Hearty Quinoa with Peppers, Corn & Black olives

Quinoa is one of my newer food obsessions. As you may be able to tell, I'm quite the avid reader of food blogs, magazines, articles, TV shows, recipe swapping, etc. If it has to do with food and cooking, I'm interested. I love learning new ways of cooking, new foods I've not yet heard of or tried, new spices. Since coming to Colorado I met someone from Ethiopia who introduced me to Injera and all sorts of new and exciting foods, meaning a post on those will likely be coming soon! Anyhow, when I find one I like enough, it becomes a part of my food routines. Thus is the case with quinoa. It is tiny grains like rice, with a nuttier flavor that pairs well with nearly anything. But it can be a bit bland if you don't add things to it.
If you recall from earlier posts, I moved recently and set about a mission to use up as much food from the pantry as I could so that I didn't have to cart it with me to the next place. In the final week before moving, I discovered a box of quick-cook quinoa I didn't realize I had. I decided that I would add as many canned items as I thought would go well together and make one heck of a side dish. For vegetarians and vegans, this could also be a main dish. Once it was all mixed together, it turned out super tasty! And it makes a ton, so be aware of that. Maybe 8 cups worth?

Ingredients:
1 box couscous (maybe 2 cups uncooked)
1 can corn
1 can beans (I had garbanzo)
1 can black olived
1 jar roasted red peppers

Step 1: Open and drain the corn, beans and olives. Pour into a pot and add a full can of water each and set to boil. Dice the black olives and red peppers into small pieces. Add the peppers to the pot.

The mixed up canned goods looks like soup.

Step 2: Once it boils, pour in the couscous and mix. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes covered.

 Step 3: Once all the liquid is absorbed, fluff it up with a fork. You now have healthy veggie and protein packed side dishes for about 8-10 people or meals!

 The flavors and colors worked together nicely. As I said, this could be a full meal in its own right. You can also experiment with adding other vegetables, meats or cheeses too.

Served with steak and a side salad. Perfect.

Stuffed eggplant

So I've been reading lately about how healthy eggplant is for you. Then it went on sale at my favorite produce store, so I had to buy one. The only question was what to do with it. I had tried eggplant before and wasn't particularly fond of it diced up in casserole-type dishes. So I decided to stuff it, because what isn't made better by a meat mush and cheese baked inside?

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

olive oil

1/2 pound ground turkey

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

1/2 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

Italian seasonings

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Step 1: Brown the ground turkey over medium heat and drain.

 Step 2: Dice the veggies and core the eggplant. Cook the veggies in the same pan as the turkey until tender, ~5 minutes.

 Step 3: Mix the cooked veggies, egg, turkey, and bread crumbs.

 Step 4: Divide the mix between the eggplant halves and stuff. Sprinkle italian seasonings over top and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until nicely browned and eggplant is soft when poked with a fork.

 Also, to make it vegetarian you can just omit the ground turkey.

YUM!

Easy Freezer Mexican Soup

I was hungry for something hot and spicy, and tortilla soup was the first thing that came to mind. I had recently purchased a red beans & rice mix on sale for 78 cents, and realized I had all the rest of the the ingredients in my fridge or freezer, making for a ridiculously fast and easy meal. 

Ingredients:

2 chicken drumsticks

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 packet red beans & rice

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup tri-pepper and onion mix

1 cup salsa

1/4 tsp chipotle pepper powder

Step 1: Add about 4 cups water and all ingredients to a large pot and heat to boiling. Simmer on low for 40-60 minutes. 

 Step 2: Take the drumsticks out and tear the meat off the bone. Return the meat to the pot.

You can use thighs, breasts, or whatever meat you want, or omit the meat entirely. Browned ground beef would probably also be delicious. You can also top with shredded cheddar or sour cream. It is filling, slightly spicy, and has great flavor. Careful, because it does make quite a bit!

Chicken Tacos

So yet again I'm moving soon, and need to clean out my freezer and pantry. I had some chicken quarters I had gotten cheap a while back , and was sick of ground beef tacos. So I decided to make some chicken tacos. It helps that Meijer had a great sale this week, $1 bell peppers and avocados.

Ingredients:

2 chicken leg quarters

Taco seasoning

Chili powder

1/4 red, orange and yellow bell pepper

1/4 red onion

1 tortilla

1/4 avocado

2 tbsp salsa

1 tbsp sour cream

1/4 cup black beans

 

Step 1: Put the chicken in a sprayed crock pot, sprinkle with taco seasoning and chili powder. Add 1/4 cup water to keep moist. Cook on high 4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink.
Step 2: Remove chicken meat from the bones and skin, throw it away. Add more seasoning if you like.

