Quinoa Stuffed Peppers- one of the Tales of the Ridiculously happy MadArtTeacher

There are MANY reasons today that I am happy.....  But I have to say the sun does much to uplift my mood!  It was a lovely, albeit cold, day today. Spring is definitely going to be showing up- the days are getting longer, the snow is melting on the road in spite of it being cold - flipping cold- outside.  I am a child of the sun and today was awesome.  I was thrilled to be out in it for my 7 mile walk!  Now the poor condition of the sidewalks in PF was another story, but oh well.  I did not fall on all that ice, so all is well.

ANY WHO,
I was planning to cook today, as my food in the freezer from blogs gone by was pretty much depleted and I need some lunches for the week, and I was fortunate to talk to my wonderful friend Luann who recommended a stuffed pepper recipe on the back of the quinoa box!!  It was a lucky thing that I was wanting to cook as that was one of the best things I have made lately!

I have a few other food related items up my sleeve for the morning, as well as a batch of my awesome curried butternut squash soup, so expect another food post.

Quinoa is such a good thing to cook with- it is simple, it is tasty, and it is high in protein.  And it is really good in this application.  This recipe is a nice combination of fresh food and a few convenient canned things- maybe not perfect, but it was fast and easy to put together.

I like yellow and red peppers- green not so much.  But you can use green ones if you want!  :) Choose nice big ones and take the tops off.  Personally I think the colors here are just fantastic!!  And we all know we eat with our eyes first!

The quinoa is super simple to prepare- 2 parts water to one part quinoa, cover with a paper towel and cook in the microwave on high for 8 minutes.

The steaming of the peppers was an interesting dilemma.  I don't have a steamer, so I tried something I sort of remembered from somewhere- worked great.  I put the peppers in this Corelle dish with a bit of water in the bottom of it.  Then I cooked them for 3 - 4 minutes on high....

then I covered them with plastic wrap and left them in the microwave while I did the rest of the dish! Worked perfectly! Peppers were just soft, not soggy or mushy

Heat oil and saute onion and mushrooms, then sprinkle the cumin over the vegetables along with pepper if desired.  This will draw out the flavors and is NOT on the quinoa box.  Then add the garlic and let it heat until you smell the garlic.  Mmmmmm.

Add the salsa and the tomatoes- juice drained from the tomatoes for later- and let it cook down a bit.  

After the sauce is nice and concentrated, fold in the dish of quinoa- this is your stuffing

You will notice that it is not a pretty thing to try and stuff with quinoa and photograph it- but hey this is good food we are talking about!

Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes and then top with some cheese- the box calls for mozzarella, but I used cheddar/jack cheese, return to the oven for about 5 - 10 more minutes.  THIS was the result- and the taste was as good as it looks.  I used Spike seasoning after tasting it- I had not put in any hot pepper flakes and I think that would give it another layer of yum.  

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

**slightly edited from first post

adapted from back of Quinoa box

1 cup quinoa

4 large peppers (green, red or yellow)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

½ cup onion, chopped

½ cup sliced mushrooms

½ tsp cumin

red pepper flakes or red pepper (optional)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 can diced tomatoes, drained and juice reserved

1 jar salsa (favorite brand- any strength you prefer)

2 Tablespoons sherry (optional)

½ cup grated cheddar cheese (or mozzerella)

Spike or seasoned salt

Cook one cup quinoa according to package directions. I cook it in the microwave: 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Cook 8 minutes on high, loosely covered. Let sit 10 – 15 minutes

Steam peppers until just softening

Meanwhile, saute onion and mushrooms in olive oil. When softened add cumin and red pepper and heat for a minute to release flavors. Then add garlic and heat for 30 seconds or until you can smell it.

Add tomatoes (keep reserved juice for now) and salsa and heat on low for 10 minutes. The mixture will get thick. Fold in cooked quinoa.

