Quinoa with Summer Vegetables

The second time, I made quinoa, I made a tasty recipe from Gluten Free Goddess.  You do not have to be gluten free to get tempting recipes, at this site.  Not only are the recipes good to eat, the directions are clear.  The photos are spectacular.   You may be surprised that this is a gluten free blog but Karina will prove it to you. 

The first time, I "cooked" quinoa, I did not know you were to rinse the grain.  Well, you can imagine the face my hubby made. He refused to eat quinoa for the longest time.  It was Karina's recipe that caused him to change.  It was with great trepidation that he was willing to do this and I was fearful for that first bite.  If I failed here, there would be no quinoa, at his plate, from now on.  What a waste that would be.

Here is the magical (no just plain good food) recipe that won his heart over.

Quinoa with Summer Vegetables  (adapted)


Go to Karina's to see how to make quinoa in a rice cooker.
Ingredients:
Olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 yellow summer squash, sliced  (butternut)

A fistful of  or green beans, trimmed, sliced

1 Japanese eggplant (small eggplants are way less bitter), peeled, sliced into bite size pieces (the only time I ever had one)  They are cute and good to eat.

1 bell pepper- red, yellow, orange or green, cored, sliced

2 cups mushrooms, trimmed, sliced

A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Sea salt and ground pepper

Herbs, to taste- parsley, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes- whatever you prefer

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

Method:

Rinse quinoa thoroughly.  Get rid of the bitter taste. 
When the quinoa is almost done, heat a splash of light olive oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, stir until translucent. 
Add the remaining vegetables and stir-fry until tender.
Season with sea salt, pepper, and herbs.
Add the balsamic vinegar. Stir.
Scoop the cooked quinoa out of the pot and add it into the wok.
Stir to combine with the vegetables.
Taste test and add more salt or seasoning if it needs it.
Remove from heat.
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toss to fluff.
Serve immediately; or allow it to cool, then cover and refrigerate it to eat as a salad. Serves 4.
 
We ate it as a hot side.  You have the choice.  If you make it and like, please let Karina know.  She puts a tremendous amount of work into her blog.

Pumpkin Tart with Cookie Crust and Streusel

As the winter approaches, I am falling in love.....yes falling in love with pumpkin.  The more I have, the more I like it and the very best food with pumpkin, I have had is this pumpkin tart.  This tart is a point of demarcation for me.  As I work my way to making beautiful pie crusts, I have traveled through graham cracker, chocolate cookie crumb crust, a soft tart and now a cookie crust tart.  There is a glimmer of light ahead saying, "Pie Crust Coming - Toot Toot".  I may just be ready.

This pie is for "You Want Pies With That?".  We were asked to make a pumpkin pie with a twist.  I just wanted a pumpkin pie but I think it is twisted in the sense, it is a tart, it has a cookie crust, and it is pumpkin pecan with pecans in the crust and the streusel.  Right, it has streusel too.  That is my pie and it is  yummy.

This pie, Pumpkin Tart with Cookie Crust and Streusel, comes from About.com Southern Food by Dianna Rattray,  I check there, almost the first place, when looking for a new recipe.  Since, I also like Southern Living, I  guess my taste goes to the South.

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup pecan pieces

4 tablespoons margarine
1 egg

Filling:

2 large eggs, beaten

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 Rice milk

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

dash nutmeg

dash ground cloves

Topping:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons oil

1/4 cup pecan pieces, chopped small

Preparation:

Combine 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup pecan pieces in a food processor. Process until pecans are finely ground. Add the 4 tablespoons of butter and 1 egg; pulse until well blended. Press over bottom and up sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare pumpkin mixture and streusel. Beat 2 large eggs with 1/3 cup sugar, 1 cup pumpkin, the Rice milk, salt, and spices. In another bowl, combine the 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1/4 cup pecan pieces. Set aside.

Pour the pumpkin filling mixture into hot crust and return to oven. Bake for 20 minutes longer; sprinkle with streusel and bake for about 10 minutes longer, or until topping lightly browned.

Cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan and cool completely. Serve with whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator.

Serves 8 to 10.

Salmon with Shitake Mushrooms

Salmon and Shiitake Mushrooms

I am leaving the original recipe below and then adding my changes.  I took this recipe so far from where it was going, I am embarrassed to use it.  What happened was that I bought the shitake mushrooms and the salmon plus some smaller mushrooms for another dish.  As I was about to make this, I realized I could use the other mushrooms here and stuff the shitake mushrooms.  That was just the beginning. 

