Quinoa with Sundried Tomato and Spinach

You guessed it, I Googled the following:

quinoa
sundried tomato

And voila!! Recipe inspiration here. I added my beloved baby spinach of course.

Quinoa with Sundried Tomato and Spinach

1 cup quinoa (wash it if it's not pre-washed!)
8 sun-dried tomatoes (i just got a jar of them in some kind of oil)
1 tbsp olive oil (i used the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes)
2 shallots; minced
1 clove garlic; minced
5 oz. baby spinach
2 cups chicken stock or water
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation (~30 min)

1. Heat oil in saucepan over med. heat. Add tomatoes, shallots and garlic, spinach and saute for 3-5 mins, or until shallots are softened.

2. Add in quinoa and stir for about 1 min.

3. Add stock or water and bring to a boil. Stir in cayenne then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 20 mins, or until liquid is absorbed. Let sit for 5 mins, and fluff grains with a fork to separate. Stir in fresh parsley.

Result: Yum!! Really love this one. Been cooking and eating it for weeks now actually.

Otsu!

Japanese buckwheaty goodness found here. I believe this was a result of Googling the following:

tofu
cilantro

I ended up having to go to an Asian supermarket to get many of the ingredients (noodles, low sodium soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar). Safeway fail! I was surprised to find that 100g of soba noodles has 15g of protein! At least that's what it said on the nutritional label!

Otsu

Grated zest of 1 lemon (I had to Google to figure out what 'zest' is)
Grated 1-inch cube of ginger
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

12 ounces or about 400-500g (1 bundle approx 100g) of dried soba noodles
1 package extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Preparation (25 min):
1. Dressing (5 min)
Combine the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

2. Cook the soba in boiling water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water (4 min).

3. Drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy (10 min).

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds (2 min).

Result? Deelish!! Warm OR room temperature. I made this 2 weeks in a row!

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

Spinach and mushroom couscous came from here. I added a can of chickpeas and some sundried tomato dressing :)

Spinach and Mushroom Couscous

1 box couscous
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package fresh baby spinach (about 5 oz)
1 package mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation (~20 min)

1. Cook the couscous according to the directions on the package (including 1 tbsp of olive oil), and set aside, covered, to keep warm (5 min)

2. Saute garlic and diced onions in 3 tbsp olive oil. When fragrant, lower the heat and add spinach, mushrooms, chickpeas and 1/4 cup water. Cook until the water burns off, the spinach wilts and the mushrooms are cooked (10 min)

3. Mix couscous and spinach and mushroom combination. Add sundried tomato dressing as desired.

Result: If you love mushrooms, this is a mushroomy delight!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

I Googled the following

chickpeas
spinach

And found a vegan curry recipe.

To play with the curry taste, I got to use my leftover Greek yogurt! Vegan fail.

First, you have to obtain Garam Masala - either by cooking or putting it together yourself. Here is the recipe:

Garam Masala

4 tsp. Ground coriander
1 tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Ground cumin
1 tsp. Ground cloves
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Next, the final dish!

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 can tomatoes
1 package frozen chopped spinach
2 -3 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
yogurt, as needed

Preparation (30 min):

1. Medium heat. Add olive oil to pan. Sauté the onion, stirring constantly, until it is just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook one minute more.

2. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach, garam masala, and salt. Stir and cook for at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve over rice or other grain (I used whole grain couscous). Add yogurt to taste.

Result: Tasty, but watery and lacking in salt. This might be the fault of the frozen spinach, and my non-use of salt and the chilies.

Mint + Couscous = Yum!

I had all this leftover mint from the previous recipe and I really didn't know what to do with it! Also, someone at work frequently eats couscous, which I have always been curious about. So back to Google I went:

mint
couscous

I settled on this Mint Couscous Salad with Chickpeas recipe, because it can be served warm. I've discovered that I am happiest with warm food at lunch.

Again, I added a couple of handfuls of spinach and real cumin seeds in addition to cumin powder. It's really easy to prepare and ends up being a nice, light tasting and refreshing meal with lots of texture. I doubled everything in the recipe because I wanted at least 3 days of lunches and a bit for tonight's dinner. Here goes!