Put peppers in a baking dish. Fill with quinoa mixture- there will be about half left. Place the rest of the quinoa around the peppers. Pour reserved tomato juice into baking pan. Bake uncovered in a 325 oven for about 30 – 40 minutes. After almost done, top with cheese and return to oven for about 5 – 10 minutes.

I found that a little spike seasoning made this perfect!

** It occurs to me that a half cup of black beans in the mixture might rock!!!**

Each pepper is about 275 calories!!  Not bad!!  I will update with more nutritional information later- meanwhile, I hope you find some joy in this nice little vegetarian dish!  with a mexican sort of flair.  I think a Margarita would pair perfectly with this, don't you??  

Stuffed peppers with tempeh (no, he does not)

Until next time - be a joy giver!  :)

Quinoa and kale stuffed sweet potato

I am always trying to find vegetarian fare that is pretty quick and easy, plus makes a bit so I can have lunches through at least part of the week.  I keep my ideas on my Pinterest board so I can easily find them!  As I was scrolling through that board this weekend I rediscovered this one.

Good choice, Mad Art Teacher, Good choice!

I WISH I had a pic of all the ingredients....  I was multitasking that day and neglected to photo everything. But you will get the idea if you read carefully!  :)

This topping for the sweet potatoes is so simple and so delicious that it is surprising.  It goes perfectly with the rich, red-orange sp, but would make a good combination with any sort of grain or even as a side  dish with any meal.  Just a thought!

First things first- throw those lovely sweet potatoes into the oven.  I wrap mine in foil and I use these Red Garnet Sweet Potatoes

The base of the topping is quinoa, a wonderful, high-protein grain.  I have a couple different sorts, but am partial to the look of the dark brown "red" quinoa.  Pretty!  Quinoa needs to be rinsed first (some kinds come sold as prerinsed, look at your box or bag first.  If in doubt, rinse it!)  It isn't a big deal to run water over it 3 or 4 times and let it drain

After rinsing, combine the quinoa with vegetable broth and cook on the stove.  In the meantime..... Saute your onions in a little oil (and butter according to the recipe).

HERE is where you need to pay attention!!!  After the onions are softened it says to add the rest of the ingredients, which includes slivered, toasted almonds.  So I didn't have toasted ones, I had raw almonds, and so I decided to just cut up my almonds and toss them in WITH the onion at the end.  Worked out perfectly!!

After the onion and almonds are sauteed, add the kale and dried cranberries.  Trust me, this is good stuff.

When the quinoa is ready, toss that in as well.  Stir it up, and have it warm for when the Sweet Potatoes are done.

This was divine and REALLY pretty.  I found that it reheats really well at work for lunch too!  WINNER here.  YUM

Something about the crunch of the almonds and the sweet of the cranberries melds with the rich sweet potato and slight texture of the quinoa......

Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Serves 8

What you'll need:

4 sweet potatoes

1 cup quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp. butter 

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cups kale, broken into 1 inch pieces (I used more than 2 cups)

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (I used chopped, raw almonds)

1/4 cup (plus) dried cranberries

salt and pepper

What you'll do:

Bake the sweet potatoes in a 350 degree oven for 1 hours or until fork tender.  While

they are cooking, make your filling.  Cook the quinoa (use prerinsed or be sure to rinse the quinoa a few times) in the vegetable broth.  And while

that is cooking, saute the onion in the butter and olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft. (Here is where I put in the almonds, about 1 - 2 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients)

Add in the kale, almonds, and cranberries and saute until the kale is soft, about 3

minutes.  Add the finished quinoa to the frying pan and mix together.

Top a halved sweet potato.  

Approximate calorie count:

250 calories for the full cup of topping, and about 150 calories for the sweet potato.

This was a fantastic find!!  YAY

And it definitely gives me a little lunch-time joy!

Red Lentil Sauce- NEW recipe of awesomeness, plus the recipe for a great Vegan Banana Bread

I found a new vegetarian website, the Everyday Vegetarian ( http://www.everyday-vegetarian-recipes.com/index.html) and a great recipe to try!  I really like lentils, they are fast to make and the red ones are so pretty.  They are more orange than red, but you get the drift!

