Quinoa

Quinoa is an amino acid-rich (protein) seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked. I thought it was a grain, but learned from the Whole Foods website that it is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard. It is a recently rediscovered ancient "grain" once considered "the gold of the Incas." I ate a lot of quinoa in the first trimester of my pregnancy, when I was very sick and nauseous and, basically, vegan. I have 2 quinoa recipes to share today. They have some shared ingredients, which makes it easy.

1. Quinoa Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a Mediterranean dish typically made with parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers and bulgur (and sometimes onion and additional herbs), olive oil and lemon juice. I love to make it with quinoa instead of bulgur (and have made it with cilantro instead of parsley, giving it a tex-mex twist).

Ingredients

• Parsley (1 cup, chopped)
• Quinoa (1 cup - I actually only used around 1/4 cup in this recipe and saved the rest for my other recipe)
  
• Red Onion (I used a bit 1/4 of a large red onion chopped)
  
• 1/2 Cucumber, Chopped
  
• 1 Small Shallot, Chopped
• Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)
• Olive Oil
• Crumbled Goat Cheese (as garnish)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Preparation

1. Chop Parsley, Onion, Shallot (shallot is optional, but since I had some, I used it)
2. Cook Quinoa (per package instructions) - I cook mine in my rice cooker
3. Juice 2 lemons (some of this juice is used in other recipe)
4. Mix all ingredients together, adding lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste - garnished with crumbled goat cheese

2. Quinoa Salad with Roasted Veggies and Chickpeas (this is a variation on Martha Stewart's Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas, which I found in Everyday Food)

Ingredients

• 1 carrot (sliced for roasting)
• 1 small head cauliflower (chopped for roasting)
  
• 1/2-3/4 tsp. cumin (depending your preference)
• olive oil
• sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup quinoa (the half leftover from the quinoa tabbouleh)
• fresh lemon juice (from two lemons - leftover from previous recipe)
• herb salad mix (from Trader Joe's)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 450. Place carrots and cauliflower on a baking sheet, toss with cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil and roast for 20-30 minutes (rotating halfway through). I drizzled with olive oil, so I don't have an exact measurement. (I also added a dash of garlic-onion spice mix that I had to the vegetables before roasting)
2. Cook quinoa (in accordance with box instructions or in a rice cooker, which I prefer because I am terrible at cook rice or quinoa on the stove)
3. Make dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper (to taste - you can also add lemon zest and/or vinegar if you want) and toss with salad mix (Martha suggested arugula - I used the mix I had)
4. In a bowl, combine veggies and quinoa and serve over salad mix (you can also add some of the dressing directly to the quinoa/veggie mix if you want).

The instructions are as the salad was intended. I ended up having this meal with friends and we put plum tomatoes and goat cheese on the salad and used the lemon-olive oil dressing. We chose to have the quinoa with roasted veggies on the side. It was great lunch.

Potatoes

I am not a foodie. I don't know that much about food, but I am learning and love reading recipes and experimenting in the kitchen.

Recently, I signed up for Abundant Harvest Organics, a weekly locally farmed, organic produce program. Every week , I get a small box of in-season, organic produce. This has encouraged me, as I had hoped, to cook more and eat better and to experiment (finding new recipes etc.).

So, I've decided to write a blog where I share my love of food and cooking. The last two batches of produce I've gotten included potatoes, so that is the subject of today's posting and compilation of recipes. Hopefully, I'll be able to include photos of dishes next time, though they certainly aren't always very pretty, but usually they taste pretty good. I typically start with a recipe and then adjust it and go from there.

My top potato recipes of the week are: potato leek soup (sans cream), Nicoise salad (a major favorite of mine) and a home fries with gooey egg breakfast concoction I came up with this morning (feel free to give this item a better name). Most of the time I'm cooking for one since I'm really into veggies and the hubbie is really into meat.

