Quinoa Tabouli

My brother and sister-in-law were in town and my aunt was going to have them over for dinner. I wanted to bring a side or salad of some kind so I started looking through my pins on Pinterest. I found this recipe and thought it would be perfect since it can be served room temp or chilled. We ate outside and it was so much fun. My aunt made some really good food and my salad complimented everything. It was perfect. And it was easy to make. I added the zest of 1 of my lemons to give it more of a lemony taste and yum!

Quinoa Tabouli (6 servings):

1 c dry quinoa, rinsed, drained and cooked according to pkg directions
2 c chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 c chopped cucumbers
1/2 c chopped onion
1 c fresh mint, finely chopped
2 c fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

*Dressing
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 scant c freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
Zest of 1 lemon, optional
1 garlic clove, grated
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Combine quinoa and water in med saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Transfer to a large bowl to cool while you prep the other ingredients.

Add chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and fresh herbs to cooked, cooled quinoa. In small bowl, whisk together ingredients for dressing. Pour over quinoa salad and toss to combine. Refrigerate for a couple hours to chill slightly. Serve room temp or chilled. Enjoy!




Dressing...






Enjoy!...

Pan-Seared Salmon with Lentil & Quinoa Salad

I'm currently eating this salad as I type out the recipe for this blog...it's soooo good! I found it in Rachel Ray's magazine. I've been trying to eat more salmon and apparently I've been eating the wrong kind of salmon in the past. I got a bag of sock-eye salmon at Costco and split the bag with my aunt. This salmon comes with the skin-on and it's pretty amazing! Not fishy at all and thick cuts of meat. I'll definitely be making more salmon dishes with this! The recipe serves four but I didn't want to use all my salmon up in one dish so I still made the four servings for the salad and only added one salmon fillet. I also added a tilapia fillet in case I didn't like the salmon. The way the fish is cooked, it comes out really buttery tasting. I added more lemon juice to my fish just because. I shredded my fish and added it to the salad, instead of putting the whole fillets on the salad. I will definitely make this again and again!!!

Pan-Seared Salmon with Lentil & Quinoa Salad (4 servings) (Rachel Ray Magazine):

3/4 c dried lentils, picked free of hard stones
3/4 c quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 small lemons, juiced (4 tbsp)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 c plus 1 tbsp EVOO
4 skin-on salmon fillets
1/2 c minced red onion
1 c chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

In separate saucepans, cook lentils and quinoa according to pkg directions. Drain and cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice and mustard. Gradually whisk in 1/4 c EVOO; season with salt and pepper. Reserve 1/4 c of the vinaigrette.

In large skillet, heat remaining 1 tbsp EVOO and half of the reserved vinaigrette over med-high. Add the salmon, skin side down. Cover, reduce heat to med and cook until the fish flakes apart easily with a fork, about 8 minutes.

Add the quinoa, lentils, onion and 3/4 c parsley to the bowl with the vinaigrette. Toss to combine; season. Divide among plates and serve the fish on top (or shred the fish and combine into the salad). Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and top with the remaining parsley. Enjoy!




Lentil & Quinoa...






Fish added...Enjoy!

Garlic Butter Shrimp & Quinoa

I was randomly looking at Pinterest one day and came across this recipe. I love garlic, shrimp and quinoa so this sounded like a good meal to try and it definitely was! Very buttery and garlicky! And topped off with some lemon juice for serving, I will definitely make this recipe again! My only small complaint was that it could have used 2 bags of shrimp! I found this on Pinterest via http://pinchofyum.com.

Garlic Butter Shrimp & Quinoa (8 servings):

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 c finely chopped onion
10 garlic cloves, minced or 5 tsp bottled minced garlic, divided
2 c uncooked quinoa (I used a mixture of red and rainbow quinoa since that's what I had on hand), rinsed and drained
1 tsp chili powder, divided
4 c veggie or chicken broth
6 tbsp salted butter, divided
1 lb raw tail-on shrimp
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, for serving
Fresh lemon juice, for serving

Heat oil in large nonstick pot over med-high heat. Add the onion and saute until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add 2 tsp of the garlic and saute 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add the uncooked quinoa and 1/2 tsp of chili powder. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute another minute to add flavor to the quinoa. Add the broth, bring to a boil, cover and cook 15-20 minutes. When the quinoa is done, it will be soft throughout and the liquid will have been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and toss with fresh minced parsley.

While the quinoa is cooking, heat 1 tbsp of butter in large skillet over med-high heat. When the pan is hot and the butter has melted, add the shrimp and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tsp of chili powder directly in the pan. Season with salt and pepper and saute until no longer translucent and golden brown on the outside. Just at the end of the saute, add 1 tsp garlic and swirl around in the pan until the garlic is very fragrant.

Melt the remaining 5 tbsp butter with the rest of the garlic to make a sauce for drizzling. Serve the quinoa and shrimp together in one dish, drizzling the garlic-butter mixture over top. Top with fresh parsley and serve with lemon juice. Enjoy!




Quinoa added to the onion and garlic mixture...






Broth added to quinoa mixture...






Chili powder and shrimp added to melted butter...






Cooked shrimp...






Cooked quinoa...






Cooked shrimp added to quinoa...






Garlic & butter bubbling...






Enjoy!...

Red Quinoa

One of the shelves in my cabinet is filled with all kinds of grains, most I've never tried before but have been wanting to. I've had quinoa before several times and love it. I had picked up this bag of red quinoa and decided to make it one night to serve as a side to some steak. It tastes just like regular white quinoa I thought. I added some chopped peppers with garlic and topped if off with some Italian dressing. Definitely good and I'll keep making it.