I decided that I did not want greens but would rather have a large salad with the salmon.  Out went the greens.  Now, I still have salmon but different mushrooms and no greens.  I am glad Nigella is away over the ocean.

In all fairness, I plan to make this recipe, as directed, in the future.  I think Nigella is a fantastic cook and I love her recipes.

This is for I Heart Cooking Clubs.  Join in the fun.

From the book Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

2 skinned salmon fillets

2 Tbsp. canola oil

½ cup fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 onion chopped

3 Tbsp. soy sauce  

1 tsp. sesame oil

~ Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cook the salmon fillets — preferably in a good nonstick pan or on a griddle — over medium-high heat until just cooked through, and remove them to warmed plates while you get on with or finish the vegetables (you can start them off as the salmon cooks).

2. In a heavy-based pan, cooking for only two minutes. Cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes,

3. Pile the mushrooms on the plates with the salmon, add pepper to taste, and eat.

What I did:

I baked the salmon in a little sesame oil and soy sauce.  It cooked for thirty minutes.

In the meantime, I browned mushrooms and onions, for this and my stuffed shitake recipe, in a skillet.

I then piled the mushrooms on the pieces of salmon and drizzled some more soy sauce on top of the dish.

It was very good but I like salmon with nuts better.

Crostini Turned Cracker

We all make mistakes but I think, my mistakes, are the best.  Why?  I find a way to make them something else.  Here we go again.

Southern Living has this great recipe in their September 2009 magazine.  It shows a number of ways to use corn meal to make some interesting food.  The recipe I followed makes not only crostini or crackers, in my case, but also waffles, slow cooker corn bread, and skillet cornbread.  Of course, being me, I also made pancakes out of this batter.

I just took a look and the entire article with the recipes, I mentioned and several more.  If  you are a cornbread fan, check here.

Cornbread Crostini (adapted)  (5 dozen)    

Ingredients:

2 cups cornmeal 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup oil

2 Tbsp. sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 400degrees.                

Stir together all ingredients just until moistened.

Spoon batter into greased muffin pans (about 1 Tbsp. per cup).

Bake, in batches, 15 minutes or until golden brown.

This resulted in beautiful crackers.  There was no depth as crostini has.  They called for one tablespoon in each muffin tin and I listened.  When my crackers came out, I was thrilled.  I will not say how many I ate but trust that it was a lot.

I do want to make it again, putting more in each muffin cup.  Two tablespoons will probably give it enough thickness and produce a softer piece. 

I did take a cracker and put cream cheese with a slice of tomato on it.  It was good.

Take a look at the photos to get an idea.  I recommend them highly, this way or a bit thicker.  I also love using muffin tins and getting the same size for each one.  Even my cookie scooper is not that good.

Layered Meat Loaf

The meal for the Friday night Sabbath dinner usually includes chicken soup and chicken.  This week, we plan to have Paula Deen's vegetable soup without the meat and the following adapted layered  meat loaf.

This would be a perfect meal for Chanukah.

Layered Meat Loaf    adapted from Woman's Day December 16, 2003

Yield: 8 Servings  (I made two small meat loaves, a little less than a standard size loaf pan.)

INGREDIENTS:

Meat Mixture:

1 1/2 pounds ground meat (beef)  (I would have preferred chicken or turkey.)

1 cup combined finely chopped onion and ground walnuts
1 egg

1⁄3 cup vegetable broth

1⁄2 tsp ground black pepper

1⁄2 jar (11-1⁄2 oz) roasted peppers, drained and patted dry

1 box (10 oz) frozen chopped leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

5 medium potatoes, mashed

additional vegetable broth, as needed

2 chopped onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. Add to the chopped beef, walnuts, finely chopped onion, 1/3 cup broth, seasoning and egg.  I used the walnuts instead of bread crumbs to make this gluten free for the main man.

3. Cover the bottom of each loaf pan, pat down some meat loaf mixture.  Cover with roasted red peppers.

4.  Add another layer of meat.

5, In a separate bowl, mix mashed potatoes, some vegetable broth and spinach.  Add layer of this on top of meat.

6.  In small skillet, brown two onions, chopped in olive oil.  Brown slightly.

7.  Cover mashed potato mixture with browned onions.  Sprinkle with paprika.

8.  Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup (crockpot recipe)

Ever since, I first made the butternut squash soup, we have enjoyed many orange soups.   This is a new one for us.  As we sipped the first spoonful, we both exclaimed, "This is good." We, happily add this soup to our list of "make again." 

