Adventures in Healthy Cooking: Quinoa Salad

With the new running and yoga regimen, I'm looking into cooking healthier as well. That doesn't mean that I'm abandoning baking altogether. Oh, no! I'll never give up my homemade cookies and pies, but I can dilute that fatty cooking with some healthy fair once in awhile. Like, quinoa.

I've never cooked with this grain, but from what I've read and heard, it's a super food. Also, it's versatile and tasty -- two things I adore in ingredients. This past weekend, I made a quinoa salad inspired by a friend who offered that salad at a recent camping trip. It's simple, and here's the recipe that I created. If you go to Whole Foods, this might look familiar. My friend based her salad off of theirs, and I tweaked the ingredients to get a better consistency.

Cranberry-Orange Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

2 cup dry quinoa

1 cup orange juice

2 1/2 cups water

1 cup mandarin orange slices, drained

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1 tspn salt

3 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Rinse the quinoa with cold water and strain. In a pot, add the quinoa, water and salt. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or till the liquid is absorbed. When done, fluff with a fork and then lay out in a thin layer on a baking sheet to cool.

While the quinoa is cooking, reduce the orange juice to half by simmering in a non-reactive sauce pan for approximately 10 minutes. Set in the freezer for 5 mintues to cool. Once cooled, whisk in olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, raisins, nuts, orange slices and cooked quinoa. Pour vinaigrette over the mixure and stir together. If desired, add fresh chopped mint. Serve cold. Great with a side of whole grain toast or leafy greens...or by itself. Makes approx 8 servings, 350 Calories per serving.

School's Out! For Summer!!

School is done! No more classes, homework. None of it. Except for stuff I have to do for the dog training internship, which is fun. Oh. And I started a running class last week!

What??

Yes!!! Running. Me. Whodathunkit?

So far, I really like it and am excited about the prospect of being able to run 5 miles for the first time in my life. After this class, maybe I'll even take the next in the series. Half Marathon Training. That's right. 13 miles. I can do it.

In this, I also started a running journal and am particularly proud of the layout. If you're interested....

http://runs-with-dog.blogspot.com/

A Greek Cowboy Dinner

Sometimes culinary creativity is born of necessity. For example, I had spinach in my kitchen that would spoil unless I found a creative way to use it. Viola! Spinach-feta popovers to go with my white chicken chili. It's Mediterranean meets West, Zorba meets McLintock.

First, the chili:

Chili Blanco con Pollo

1 1/2 pounds skinless chicken thighs

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

14 ounces chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

6 sprigs fresh oregano, stems removed

8 leaves of fresh sage

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce

45 ounces great northern beans (3 cans drained and rinsed)

16 ounces frozen white sweet corn, thawed

olive oil

Lightly oil the pottery of your slow cooker with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix onion, garlic, broth, spices, herbs, salt and pepper sauce in the slow cooker. Add chicken, and cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours (or until chicken is fully cooked and juices run clear). Remove chicken, and shred the meat from the bone using 2 forks. Discard bones and return the chicken meat to the cooker. Stir in beans and corn. Cover and cook on low for another 30-45 minutes, till hot. Tip: when the chicken is falling off the bone, you can begin shredding the meat from the bone. Cooking time will vary for each slow cooker, and for me, the chicken was ready at 3.5 hours.

Yields about 10-12 servings.

Now, cowboy meets Greek

Spinach-feta popovers

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup crumbled feta

2 cups fresh spinach, steamed or sauteed

Preheat oven to 450.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and oil. Add the flour and salt and beat till smooth. It's okay if there are clumps, and it's important to not overbeat. Add the feta and stir just till combined. Fill each muffin tin with 1/8 cup of batter, add a tablespoon of spinach, top with 1/8 batter (tins should be 2/3 full). Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 325 and bake for 25 minutes more, till tops are golden brown. Do NOT open the oven while these are baking, or else they'll fall. Remove from the oven and prick the tops with a toothpick to let steam escape. Makes 12 popovers.

Zorba meets McLintock
Originally uploaded by MrsPath

The nonchalant plea for play

The nonchalant plea for play
Originally uploaded by MrsPath

This is quite possibly my favorite photograph of Nola yet. It's a very typical pose she'll make when wanting to play but not getting what she wants, such as when I'm snapping shots instead of tossing the ball.

Another title for the picture could by "Catahoula indignation."

The depth of field appeals to me also. The only thing I'd change is the lack of contrast, but there's not much help for that in the living room with a white dog and a beige carpet.

Birthentines v3.9

It's my birthday. Normally, I write about cooking, snapping photographs, or dogs. Today, it's me...and my life in pictures...or more accurately my birthday in pictures.