I am always looking for fast recipes to make after school or on the weekends.  I need ideas!!  Anyway, here is a good one. So far I have had it on quinoa and in a wrap.  It was actually listed as a spaghetti sauce, so that is another possibility.  I have some in the freezer, too!  

Almost all of the ingredients I used for this first batch were either organic or from my garden.  Which means they are organic, as well....  

lentils, cinnamon, olive oil, onion, tomatoes, garlic, carrots

Dice the vegetables

saute

Cinnamon is a different flavor profile for garlic

saute the cinnamon and garlic after the vegetables are soft

Add tomatoes and lentils and water or broth

Cook down the sauce

Fresh basil

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

1 diced onion

½ cup carrots, diced

2 – 3 garlic cloves

¼ - ½ tsp cinnamon

2 cups diced tomatoes

1 cup red lentils (any color will work)

1 ½ cups vegetable broth or water

3 Tablespoons fresh basil or 1 tsp drybasil

Saute onion and carrots in Olive oil,about 5 min. Add cinnamon and crushed garlic cloves. Stir overmedium heat about 30 seconds, until you can smell the garlic.

Add tomatoes (canned or fresh), lentilsand water or broth. Add dried basil here if using it. Cook overmedium low heat about 15 minutes, or until lentils are done. Addfresh basil just before serving.

OPTIONS AND NOTES:

You can add in any vegetable you like! Either raw, by adding with the onion and carrots, or cooked by addingthem with the tomatoes.

You could use any color lentil or splitpeas that you have.

Maybe a touch of white or red winewould be tasty!

If you don't think you'll like thesomewhat sweet taste of cinnamon, leave it out and add some chilis ororegano or thyme. I sort of love the combo of garlic and cinnamon-it was a pleasant surprise!!

I plan to make this again and freeze itfor quick sauces.

I cooked some quinoa and had a very tasty dinner!

Calorie count for the sauce:
143 for 1/6th of the recipe, with 22 gm of carb, 2.3 fat and 7.2 gm of protein  YUM!

Additionally:
I made a fab Banana Bread that happens to be Vegan.  My sister is coming here for the weekend (wedding weekend, people!!!) and she happens to be unable to have milk products of any sort.  SO, I thought it would be nice to make something she could have.  I found this recipe online, and it is fantastic!  And because there are no eggs, you can have a few fingers full of the batter from the empty bowl and not worry about salmonella!!  :)  WIN!!

I did not have the energy to take pix, tho, so you will have to take my word for it, it is divine.  You would have no idea it is anything but regular banana bread. Yes it does have oil, but not a ton.  And it has almond or soy milk in it- which is why the consistency is so good.

EDIT:

I did take a pix with my phone!!!  Who knew!

 VeganBanana Bread

Ingredients:

2cups all-purpose flour

3/4cups white granulated sugar (I prefer unrefined cane sugar)

1/2cup dark brown sugar, packed

3/4t. baking soda

3/4t. salt

3/4t. cinnamon

1/2cup plain soy milk or almond milk

1t. apple cider vinegar

2cups mashed banana, from about 4 large very ripe bananas

1/4cup canola oil

2T. maple syrup

1t. vanilla extract

Walnuts(optional)

Preparation:

1.Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil a 9"x5" loaf pan andset aside.

2.In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugars,baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3.In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the soy milk and cider vinegarand let stand for 2 minutes. Add the mashed banana, canola oil, maplesyrup, and vanilla extract, whisking until well combined. Add the dryingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined (do not overmix!).Fold in the walnuts if using and pour the batter into the preparedloaf pan. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted intothe center emerges clean. Allow the bread to cool on a wire coolingrack for 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at roomtemperature.

Thisrecipe came from about.com/dairyfreecooking

So, this was a pretty productive day- got lots done.....  makes me think I should do a wedding count down post!!  