Mint Couscous with Chickpeas

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 handfuls of spinach
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the chickpeas
pinch of red pepper flakes
cumin powder, garlic powder, onion powder to taste
sprinkle of cumin seeds
2 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups couscous (only kind I found was flavoured - "Wild Mushroom")
4 tbsp of lemon juice for the couscous
4 tbsp of Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
chopped walnuts to taste

Preparation (15 min):
1. Toss lemon juice, olive oil, spices, chickpeas and spinach and let marinate while cooking couscous.
2. Combine vegetable broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add couscous and then remove from heat. Let steep, covered, for 5 min.
3. Fluff couscous mixture with fork and add chickpea mixture.
4. Stir in Greek yogurt.
5. Stir in mint and walnuts.

Yum!

Butternut Squash Success!

With the boyfriend's help, here is how the butternut squash recipe turned out!

Very good and tasty filling lunch. The beefy one is way more measurement-conscious than I, so we pretty much followed most of the recipe (aside from me not having any butter, tossing in real cumin seeds, a whole butternut squash and way more carrots and tomatoes than the recipe dictated). I should've had a bigger pot! I ended up making more stew than quinoa.

Here it is!

Quinoa with Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew (2 parts)

Stew:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp paprika (I couldn't find that Hungarian sweet paprika they spoke of!)
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp black pepper
0.5 tsp coriander
0.5 tsp cumin
pinch of cumin seeds
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp ground ginger
pinch of saffron (holy this is expensive!)
1 cup water
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 whole butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
0.25 cup cilantro
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped

Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa (Ancient Harvest)
1 tbsp olive oil
0.5 cup chopped onion
1 cup carrots, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp turmeric
2 cups vegetable broth
0.25 cup cilantro
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped

Preparation For Stew (30 min - can do in tandem with quinoa):
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Mix in paprika and next 8 ingredients.
3. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring to boil.
4. Add squash and carrots. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
5. Stir in cilantro and mint.

Preparation for Quinoa (30 min - can do in tandem with stew):
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
2. Add garlic, salt, and turmeric; sauté 1 minute.
3. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
4. Stir in cilantro and mint.

Next Project. Moving On Up!!

I am putting this on here so that I remember to do this for tomorrow. I worked late, had dance practice then worked late some more, so I only have tomorrow to do this!! Or else I run out of lunches :P

I am bit nervous because it's more ambitious! Slicing of large objects - yaarrg!

Black Beans and Rice

I did another Google of my kitchen leftovers:

vegetable broth
turkey deli meat
green onions
brown basmati rice
sweet onions
garlic
baby spinach

But the results were too vague.

I ended up narrowing it down to "vegetable broth" and "rice" and picked this Black Beans and Rice recipe. I totally turkey-fied it and green-fied it though.

My version:

Black Beans and Rice

1 tbsp-ish olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups brown basmati rice (the internet recipe uses long grain rice)
200g of turkey deli meat
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can black beans
0.5 of a bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
4 green onions, chopped
4 handfuls of spinach

Preparation (45 min):
1. Saute sweet onion and garlic for about 5 min.
2. Throw in rice and stir for about 3 min.
3. Throw in turkey meat and stir for 2 min.
4. Throw in vegetable broth. Bring mixture to a boil and then lower heat and let simmer, covered. After approximately 30 min, the rice will be wet and fluffy.
5. Throw in black beans, cilantro, green onions and spinach. Stir for about 5 more min.

Result: Cilantro beany oniony goodness!

Quinoa and Black Beans

Upon seeing this new blogging of my cooking adventures, cousin Summer was kind enough to share a favourite quinoa recipe of hers. Quinoa and Black Beans from here.

Here is my version:

1 tsp olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quinoa (Ancient Harvest brand doesn't need to be pre-washed)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp ground cumin
sprinkle of cumin seeds
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 can of black beans
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 handfuls of spinach

Preparation (30 min):
1. Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Throw in onions and garlic. Saute until lightly brown.
2. Throw in quinoa and stir for roughly 1 minute.
3. Add vegetable broth and cumin. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
4. Add corn, beans, cilantro and spinach. Simmer for around 5 minutes or until desired fluffiness.

