pan fried until yolks are barely set, chopped coarsely (if you don't like runny, cook them til the yolks are solid)
2 tsps Renee's Ceasar dressing light.

I was going to add chicken or beef, but it would, in my opinion, have been too much.

Chop Romaine in bite size pieces.
Add tomatoes, almonds, cheese, and dressing.
Mix wel.
Make sure eggs are chopped "apart" (that there's not this little piece that's holding the whole pile together :)
Add to the top of the salad
Decorate with a pinch of almonds and cheese.

The heat of the eggs will melt the cheeses a little, and make the salad that touches the eggs a little bit wilted. But when you get that bite with both hot and cold in it, its oh so good. This made me a little bowl, and I'm full, had my proteins (I'm outta eggs tho.) and I can go back to bed.

Enjoy, Cyncerely :)

Cesear Salad - an old classic, with a different twist.

Yep. Its official, back on the salad kick. So I'll be posting salad recipes (probably - depending on my ability to get my hands on salad lol!) for the next little while!

Here's the deal. I like cheese. I like meat. I like salad. I like almonds. I like croutons, but they are fattening (I said the F-word. omgosh!) I like ceasar dressing, and refuse to compromise on taste/quality (that's where the cals add up!) And I don't eat bacon. So, basically, we'll have salad, with ceasar dressing. I've been told this is very good, and very filling. (that was when I made it with croutons... :) you can use croutons, if you like.

I use Romaine lettuce, and unlike a "real" restaurant who think you have a shovel for a mouth, I cut it in BITE SIZE pieces. Nothing gets my goat (baaaaa!) more than eating salad that is in HUGE chunks. I use Romaine for 2 reasons. Apparently, it has more nutrients than head lettuce, and if you get it fresh (and if its from the garden, when it hasn't bolted yet), then its actually pretty tasty. The other reason is, its the only salad my dad will digest (come to think of it, me too... at times).

So, here we go :) for the main ingredients (aka veggies and cheese does NOT count as a veggie!) just go with the flow, I'm putting the gram measures just cause I was bored and have them. (take a look at this, and tell me you'd not try a little bit of this yummy salad!)

15g sliced almonds (if you have time and wanna get fancy, toast them in a pan with a little garlic juice)
10g finely shredded skim milk mozzarella (I use my newfangle round cheese grater thingy. it rocks - pictures to come!)
5g baby parmesan also finely shredded
about 8 leaves of romaine lettuce (this was about 150g for me), cut in bite size piece. IF you are eating it right away, you CAN use a metal knife, if you are making the salad for later, use a plastic salad knife.
5-6 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
10g of finely sliced red onion, (ok, so 2-3 slices, to taste)
2 tbsp Renee's ceasar salad dressing LIGHT (or your favorite light salad dressing.)
115g blade steak, sliced thin and in bite size pieces.

other add-ins: shrooms (of course), chicken (warmed up oh man! its AWESOME!), croutons (I used the almonds as a healthier replacement), peppers (EWEEE!), anything that's in your fridge that is still edible, olives, pickles... :)

Chop salad, put in bowl.
Add onions, other veggies, mix well.
Add salad dressing, mix well so that all veggies are covered.
Add steak (or meat(s)) on top, mix gently.
Add cheeses and almonds, mix VERY VERY gently. Serve, and devour!

Its fast, simple, and easy. I've made HUGE mega bowls of this stuff this winter, and got crazy with all the stuff I'd put in, and it was SO darn good. The best part is, you can make it once, and eat many times ^_^

I'll have pics up shortly. Enjoy!