Red Quinoa:

1 c quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/2 c chopped mini or regular bell peppers
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
Italian dressing, to taste

Cook quinoa as directed on the package. While quinoa is cooking, lightly cook the peppers and garlic in the oil until tender and fragrant. Add tot he cooked quinoa. Top with Italian dressing and serve. Enjoy!




Enjoy!...

Quinoa Vegetable Pilaf

Once upon a time Taste of Home had a healthy cooking version of their magazine. They just recently got rid of it for some stupid reason but I found this recipe in that magazine a while ago. When I first tried this, I wasn't eating quinoa very much so it was a nice introduction of the grain because it's mixed with rice and veggies. And even better, this recipe only serves 2! Perfect for me. Tonight, I doubled the recipe only because I wanted leftovers for tomorrow. Instead of white quinoa, I used a rainbow quinoa, which cooked a little bit quicker than regular white quinoa so it burned a little. It was still tasty though and I'll continue to keep making this as a side dish. I'm going to put down the 2 serving ingredients-I'll leave it up to you if you want to double it or not.

I also just joined Weight Watchers again so don't mind if I add points here and there to the recipe.

Quinoa Veggie Pilaf (2 servings) (WW 5 pts):

2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 tbsp chopped carrot
1/2 tsp canola oil
1/4 c uncooked jasmine rice
1/4 c quinoa, rinsed
1 c chicken broth
1/8 tsp pepper
1/3 c chopped fresh broccoli

In small saucepan, saute onion and carrots in oil until tender. Add rice and quinoa; stir to coat. Stir in broth and pepper.

Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, adding the broccoli during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.




All the ingredients...






All the ingredients minus the broccoli added...






Broccoli added...






Served with the meatloaf...

Smoked Chicken-Banana Pepper Soup

I found this recipe in the book from below. It's taken me a while to actually make it but tonight I decided to. And I made several substitutions. I couldn't find the prechopped celery, onion and bell pepper mix and I was out of celery so I just used one whole white onion and an orange bell pepper. I didn't saute the veggies in the bacon grease before because I didn't want them to turn into mush in the slow cooker. I did still add the bacon grease to the soup after the bacon cooked. I used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up into bite-size pieces instead of the smoked chicken. For more of a smoky flavor, right before I served the soup, I added about 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika and it worked for the smoky flavor. The recipe calls for 8 plum tomatoes to be put in with the soup to be cooked for the 6 hours but I didn't want the tomatoes to be mush so I added them during the last 10 min of cooking time. I also substituted a cup of quinoa instead of using the rice. And I only cooked the soup for 5 hours instead of the 6. I don't really like how the texture of chicken changes during the time in the slow cooker so I cooked it for less and it did taste a little better. I also added 2 more tbsp of the juice from the banana peppers. All in all, the soup tasted really good. It has a different flavored broth than most soups and I would definitely make it again.

Smoked Chicken-Banana Pepper Soup (8 servings):

4 bacon slices
1 (8 oz) container refrigerated prechopped celery, onion and bell pepper mix (here I used 1 white onion and 1 orange bell pepper)
6 c chicken broth
2 c sliced pickled banana peppers
2 tbsp juice from pickled banana peppers (I used 4 tbsp)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 lb pulled smoked chicken
1 (14 oz) pkg boil-in-bag white rice (I used 1 c cooked quinoa)
Garnish: Fresh oregano

Cook bacon in large skillet over med-high 5-7 min or until crisp; remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Coarsely crumble bacon.

Ad celery mixture to drippings in skillet; cook, stirring constantly, 5 min or until tender. Add chicken broth, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Transfer broth mixture to slow cooker. Stir in bacon, peppers and next 7 ingredients (again I didn't stir in the tomatoes at this time). Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours. Stir in rice (and tomatoes if you wish) during last 10 min of cooking time. Cover and cook 10 min or until heated through. Garnish.




Ingredients added...






Tomatoes & Quinoa added...






Enjoy!...

Quinoa Turkey Chili

Wow...it's been a long while since I've been on here! Thought I'd start posting things on here slowly again. I'm planning on purchasing a recipe book online soon where I can post everything but in the mean time, this blog works!

I've made this recipe twice now..the second time being tonight. I found it in Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking magazine. I loved it the first time I made it and I love it the second time as well. I gave this recipe to a family member and after telling her about it, I started craving it. It's really filling and it makes a lot. It freezes well too, which is a plus since I live alone. It calls for corn, but I omitted it both times. It also calls for an adobo pepper, which I couldn't find the first time, so I used red pepper flakes instead. I used the pepper this time around and it's a little too spicy for me so next time I make it, I'll just use the red pepper flakes again.

Here's the recipe (2 1/4 qt):

1 c quinoa, rinsed
3 1/2 c water, divided
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 med sweet red pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 med zucchini, chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 c minced fresh cilantro

In large saucepan, bring quinoa and 2 c water to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 12-15 min or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat; fluff with a fork and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan (I used my Dutch oven) coated with cooking spray, cook turkey, onion, red pepper and garlic over med heat until meat is no longer pink and veggies are tender; drain. Stir in chili powder, cumin and cinnamon; cook 2 min longer.

Add black beans, tomatoes, zucchini, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, bay leaf, oregano, salt, pepper and remaining water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 min. Stir in corn (if using) and quinoa; heat through. Discard bay leaf; stir in cilantro.

Enjoy!