Here it is...To start, birthday cake/cupcake for breakfast. Yep.

A very decadent treat, but then again, it is my last 30-something.

Then, play with Nola. I just had to get some time with my best gal pal in the world.

Nola in deep play

Nola in deep thought

Then, some shopping at TJ Maxx (where I found a new dog bed for Nola for

under $50), and then sake it to me, baby! sushi and hot sake at 'How do you roll?'

The slammin' salmon...I highly recommend it if you like your sushi rolls to have a kick.

And after getting high on sushi and sake...shoes....shoes! and more...SHOES!!!

My S alliteration is complete with sushi, sake and shoes :-)

For dinner, Protein 2000 and a much deserved bubble tea @ Veggie Heaven

...and to end the day, Gnomeo, Gnomeo. Wherefore art thou, Gnomeo?

Oh but it's not done yet. Tomorrow night, we're going to see the White Ghost Shivers. :-)

Veggie Joes...with a twist

In the crock pot this week, lentils!

I'm trying out a slow cooker recipe for veggie joes, a vegetarian take on the sloppy joe. No, I'm not a vegetarian, but I do like to try new and interesting foods. Lentils are tasty, and sloppy joes are also a tasty item. So, the idea of making a sloppy joe from lentils seems pretty good to me. They'll be full of protein and healthy carbs, too.

I did tweak the recipe...as usual. It called for ketchup, and I never have this in my house. I fact, I never eat it when out either. There is just something about a sugary tomato paste that doesn't appeal to me. I also reduced the Worcestershire sauce and added a new spice...dum-da-dum-dum! Curry. Why? Lentils. That's why. Lentils scream to me that they like curry, and I never deny a food its heart's desire when it screams like that.*

Here's a picture and the recipe (for prosperity and in case I decide to make it again)

Veggie Joe Masala

2 cups dried lentils, sorted and rinsed

4 cups H2O

6 medium carrots, chopped

6 medium celery stalks, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups of chopped tomato (or 12 oz can of stewed tomatoes)

4 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons yellow curry powder

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Heat the lentils and H2O to boiling. Reduce the heat. Then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix the remaining ingredients with the lentils in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours.

To serve, stuff a pita pocket with 1/2 cup, or you can use burger buns.

Snowless snow day

I had a snow day yesterday, sans snow. The city of Austin had rolling blackouts, and my office had to close because of the power outage. Between the office never being able to heat up and the server having to reboot every 30 minutes, there was just no point in being at work.

So, I stayed home, watched Groundhog Day and baked. The first step was deciding WHAT to bake though. It was 20F, and I didn't feel like bundling up for the grocery store. Instead, I looked in my pantry to see what I could improvise. I found white chocolate chips and pecans...and that was as far as my eyes had to search. It was an easy sell for me. No snow on a snow day = white chocolate then. Fair enough. :-)

To spruce up this combo, I used Mexican vanilla and cinnamon, and here is the resulting recipe:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 cups (12-oz. pkg) white chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small

bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract

in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in flour

mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by rounded

tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on

baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The cookie...well...it just might be my new second favorite. I'd say favorite, but the snickerdoodle will always have my heart. This was a really, really good cookie though, proof being that there are no more left today. :-)

Chli Revival

It's spicey. It's warm. It's chili and cornbread...in a pie? Yes! Can I get an Amen?! It's the chili revival.

To freshen up this dish, I made pot pies. Just a little bit of chili in each dish, topped with some cornbread batter. Then baked following the cornbread recipe. I did bake it for the minimum time first and then 5 minute intervals, checking after each 5 to make sure they didn't burn.

The results: YUM! Proof: these pot pies are already gone. :-)

On my mind today...

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."
- - Muhammad Ali

A man known best for comments like, "Float like a butterfly sting like a bee " and being able to defeat his opponents in the ring, Muhammad Ali is also a champion humanitarian. He advocates for volunteerism and has worked in many countries...battling hunger and helping to provide medicine for millions in need.

I love the dichotomy of his character, fighter and altruist, and I wish more sports figures today would follow his example. In all truth though, we can all take a cue from Ali....stop fighting every once in awhile and actually do something that matters.

Brrr...time to warm up the kitchen

It's one of those rare winter days in the Texas hill country. Yes, we have about 3 months of winter, but a normal winter day here has temperatures in the 50s or 60s. Today, the high is predicted to be 43, and it's going to be like this over the coming week...with a low of 23 on Tuesday. I cannot express BRRRRRRrrrrr enough. My hot Texan blood isn't designed to endure these cold days, and this means one thing. It's time to make chili.