Hmmmm.....  

Until that time- be a joy giver! 

Fruit Salad and Muffins!

I have been doing a little cooking and baking lately. I have been trying to make things that only involve a small amount of heat, however, considering the weather and all.

So, over at the Sunday Baker, my dear friend Tanya recently made berry muffins that were flourless.  Now, I have nothing against flour, really, bread type things are a serious weakness of mine!  But these sounded really good, especially considering it has so many wholesome, clean ingredients in them.  The other thing I made was a Quinoa Fruit Salad.  This is prime fruit season and I have recently been on a quinoa kick.  Quinoa is a grain that has a lot of protein in it, and it is different and blends well with a lot of flavors.  And the dressing of lime, honey and mint sounded so refreshing, had to try it out.

Ingredients include applesauce, maple syrup, fruit and oats.  I opted not to use the white chocolate chips that is in the original recipe

I used 2 whole eggs for the extra protein

MY FAVORITE breakfast item in the world!!!

Mix all ingredients except for the fruit

 I found a cool, easy way to skin a single peach or two.  MICROWAVE 3 cups of water until it is boiling, about 4 minutes.  Drop the peach into the water and leave it in there for about 3 minutes.  Remove from water and slip the skin.  I found when I did the second one that you need to reheat the water to boiling again.  2 peaches makes about 1 cup.

Slip the skins form the peaches

Divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups

Bake until golden

Peach Oat Muffins

This recipe has oats, applesauce, yogurt and maple syrup as the main ingredients.  You can change the flavor of the muffins by changing the yogurt and fruit!!  Tanya's muffins --HERE-- are berry, I had peaches and peach yogurt so that was an easy decision!

2-1/2 c. quick or old fashioned oats

1 (6 oz.) container Chobani (or other brand) Greek Yogurt

1/2 c. pure maple syrup

1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

1-1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1 c. chopped peaches (or other fruit)

  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a food processor, add all of the ingredients except for the peaches (berries). Pulse until it becomes a thick, malt-like batter. Pour into a mixing bowl.  You can also mix the whole thing in a mix master.

2. Stir in the fruit, reserving a small amount to add to the tops for a pretty touch, if desired. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling almost to the top.

3. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a soft golden color. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to cooling racks. 

I put these in the refrigerator overnight and they are YUMMO cold with a glass of almond milk for breakfast....

Quinoa Fruit Salad

This fruit salad was originally posted at one of the blogs I follow, called Two Peas and their Pod.  They have some really great food on here, worth a look to see!  I pinned it on Pinterest recently, and there was a lot of people interested in how it turned out.  It was really tasty. 

The dressing for this salad is simple, honey, lime and mint.  SO good, so refreshing.  I used agave syrup as I had no honey- weird but true.  Agave syrup is great too!  It is after all the made from the same  plant as my buddy 1800

Red quinoa- simple to make in the microwave

Dressing with mint and lime

Fresh Fruit-I used peaches strawberries and blueberries

Fruit with quinoa underneath

Lovely with a little mint garnish

 Quinoa and Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

1 cup of red Quinoa- cooked according to box directions.  Rinse several times first.  Will make 2 - 3 cups of the grain, cooked.

Fresh fruit of your choice- about 3 cups total.  Can add more.

Honey-lime-mint dressing:

3 Tablespoons honey (I used agave syrup)

1 lime, squeezed

2 Tablespoons fresh mint

Stir together dressing ingredients.  Add fruit to quinoa and dress the salad.  Tastes wonderful right away or the next day when the flavors blend a little.  You could halve the recipe for a small family.

2 more great ideas for a vegetarian way of eating- or not!  

2 more joyful things to make!!

Where to start..... (Quinoa salad)

I've got a lot of posts lurking in me!  There is one for the Olbrich gardens in Madison, my trip to Eden Prairie, an elf door, some yummy foods, oh my goodness, lots of things!!

