Strawberry Quinoa Salad

We've been experimenting with quinoa this year. I've found that as two individuals who do not especially enjoy pasta salad but do enjoy all of the ingredients quinoa has made a good pasta salad base substitute. 

This morning for breakfast I tried a strawberry quinoa salad variety. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup diced strawberries

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

1 sprig of fresh mint chopped finely

1 tsp honey

1/4 cup Kefir (lactose fee probiotic shake, I used plain, vanilla would be tasty too.)

Stir together and eat! It tasted great immediately. I imagine it would also taste good after marinating for a while. This would also be a tasty desert.

The verdict: I loved it. Luke did not. He thinks it's the goat cheese or the texture. 

I may try again with a lemon juice and honey dressing. 

Dairy Free Version of Madras Lentils

I've discovered these lentils at Costco. There pretty healthy and tasty!



The kicker for Luke and me is that they have dairy in them. Sooo I set out to try to make some from scratch without dairy. It turned out pretty tasty! The other catch is that I didn't write down what I did as I did it so I'll do my best to report the ingredients.
1 bag of dry lentils
1 handful of dry red beans
1 handful pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup of frozen chopped onion, jalepeno, 2 cloves of garlic and tomato (I made these big veggie ice cubes over summer for dropping in the crock pot)
1 tablespoon ish cumin
1 tablespoon ish chili powder
2 tablespoons taco seasoning (add more to taste)

Soak lentils and beans for 24 hrs before.
Rinse beans and lentils and combine with other ingredients in the crock pot.
Cook on high for 12 hrs.
At some point in that time take out 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans and either with an emersion blender or food processor purée them. Return the puréed mixture to the crock pot.
Enjoy with shredded chicken, ground turkey, ground beef or plain. Works well as a main dish or even as an accessory for tacos.
- Posted using BlogPress my iPhone

Cranberry

Now more than ever, Val and I are realising the sentimental factors to certain recipes and foods. Especially with "The Holiday Season" in full swing.

Mom looooooved cranberry sauce so much we made two different kinds every year. I have to say it's grown on me. I cant decide if its because of the nostalgia, the fact that by eating it I justify making it, or that my "tastes are maturing."

It was a holiday dish that we could help my mom with as kids. Separating good cranberries from bad, shoving them down into the grinder, and stir stir stirring!

The most traditional is the Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, which is cooked on stove top. This recipe can still be found on the back of the Ocean Spray Bag.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 12-ounce package Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS:

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2 1/4 cups.

The second is a Cranberry Relish that we make with the KitchenAid grinder attachment. Why? Because that's how we've always done it and also....because we can. (One might be able to use a food processor as well. This recipe also used to be on the back of the bag, but is no longer.

Ingredients: 2 cups washed raw cranberries, 2 cored and chunked apples, 1 large whole (peel on) seedless orange, cut into sections, 1-2 cups granulated sugar.

Directions: Grind, mash, process. Mix in sugar. Keep at room temperature until sugar dissolves. Store in fridge. Hard huh?

Val shows off the finished product! We made a big batch.

Take a close look.

I love these colors. The perfect hand dyed yarn color combo. Someday I will make yarn in these colors (maybe a little less orange) and I will call whatever I make from it "Cranberry Relish."

It's What's For Dinner

My sister asked me to show her our mom's way of making Beef Stroganoff the other day. We made it today and it was our first meal in the apartment. She showed me how to make artichokes. (Boil 'em to death. We like em done done.)

It was fun cooking this together. Our mom never used a recipe for this one. It's one of my favorites and so I specifically asked her to show me how to make it. Now I'm glad I did. In my young adulthood I would cook it for my mom if SHE wanted comfort food and she would cook it for me if I was wanting some home cooking. It always tasted better to us if the other made it. Mom preferred to serve it over white rice, but I always requested it over noodles. She typically used egg noodles but we had some others leftover so we used those.

These are the general steps as processed by Val and me while we were eating:

-Put a little olive oil in a pan at Med High heat.

-Add 2/3 a chopped onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic.

-Add and brown one package (more meat for Luke, less meat for sisters) of stew beef cut into bite size pieces. Salt and Pepper. (Add mushrooms at this point if you want them.)

-Continue to cook until the water is evaporated. (If there's water moisture you'll get dumplings when you add the flour/thickener)

-Once you're down to browning "fat" in the pan add about 2 tbsp. of flour to the mixture. Stir until the flour is no longer white.

-Turn down heat

-Add 2/3 container sour cream. When well blended add milk so sauce is 1/2 frying pan full. Stir well.

-Add a juice glass full of water.

-Turn to low to simmer for a while.

-Add Worcestershire Sauce, beef base, and salt to taste.

-Lengthy cooking and the sour cream should help to tenderize the tougher stew meat. Sauce will thicken as it cools.