Result: Yum. The corn adds a subtle sweet taste and nice texture!

My Attempt at Osh-Po-Lo.

This recipe was found when I googled recipes using my leftover ingredients from last week which I needed to use up ASAP. Namely these happened to be

chicken broth
cilantro
a treasure find of leftover basmati rice in my upper cupboards, an area rarely visited by my 5'2" self.

Result? One Pot Cilantro a.k.a. Osh-Po-Lo from this site.

Here is my version:

1.5 cups basmati rice
3 cups chicken broth or water or a mixture of both
150g of leftover turkey meat
a handful of chopped cilantro
a handful of chopped carrots
a couple handfuls of spinach
1 chopped sweet yellow onion
5 chopped green onions
3 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cumin seeds (yay cumin happy time!)
0.5 tsp coarse black pepper
2 tsp olive oil

Preparation (30 min)
1. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a pot - medium heat.
2. Throw in chopped yellow onion. Stir occasionally with wooden spoon and cook until translucent (~ 5 mins)
3. Throw in turkey or chicken meat and rest of olive oil and cook until no more pink spots. Mine was already cooked so I didn't have to wait.
4. Throw in minced garlic. Stir and cook for 1 min.
5. Throw in the rest of the chopped veggies and seasonings.
6. Throw in basmati rice and stir for around 2 min, letting the rice be coated in delicious yumminess.
7. Add 3 cups of water. I used up all my leftover chicken broth instead.
8. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and place cover on pot. Cook for at least 10 minutes.. until most of the water evaporates.
9. Fluff and serve! In my case, store for lunch :)

Result: Quite tasty! Strongest flavours were the cilantro and cumin :)

Pesto and Quinoa - a Happy Marriage!

I've been hearing about how wonderful quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is as a superfood. So of course I wanted to see what I could do with it. I was also craving pesto at the time and a google of "pesto" and "quinoa" brought me to Oprah's site. Specifically, her Quinoa with Pesto and Toasted Almonds recipe.

Here is my version of pesto's mating with quinoa:

1 tsp olive oil
2 cups quinoa (if you get the Ancient Harvest kind, you won't have to wash it)
2.75 cups chicken broth
2 tsp sized squirts of Gia pesto (comes from a tube) mixed with 2 tbsp of olive oil
two handfuls of chopped cherry tomatoes
two handfuls of spinach
as much pine nuts as you want to use (I sprinkled the top of each of my tupperware lunch servings)

Preparation (25 min)
1. Heat olive oil in pot over medium heat.
2. Stir in quinoa for about 7 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth. Bring to a simmer.
4. Cover pot and lower heat. Let quinoa cook for about 15 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated.
5. Stir in pesto and spinach and tomatoes. You'll get a fluffy colourful mixture.
6. Serve and top with pine nuts as desired.

Result: I love the pesto taste with spinach and tomatoes and pine nuts combined! Quinoa is a lot easier to cook than I imagined.

Pasta Salad - the First Attempt at a Self-Cooked Lunch.

This one was a rough suggestion by the beefy one for my first week at work. It's uber easy!

Simple Pasta Salad

approx. 3 cups of wholewheat pasta
2 tbsp Miracle Whip - the fat free kind (lowest in calories!)
sundried tomato dressing (I used the one by Kraft with extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup peas
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
1 can of chickpeas, drained
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
a couple of handfuls of spinach
1 can of tuna

Preparation time (20 min)
1. Boil pasta to desired tenderness (13 minutes-ish).
2. Drain pasta in large colander and rinse and mix with cold water to cool.
3. Mix in vegetables and drained chick peas.
4. Mix in Miracle whip.
5. Pour in generous squirts of sundried tomato dressing. Mix!
6. Before eating, mix in tuna. If saving for later, keep tuna separate or else you will end up with a soggy mess!

Results: Tasty with lots of texture!