For a cold winter night, this is just the soup.  It is warm and creamy and soothing.  It's smoothness creates a feeling of comfort.  There is a tinge or sweetness from the sweet potato and carrots that rounds off the flavor beautifully.  There is a bit of spice in the taste from the black pepper.

This has been submitted to Souper Sunday and Crockpot Wednesdays, two sites, you should check out.  If you are a soup drinker, there is enough soups at Souper Sunday to last a year.  I bet some you never thought of.  Take a look.  If you want to use your crockpot more and need ideas, it is Crockpot Wednesdays where you want to find yourself.

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

• 1 medium onion, chopped or sliced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 3/4 bag of baby carrots

• 2 sweet potatoes                           
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 ginger cube (1 teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup Rice Dream or sour cream

1. Spray crock-pot with cooking oil.
2. Add onion and cook for 30 minutes on high.
3. Add vegetable broth.
4. Add sweet potato cut into chunks.

5. Add baby carrots, whole.              
6. Add ginger cube and black pepper.
7. Leave crock pot on high for another hour.
8. Change setting to low or medium, depending on your crock pot.
9. Leave on for another 2 -3 hours.  (I was out of the house for three hours and when I returned, it was cooked, just right.
10. Add the Rice Milk or sour cream.

11. Cook on low for another 30 minutes                                 
12. If you want to make it pretty, add a piece of parsely on top of the soup, in bowl
13. Put spoon to mouth and enjoy.

The vegetables were soft and I let them fall apart.  The pieces were delicious in the soup.  If you do not like chunky soups, even with soft vegetables, you could put this in a blender or use an immersion blender.  You will then have a silky smooth soup that glides right down.

Sweet Topped Molasses Spice Cookies - TWD

This is my second bake with TWD and again, I loved the final results.  These cookies disappear into thin air.  If you leave them on the table, beware.  They will not be there when you return.

Pam from Cookies With Boys selected this recipe and I am delighted.  As shared previously, we are not holding to the order of the recipes so you will see different ones popping up in the variety of blogs participating.  They are all scheduled for November.  You will find the recipe in Pam's blog.  While you are there look around.  You will like what you see.

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies   

Dorie Greenspan

The first batch of cookies I made spread and spread and spread and filled the entire large cookie pan.  Since I am not the only one to have this experience, I am not going to bang my head against the wall.  They looked a little ungainly but the taste was superb.  They were also super skinny.

The next batch, I made much smaller cookies and they came out separated from each other.  If you make these, and I think you should, add some flour and keep them two inches apart.  You might want to test the recipe by making only a few cookies and see if yours spreads like mine did.  I am sure there are conditions that affect this.

My cookies may not be poster cookies for Dorie but they are one of the most delicious cookies I have had.  My husband and I both liked them and keep sneaking another and another.

You want chewy? I got chewy!

This morning, I decided to try a new recipe for my class.  I looked through some of the recipes, I had printed up to eventually get to.  The top of the pile was the following recipe from Food Network.  I take bake everything I have said about any cookie, I thought was chewy.  They were not.  This is a chewy cookie along as you do not over-bake it by a minute.  It then turns into a hard chocolate cookie with little charm.  Cook it right and you will know what chewy actually means.  Even my class could tell the difference and although they love every food item, I make, they told me this one stood out.  Smart kids.

The Chewiest Chocolate Cookies


Recipe courtesy of the RIVER RUN COOKBOOK (HarperCollins, 2001)

4 to 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

12 ounces (2 cups) bittersweet chocolate, cut into squares

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted margarine

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts 

Directions

In the top of a microwave, melt the bittersweet chocolate and margarine. Allow it to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl until frothy.

Slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture ribbons off the beaters.

Add the melted chocolate mixture. Stir to combine.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Add to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.

Fold in the chips and nuts.

The dough will seem more like cake batter than cookie dough. (Do not add flour - I froze for 30 minutes)

Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is well chilled (and more cookie-dough-like).

Set the oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with baking parchment.

Scoop up the chilled dough and roll with your hands into small balls the size of a whole walnut (in the shell). I used my cookie scoop.   I kept cleaner that way.

Place the cookies on the prepared pans, about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake about 12 minutes.  (I checked at 10 minutes and they looked done to me.  They hardened in a minute or two,)

The tops of the cookies should look dry and cracked.

Allow to cool for a minute on the baking sheet, then remove to cake racks for further cooling.

Eat and be happy.  I have shared this in