 Step 3: Cut the peppers and onion into thin strips. I steamed the peppers for about 10 minutes first.

 Step 4: In a tbsp of butter or oil, saute the peppers and onion until soft and translucent. Add some taco seasoning.

 Step 5: Warm the beans and tortilla. Layer the chicken, peppers & onion, beans, avocado in chunks, salsa and sour cream.

 The combination of flavors is amazing, the creamy avocado, the spiced chicken, the crunchy-soft peppers and sweet onions, tangy salsa, milky sour cream.... just amazing! And so much protein and veggie goodness! Obviously you can omit the chicken and just use veggies for vegetarian, and add as much or whatever spices you like.

Shrimp & Bell Pepper Linguini Alfredo. Bonus dessert: Peach Soup

This is a recipe invented by my boyfriend and I last year. We were in his apartment and starving. Red bell peppers had recently gone on sale, so we had about a dozen. Plus some pasta like most college kids, a jar of alfredo sauce, and half a bag of shrimp in the freezer. That's how this came about, and it was so good, it remains one of our favorites. 

It's easy to customize too, you can use any kind of fresh veggies, and if you don't want meat then you don't need to add shrimp. Also you can flavor the shrimp with whatever you want. This recipe makes about 4-6 servings.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb linguini

1/2 lb shrimp, thawed

2/3 jar Ragu alfredo sauce

1/2 red, yellow and orange bell pepper

1 tbsp butter

pinch Thai spices

garlic powder

Step 1: Boil the noodles in salted water with a tbsp oil to keep the noodles from sticking.

 Step 2: Add the butter to a frying pan, begin cooking the shrimp. Add whatever spices you like, and stir occasionally.

 Step 3: Once boiled, drain the noodles and return to the pot. Add the alfredo sauce and mix. Set aside.

Step 4: Once the shrimp are pink, with a slight brown crust on both sides, add the diced peppers. Mix and put the lid on, cook for ~5 minutes or until tender.

 Step 5: Once cooked, add to the noodles and mix everything well. Enjoy!

Bonus dessert: Peach Soup
             From: Cooking for 2, summer 2008, pg. 25.
1 1/2 cups fresh peaches
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp almond extract

Blend all ingredients together until smooth, and refrigerate until serving. Add a dash of cinnamon on top. Makes 2 servings.

Peach soup: cold, sweet and refreshing!

Homemade Chipotle

Chipotle is one of my absolute favorite "fast food" places for several reasons. They encourage responsible practices, local and healthy food, quality, plus it is just dang delicious. However, even the best intentioned company makes some compromises to be large scale, and I always prefer making food myself so I know what's in it and can control the portions. Plus, though $6.95 seems pretty cheap, more than once a month or so isn't practical. 

Therefore, I decided to make my own version of my favorite, the chicken burrito bowl. A website called Chipotlefan.com has recipes for several Chipotle favorites. I used their recipe for the chicken marinade, with a few variations of my own. Then I made my own version of the fresh and corn salsas based on memory, and the cilantro lime rice. Try it yourself, it isn't exact, but it is close and DElicious!

Chipotle Chicken:

1 (7 ounce) can chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (remove chipotle peppers, skim out seeds)

2 tsp fresh ground ancho chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepepr
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 tbsp powdered garlic
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 quarter red onion

1/4 cup oil (canola/vegetable/olive)

Boneless skinless chicken breast or tenders

Step 1: Mix all marinade ingredients in a blender/food processor. Add oil until it's slightly pourable. 

Step 2: Poke holes in chicken, and pour marinade over chicken. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour up to 24 hours. The best way to cook the chicken is to grill it, but you can cook it in a frying pan with a weight on top as well.

 Chicken sitting in marinade

Spiced Kidney Beans:

1 can kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup water
3-5 bay leaves
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder

Step 1: Drain and rinse the beans, pour into a pot. Add spices, simmer on very low for 10-60 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the beans don't stick.

 Seasoned kidney beans

You can add a bit of bacon here too, if you have it and like that kind of thing. Chipotle has changed their recipe to make it vegetarian, so no bacon included.

Cilantro-Lime Rice:

1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup water or chicken bouillon
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
Sea salt



Step 1: Boil the rice or prepare as directed. 

Step 2: When cooked, add the cilantro, salt and juices, fluff with a fork.

The rice magic makers. Lemon juice, lime juice, and chopped fresh cilantro.

Finished rice, ready to be mixed

Corn Salsa:

1/2 cup corn

1/4 red bell pepper

Pinch fresh cilantro

Splash lemon juice

1/8 red onion

Step 1: Blacken the corn in a skillet or grill. 