I have had a really good June so far, so many little things I have done and seen.  People I have visited and talked to ....  I am wallowing in the joys of summer.  I want to enjoy some time at home now, I have a lot of work to do around the house, but don't want to spend my days stuck in here.  So, I am trying to strike a balance of doing useful things and doing joyful things.... and doing healthy things.  Today, I went for a 4 mile run, edited a boatload of pictures, cleaned up my hallway and made the piano accessible.  woo hoo!  Plus I made a nice quinoa salad for myself- so that is where I am going to start!

I have some time now, and since I have been eating vegetarian for the past 2 months I need to figure out some things to make for myself.  While in the Twin Cities, I went to a Whole Foods Store (for the first time ever) with a "Loseit" friend of mine and we bought a few salads for lunch after a nice walk around Lake Harriet.  There were a badillion vegetarian choices and it turns out that Whole Foods posts their recipes online!  Which is awesome, and I will make something from that website soon.  The point is that I was inspired to go online and search for some salad recipes and found a bunch that I posted to Pinterest.

I use Pinterest as a way to save things that I find online.  I am trying not to save the most sweet, decadent sounding things found on the face of the earth, I am trying to stay in the mostly healthy mode. I found this and adapted it to some of the things I had on hand and for my tastes at the moment.

Grilled Zucchini Greek Style Quinoa Salad

I happened to have zucchini on hand, and a friend of mine had just told me about Greek seasoning, which I had picked up last week.  So, this recipe was a good place to start.  I cut up some red peppers and zucchini, rubbed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled with Cavender's Greek seasoning.  I put them on my electric grill- unfortunately had a couple of them fall through the grate (grr) but managed to save the vast majority of the veggies!

Grilling the veggies

Meanwhile, I had started the cooking process for the quinoa! Our local supermarket has the kind of quinoa that you do not have to rinse first, it is prerinsed.  Yay.  I love quinoa, it reminds me of brown rice and is so easy to make and so good.

While those were all cooking I cut up tomatoes, added the olives, feta and chopped celery and mixed them with some light balsamic vinaigrette, with an extra splash of balsamic!

Ingredients for fabulosity

After the veggies were lightly grilled, I cut them into pieces and added them to the vinaigrette mixture, and chilled the whole thing for a short time.  I also took a serving of finished quinoa and chilled it as well.  I know I should have made the whole thing earlier, but hey!  I didn't feel like it before- I was cleaning!  OK??!!

The "Greek" zucchini salad

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini
1 red pepper
Cavender Greek seasoning (or any Greek seasoning)
Olive oil

Olives
celery
feta cheese (I used black pepper flavor)
cherry tomatoes
Balsamic vinaigrette
Balsamic vinegar

Quinoa

Cook Quinoa according to directions.  I make extra to have on hand.

Rub cut peppers and zucchini with olive oil and sprinkle with Greek seasoning.  Lightly grill, flip veggies, grill some more.  Until the veggies are to the consistency you like.  Cut into bite size pieces.

Mix you choice of ingredients for the salad- I used olives, celery, feta, tomatoes....  cucumbers bother my stomach, so I don't use them.  They would be great in this though!!  Marinate for a short time in vinaigrette.  I used balsamic, because I luuuuuuuuuv it, but you might prefer a more traditional one.  It would be a little more tart, which is fabulous, but I had this on hand and it was divine.

I spooned some quinoa in a bowl, stuck it in the frig to chill and then topped it off a little later with a couple scoops of salad.  YUM!!

Approximately 400 calories using about 3/4 cup quinoa.

THIS was good!  I would like it with a more tart Italian dressing or I might make my own next time.

While I like the simple food I usually eat, this kind of thing makes me very happy!  You might say it gives me a lot of joy!




***  I always think of my favorite friend/food blogger when I make healthy things like this!  A shout out to my buddy Tanya at The Sunday Baker- you girl, are a big inspiration for me!  Her blog is so worth checking out!!