Lemon Veg Quinoa

Woah... it's been a while...

I've got a few new recipes that I've tried, which have been delicious! The first is a result of my new obsession with grated lemon peel. Similar to my obsession with cinnamon, I've begun putting lemon in everything - especially pasta and quinoa dishes.

• 1 c quinoa - rinsed
• 2c water
  
• 1 large tomato - diced
  
• 2 zucchini - cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into 1/2" slices
• 1 green pepper - diced
  
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
  
• 1/2 onion - diced
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 Tbs black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbs dried basil (I'd use fresh if I had it, but my basil plant shriveled and died a while back, 3-4 chopped basil leaves)
• 1/2 Tbs paprika
• 1 1/2 Tbs grated lemon peel
  

Boil 2c of water and add quinoa. Reduce to a simmer until all the water has evaporated. Fluff with a fork. When the quinoa is finished, gently stir in the lemon peel. While you're waiting for the quinoa to cook (about a half hour)...

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent. Add green peppers and zucchini and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add tomato, pepper, salt, basil, and paprika. Cook until the zucchini and peppers are soft. The tomato will reduce into a red, saucy mush. If you'd rather keep your tomotoes in-tact, add them later in the cooking process, about 5-6 minutes before the quinoa is done.

Scoop the vegetable mixture over the quinoa and NOM NOM NOM!

Taco Soup

I made tacos with friends and had a bunch of leftovers, as well as a bunch of veggies I needed to use. The original plan was to use a low-sodium vegetable broth as the base, but spicy black bean soup was on sale today (and you can't tell me spicy black bean doesn't sound more delicious!)

I used:
2 TBS olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 ear corn, boiled and cut off of cobb
1/2 packet (1 1/2 TBS) taco seasoning
2 c chopped red cabbage
1 zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces
1 box (~4 c) spicy black bean soup
2 c water
3/4 c quinoa

1. Heat olive oil in a large (!) pot. Saute' garlic and onion.
2. Add taco seasoning, green bell pepper and zucchini and cook, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add cabbage, corn, black bean soup, water, and quinoa. Stir, bring to boil, and let simmer until quinoa is cooked (about 30 minutes).

Easy enough, right? This makes enough soup (or stew... the quinoa sucked up all the water and thickened it) for 5-6 people... which means a week of leftovers for me!! This would also be good over a baked potato or as taco filling.

Ginger Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

1 red bell pepper (Recipe makes enough filling for 2-4)
2 carrots
2 cloves garlic
1/2 yellow onion
1C quinoa
1Tbs ginger
salt/pepper
non-stick spray
soy sauce
~2c water
2 TBS olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F

1. Boil water and add quinoa. Quinoa cooks a lot like rice - it will absorb the water as it cooks., which takes about 30 minutes. When it's done, fluff it with a fork.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, heat olive oil over medium heat (NOT HIGH HEAT!) in a nonstick pan.
3. Dice garlic and onion, and cut carrots into small pieces (1/4 inch coins worked well) and add to oil.
4. My green pepper was huge, so I cut the top off, and then cut a 2-inch section off the top of the "bowl" part. I cut that into bite-size pieces and added it to the oil as well.
5. Add salt and pepper to the pan. Cover the carrots, onion, garlic and pepper and cook for 10 or so minutes on medium heat.
6. When the quinoa is almost cooked, add the ginger and stir gently.
7. Cut the seeds and white ridges out of the middle of the pepper.
8. When the quinoa is cooked and veggies are almost soft, combine the two and fill the pepper(s) with the mixture.
9. Top the mixtures with cheese or the pepper lids.
10. Bake in a sprayed baking dish for 25 minutes or until the pepper starts to wrinkle and gets soft.
11. Add soy sauce

Nom!

"Husky" Quinoa & Phytochemicals

Quinoa! The only perfect plant protein! ...but more on this super grain another post.

To make dinner tonight, I pulled the most colorful things I could find out of my refrigerator: red cabbage, a corn cob, and a green pepper. Color is one of the best indicators of healthy foods. Think of some of the healthiest foods you know of: fruits, vegetables, grains, salmon. Now think of more unhealthy foods - anything you'd pull out of a bag from McDonalds. Pretty brown and dull, yeah?

When plants are growing in the dirt, they need to protect themselves from insects, fungi, bacteria, and animals. To do so, they produce chemicals called "phytochemicals" (plant chemicals). There are estimated to be more than 5,000-10,000 phytochemicals, most of which we haven't discovered yet. Phytochemicals are the reason for plants' colors and odors. When we eat phytochemicals, our cells benefit from the same antioxidant protection they offer the plants! Moral of the story: follow your nose and eyes to bright, smelly foods!

Sooooo here it is... Husky quinoa. So named for it's purple-and-gold color. This recipe isn't anything especially pretty, but it is quite tasty. Especially for an experiment!

1. Boil 1c of rinsed and drained quinoa in 2c water until all the water is absorbed, much like rice. At the same time, boil one stalk of corn in a large pot of water. Once the water has been boiling for 1-2 minutes, turn off the stove and let the corn sit in the hot water.
2. Mince 1-2 cloves garlic and 1/2 an onion, and saute' in olive oil.
3. Add bite-sized pieces of 1 green pepper.
4. Cut the cooked corn off the cob into the green pepper mixture.
5. Add 3/4 of a head of red cabbage (that's all that fit in my pan), 1/4 cup water, and cover the pan until the cabbage softens.
6. Add salt and pepper to both the quinoa and the veggie mixture. Add an additional ~1 tsp ginger to the quinoa.
7. Once the cabbage/pepper/corn mixture is soft, mix 1/2 cup with 1/2 cup of the quinoa.

Om Nom Nom!