Step 2: Dice the pepper & onion, add to the corn with the cilantro and lemon, mix well. 

For extra spice, take one of the chipotle peppers from the adobo sauce and dice it up to add, or use a fresh seeded jalapeno.

Fresh Tomato Salsa:

1 large tomato, diced

1/8 red onion, diced

1/4 red bell pepper, diced

Handful fresh cilantro

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lime juice

Sea salt

Step 1: Mix the diced tomato, onion, pepper, cilantro and juices. Add a grind or two of salt to taste. 

Refrigerate both salsas until ready to serve.

Chicken after grilling and dicing, salsas ready to go.

 Beans and rice, ready for assembly.

Finished plate. Can make it into a burrito, tacos, or a bowl.

I tore up a few large romaine leaves, put the rice, beans, chicken and both salsas on, with a sprinkle of cheese on top. It was deliciously fresh tasting! It is on the spicy side, so if that's not for you then dial down the seasonings and forget about the chipotle peppers in adobo. For vegetarians, ditch the chicken and marinate some tofu, add some guacamole, or other grilled veggies. Enjoy!



This recipe submitted to the May 2014 "Cooking with Herbs" challenge!

Cous cous vegetarian stuffed peppers

So I'm going to a dinner party, and planned to bring my old standby, stuffed peppers . However, at least one of the guests is vegetarian, and I am also trying to eat a more vegetarian diet. So I decided to get the best of both worlds, and make both! 

Veggie:

3 bell peppers (any color)

1/2 cup cous cous

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup broccoli

3 large baby bella mushrooms

1/2 onion

1/2 cup diced red bell peppers

Lemon juice, soy sauce (optional)

Garlic powder, cumin, sea salt, olive oil

Step 1: Add 1/2 cup boiling water to 1/2 cup cous cous and microwave 3 minutes.

 Step 2: Cut up all the veggies while its cooking.

 Step 3: To cooked cous cous, add about 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cumin and 1 tbsp olive oil. Fluff well & set aside.

Step 4:  Add a tbsp olive oil to a frying pan, and begin sauteeing veggies, hardest one first. Broccoli and asparagus, then peppers and onions, and finally the mushrooms. I added a squirt of lemon juice and a dash of soy sauce too.

 Step 5: Add cooked veggies to cous cous and mix well.

Step 6: Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Cook in oven at 350 for 1 hour, or a Crock Pot on high for one hour. Sprinkle with cheese if you like.

 

Tonight at the party we will see how well I did! I snuck a spoonful while stuffing though, and it tastes pretty darn good. I included some shots of my meat-eater stuffed peppers too, just to make you drool a little! =)

Cooking the meat and rice

Cooked meat & onions, rice, and tomato sauce stuffing!

Scooping the filling into the peppers

Mmmmm stuffed bell peppers!

Vegetarian Stir Fry

This is one of my favorite go-to meals because: 

a) it is quick

b) it is easy 

c) it is cheap

d) it is different and delicious every time! 

Stir fry is great because it is so versatile. Basically it's rice and whatever else you want to put in it! I'm sure I will be stir frying a LOT this summer, because I'm working on an organic CSA farm (http://www.facebook.com/schoonerfarms) and will have a ton of fresh veggies once the growing season gets into full swing. Also, I'm trying to eat at least 2 full days a week vegetarian, for health purposes. So anyways, here is the stir fry du jour.

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup white rice ($2 for 24 oz)

2 large baby bella mushrooms ($1 for the pack)

Handfull snow peas (Free from the farm)

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped ($1 for pepper)

1/2 large carrot, shredded ($1 for 1 lb bag)

1/2 cup small broccoli pieces ($1 for a head)

1 stick celery (~1 for 2 lbs)

2 tbsp each soy sauce, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce

Garlic salt

Total cost: ~$2

Step 1: assemble ingredients, put oil in a frying pan on low. Boil water for the rice.

Step 2: Dice up all the veggies while the rice cooks.

Step 3: Begin cooking veggies, toughest one first. I put in the broccoli for about 2 minutes alone, then the celery and peppers, then the carrots and peas, and finally the mushrooms. It helps to add a few tbsp water and cover tightly to steam them for a few minutes.

Step 4: Add the cooked rice and sauces, fry everything together for a minute or 2, and enjoy! There are endless variations of this, you can add as much sauce and different kinds or none at all, you can scramble an egg or add meats if you like. This is also very frugal and budget-friendly because you can use up all the odds and ends of vegetables in your fridge before they go bad!