Now, I'm not new to the chili-craft but do have a problem when it comes to making it. What happens is an assortment of ingredients that are thrown together, and I don't write down the recipe. So, I hardly ever make the same batch of chili more than once, and it's difficult to duplicate a batch that I really liked months later. That changes today.

On this week's chili menu is a southwestern style turkey chili, and here's the recipe.

~~-------++--------~~

3 lbs ground turkey 85-15

1 lb lean ground turkey 93-7

30 oz can black beans

27 oz can pinto beans

12 oz package of frozen SW style corn

2 8 oz cans tomato sauce

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with chilis (Rotel style)

1 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1/2 cup HEB San Antonio Chili seasoning

2 TBSPN cayenne pepper

It's really simple. Brown the meat in a skillet, one pound at a time, adding some of the chili seasoning to each batch. While the meat is browning, combine the remaining ingredients in a large crock pot, and add the browned meat. Set the pot to cook on high, and cook for about 4 hours.

~~-------++--------~~

Notice that I added Rotel and a couple of tablespoons of cayenne. This is going to be 5 alarm batch, and that is how it should be (although I did add molasses to cut the heat just a little with some sweetness). It also has beans, and I know that Texas chili should NOT include a legume. To me, tradition can sometimes be a good guide but should never be followed rigidly, and since I like the contrast of textures in my chili, I make it with beans (and corn this time). :-P

Normally, I serve chili with cornbread, but this time, hubby and I are going to try it on brown rice. It's a little healthier, which will help with our goals to lose weight after the holidays. Taste testing so far indicates spicy and full of good flavors. Once the chili is done, I'll write an update on how it is.

Here's a teaser pic in the mean time.

-- also playing the depth of field in photography today....tips used are to lower the aperture and increase the zoom. So, I lowered the aperture as low as it would go, 2.8 or 3.5 when I zoomed in on an object.

Adventures of the Curd Kind

Lately, I've been thinking about baked goods. Nothing over the top (of the crust), just your ordinary items available at the local market, like all the variations of breads and pies, and the first that came to mind is the lemon meringue.

Of course, the first part of every pie is the crust, and having a mother who can bake with one eye closed, one hand tied behind her back and monkeys taunting her (AKA me and my brother begging for cookies) has brought me to believe in this about crust -- never bother with store-bought. Why? Pie crust is one of the simplest things to make, as long as you keep a few things in mind, but that's for another post.

Now, lemon meringue. It's easy to get a slice of this pie at most diners or bakeries, but too many times have I seen one of these sugary, lemon curds gone wrong when homemade. The meringue is too short, or the crust is too tough. Even worse, the filling is a tart, citrus soup. So, I set out on a mission -- to create the best recipe for this simple but oh-so-easily-disastrous confection.

To start, I tried a family recipe which won't be posted here. The taste was alright, but overall, it was not a good pie. Typical of many I've tried, the filling was soupy, and the meringue was tough. Upon looking over the recipe closer, I noticed that it only called for 3 eggs, and the meringue didn't include any cream of tartar. So it was no wonder that the recipe failed, and pushing forwarding on my mission, I tried another from Alton Brown.

This recipe uses 4 eggs instead of 3 and includes cream of tartar, and the pie did come out better. It wasn't perfect though, and the filling separated. Determined to complete this quest, I threw out the soupy pies and started over. This time, I increased the egg content even further and also tried a new meringue. Some other key changes include using a wooden spoon, quality zest, lower baking temperature and increased cooking time. The results were amazing. With just a few changes, I was able to make a lemon pie that had a nice curd. My recipe is below, and I've emphasized my alterations in bold.

Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie

5 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (only use the outermost part of the peel for the zest, avoiding any pith. This may require an entire lemon to get enough for the recipe)

1 (9-inch) blind-baked pie crust

1 recipe Meringue, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 325

Whisk the eggs yolks in a small bowl and set aside. In a sauce pan, whisk cornstarch, sugar, water and salt. Turn the heat on to medium and stir mixture frequently with a **wooden spoon**. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and add half the mixture to the eggs. Gently whisk to combine, and then add the egg mixture to the remaining mixture in the sauce pan, also gently whisking to combine.

Turn the heat down to low and return the pan to the burner. Cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Remove from heat and gently stir in the butter, lemon juice and zest. **Return to the burner and cook for one more minute, stirring constantly.**

Pour mixture into the prepared pie crust and top with meringue while the filling is still hot. Spread the meringue to the crust to prevent shrinking, and bake till meringue peaks are golden, approximately 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hours before serving. The pie should be completely cooled before cutting.

Meringue

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

5 egg whites

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl. With a whisk attachment, beat egg whites until soft peaks form, and then gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Viola!!