Cilantro lime quinoa

Same food, a different taste. You'll see a pattern here at my blog. My personal favorite super foods: quinoa, kale, avocado, tomatoes, garlic and so on. There are so many variations available with fresh, whole foods. You may remember Quinoa fresh-Mex medley (a salad, a wrap filler or chip dip!). I've tried a new variation with mostly the same ingredients except the dressing. This time it's cilantro lime vinaigrette! I'm going to play with it some more to get it just to my liking, but it's very close. I wasn't totally sold on it the first day, but after the dish marinaded overnight, it was awesome!

Ingredients:
1 C dry quinoa (red or white)
2 1/2 C water
1 can black or kidney beans
a few large leaves kale, chopped
1/2 large granny smith apple, diced
tomato, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
1 avocado, diced
green or red onion, chopped
opt: red bell pepper, diced

Simmer quinoa in 2 C water for 20 minutes or until fully cooked (you'll see the tiny spirals everywhere!). Meanwhile, blanch kale in 1/2 C water in a large wok. It literally takes only seconds till kale is deep green, then remove. Squeeze remaining water out of the kale and add kale and all prepped veggies in a bowl and set aside.

Cilantro lime vinaigrette

Juice of 2 limes
1T white vinegar
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1T maple syrup
1 clove garlic
1/4 t salt
3/4 t whole grain dijon mustard
1/2 C olive oil

Add all ingredients in a food processor and let it run till smooth and even in texture. Pour over quinoa and vegetables, toss and let sit overnight. The avocados will stay fresh because of the lime, so no browning avocado worries! Enjoy!

Sauteed tempeh quinoa wrap

Today's lunch was so rockin', I just had to post a couple pictures and the recipe, which is so easy peasy and quick, it's ridiculous! Even my carnivorous father liked it!



The ingredients:
A couple of whole grain tortilla wraps (I use Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain wraps)
Hummus of your likin' (enough to slather on the wrap; not much)
Cooked quinoa (only enough to stick on top of the hummus, so not much is needed--I had some leftover from last night's beans 'n quinoa; I left it cold for this.)
Tempeh, sliced
1/3 C sliced yellow onion
1 C packed chopped kale
1/2 avocado, sliced
sesame oil for sauteing
splash of soy sauce (or Nama Shoyu, Bragg's Liquid Aminos; I did not have these as options since I'm out of town.)
Optional:
1-2 TB minced garlic
handful mushrooms
sliced red and/or green bell pepper

In a medium skillet using medium heat, saute the tempeh in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Saute until slightly crunchy and done on both sides. Set aside. Saute onion in the same thing (less oil and sauce will be needed, so don't overdo it) until almost translucent. Add in the kale and continue to saute until the kale is bright green and still holds it's shape, being sure not to overdo it (it wilts quickly). Remove from heat. Slather the hummus and quinoa onto your wrap, then pile on the avo, tempeh, and grilled goodies. Voila! So good! I didn't have any fresh minced garlic at my disposal, but I highly recommend adding that in too! I chased this down with a shot of coconut water/mango/lemon/chia gel!

Quinoa, it's what's for breakfast

This morning's breakfast was complemented with a glass of orange wildflowers, picked by my daughter. Cheery, no?

This was a first for me: quinoa for breakfast. We ran out of rolled oats, but I still wanted a hot, hearty breakfast. I always wake up starving, I guess from nursing the baby occasionally-sometimes often throughout the night. (Another perk of breastfeeding--a speedier metabolism!) Needless to say, I like for my breakfasts to be big and nutritious and to fill me up to get the day started. Today I made our usual breakfast recipe, only I swapped the oats for the quinoa.

Cinnamon Pear Quinoa
1 c water
1/2 c rinsed quinoa, red or white (I prefer red for its nuttier flavor)
1 t cinnamon
1-2 T or to desired taste maple syrup (or honey)
1/2 ripe pear, chopped
1/4 c raisins
1/8-1/4 c almonds (sub for walnuts or pecans), chopped
1/2 c milk (dairy, rice, soy or almond)

A note about quinoa: Quinoa has a naturally occuring coating on it called saponin, which is a toxic substance. Though most quinoa sold in North America has been processed to clean it, I still prefer to rinse my quinoa well. Before using in a recipe, I put my quinoa in the rice cooker bowl and add lots of hot water. Using my hands, I swish and stir the quinoa around. You'll notice the water turn cloudy and some grains will float to the top. Drain the water and repeat until the water is clear.

Directions: Add water and quinoa to rice cooker (or on stovetop: boil water, add quinoa, cover, let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally). Once cooked, add remaining ingredients and enjoy! Serves 1 adult and 1 child with no leftovers!

Quinoa Fresh Medley

I love quinoa. It's an awesome food. It's got more nutrition than rice and in fact has protein and the fun texture of this curious little grain makes it my favorite. A lot of grocery stores today still do not carry quinoa, but you can find it at any health food store. Costco carries the "white" quinoa in large bags at a decent price, but I prefer the red quinoa, which holds its shape when cooked and has a more earthy, nutty tast. (I tend to think that vegetables, fruits, etc that have more color tend to be healthier. Take lettuce for instance: spinach, red leaf, arugula are far more nutritious than their friend Iceburg, who is very pale in contrast to the others. Also green cabbage compared to red cabbage; red cabbage has far more phytonutrients than green. But alas, this is not so with quinoa! Go figure!)

On to the recipe!

Since this is such a forgiving recipe, I'll leave it to you to decide how much of each ingredient you want to use.

- Quinoa (red or white)
- Black or kidney beans
- Dark leafy lettuce or greens (green lettuce, red leaf, spinach, kale, etc)
- Diced tomato
- Diced avocado
- Chopped bell pepper (of your choice; I prefer red!)
- Chopped cilantro
- Chopped green or red onion
- Fresh lime (squeezed to taste!)
- Fresh salsa or pico de gallo

It's seriously so good. You can wrap it up in a whole grain tortilla wrap with some fresh salsa or just eat it like a salad. It keeps well in the refrigerator (be sure to squeeze that lime on the avocado to keep it from turning colors!). Now, these are just the veggies we add. You can use anything you like! It's a very nutritious meal and even my 5 year old loves it. If you're a chip eater, this is a great dip for tortilla chips!