1. Potato Leek Soup - I've never cooked with leeks before, but since they came in my box and since I had potatoes, potato leek soup was an obvious choice, but I didn't want to make a version that was saturated with cream and a lot of fat, so I found a recipe online and made adjustments. Here was the result:

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 3/4 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 Russett potatoes (about 2 lbs. total), peeled and chopped
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste
  

Preparation:

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions, leeks, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is a bit creamy looking, about 10 minutes (adjust heat so mixture cooks but doesn't start to brown).
2. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add potatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook until potatoes are very tender to the bite, about 20 minutes.
3. Purée soup in a blender.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste

That's it! Simple and delicious. (The original recipe suggested adding milk, rather than cream, but I didn't even do that and I didn't miss it). I discovered 2 things -- I love leeks!! (I was munching on it raw as I cooked) and I love soups (something I've discovered through making soups at home -- what I don't like is canned soup, but I love making soups myself from fresh ingredients).

2. Nicoise salad - a typical Nicoise salad consists of tuna, green beans, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, onion, capers, and potatoes with a vinaigrette. I love this salad, but rarely have all of the exact ingredients around and really try to focus on cooking with what I have, so based on what I had, I made a wonderful (and beautiful) Nicoise salad for dinner last night. Since it wasn't recipe based and I'm going off memory, I will estimate with amounts.

Ingredients:

• a handful of torn romaine lettuce (kudos to abundant harvest, the romaine was beautiful and delicious)
• a handful of organic herb salad from Trader Joe's
• 5-7 small fingerling potatoes
• 2 soft-boiled eggs
• a handful of green beans
• white wine vinegar
• brown or dijon or spicy mustard (depending on your preference)
• olive oil
• 1 can solid white albacore tuna
  

Preparation

1. Boil eggs and potatoes (I did it together in one pot to save on dirty dishes and just took the eggs out a bit earlier than the potatoes. I put my eggs in ice cold water because I prefer my eggs to be soft or medium-boiled, not hard boiled)
2. Sautee green beans in sesame oil with salt and pepper
3. Toss salad in vinaigrette (whichever you choose), I made a small amount quickly just for this salad with a dash of white wine vinegar, olive oil and one squirt of mustard
4. Put it all together - I like to put the lettuce on the bottom, of course, with the tuna (drained) on top and the green beans, egg and potatoes around the edges. I think it looks beautiful and tastes great.

3. Potato and Gooey Egg Breakfast Concoction - Like many of you, I love breakfast and this morning I was feeling rather adventurous. So, I put together a not-so-pretty, but extremely delicious (to me, anyway) breakfast mess using the organic potatoes, onion and shallots from my box.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (over easy -- well that was my intent)
  
• 1 potato (if it is large, 2 if they are not) - any type you like for breakfast potatoes
• 2 shallots
• onion (in this case the onion that was leftover from when I made my soup, probably 1/4 of a large yellow onion)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• tri-colored peppers (frozen) from Trader Joe's
• salt, pepper, creole seasoning (creole seasoning is optional - I love making breakfast potatoes with creole seasoning)
  
• olive oil
• butter (a pat)
• A handful of torn spinach
  

Preparation

1. Chop potatoes (you can do strips or chunks, whichever you prefer -- I felt like strips this morning). Season with creole, salt and pepper (to taste)
2. Chop onion, shallots and garlic
3. Pan fry potatoes in a drizzle of olive oil and pat of butter
4. Once potatoes start to get about half-way done (see, I'm definitely an amateur), add onion, shallots and garlic and continue to sautee
5. After a few more minutes (as onions start to become translucent), add peppers (fresh would be great, but I had frozen)
6. At the end (when potatoes and onion mix is about done), add spinach (I did this to add some iron, calcium and additional protein to the mix and because I love spinach and had just picked up the fresh, organic spinach this morning in my produce box)
7. Once spinach is cooked - add additional seasonings to taste and remove from pan (to plate)
8. Add a bit more oil and butter to the pan (just a small pat) and cook the eggs (over-easy) -- mine didn't quite work this morning and using a separate pan might have worked better, but I have a 3 month old and no dishwasher, so for me less dishes is better). My goal was to just have some nice runny eggs to put over top of the potatoes and that I did accomplish.
9. Put eggs on top and enjoy!

I know this last recipe sounds like a bit of a mess, but it was an experiment that I enjoyed making and eating. Delish.

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight, which will not include potatoes, but will be a delicious grilled shrimp fettuccine alfredo, which my husband will eat (and will help cook). I'll make a caesar salad to go with it.

Tomorrow is all about Quinoa - check back in for Quinoa Tabbouleh, Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Quinoa on top and maybe some Quinoa muffins, we'll see.