Red Quinoa Winter Casserole

I found beautiful rainbow carrots and jicama at the farmer’s market in Palo Alto, and inspired by how delicious they tasted oven-roasted last night, threw together this red quinoa casserole for lunch today.

What I used:

Quinoa: 1 cup, uncooked

Vegetable broth: 1 cup

Rainbow carrots: 2, big

Jicama: 10-12 strips, about 3/4 of a regular sized vegetable

Garlic: 4-5 cloves, cut in halves/ chopped roughly

Cayenne: 1 tsp

Black pepper: 1 tsp

Salt: To taste

Olive oil: 2 tbsp

Parmesan & Pecans: Optional, grated over.

What I did:

In a saucepan, I heated one cup of water, and added one cup of broth when it was warm. To this, I added one cup of red quinoa. While this was cooking, I cleaned and peeled my carrots and jicama, dicing them into chunky bits. I like chunky roasted garlic in my food, so I sliced the cloves into 2-3 big bits each.

In a bowl, I mixed together a tablespoon of EVOO, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cayenne, and 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper. I microwaved this for 30 seconds to make the oil easier to move, and then tossed the vegetables in this mixture and let it sit until the quinoa was done.

I greased a pan with the rest of the EVOO and preheated the oven to 425 F. I added a layer of quinoa to the bottom, and poured in any leftover broth/water from the saucepan. A pinch of salt and black pepper over this make it come together with the rest. A layer of vegetables, and quinoa alternatively and finally some crushed pecans on top with sliced parmesan make it all better!

Baked this at 400 F for about 20 minutes, and voila!

Topped it off with some chopped chives for color.

Enjoy happy quinoa times, but not without:

Thai Scroodle Salad

I was hungry and needed a pasta fix. There is an awesome thai pasta recipe that I love to make, but it involves marinating and waiting and everything else patient. So I tried to do this instead– except I made it a salad so I can lie about how it may be healthier. Here goes!

What I used:

• Uncooked Pasta- 1 cup
• Onions, peppers- I put in like 1/4 onion, chopped, and like 1/2 a pepper, chopped
• Soy sauce (I used Lite)- 3 tbsp
• Peanut butter(I used Jif’s creamy reduced fat– crunchy works very well too!)- 1 tbsp
• Garlic salt- 1/4 tsp (alternatively just garlic powder, if the soy is enough salt for you)
• Crushed red chillies- 1.5 tsp (I love crushed red chillies)
• Toasted sesame seeds- To season with- 1 tsp (I am partial to black ones)
• White/black pepper- to taste

I set water on the stove and once it started boiling, I added the vegetables– this blanched them. I also cooked the pasta in the same water. While this was happening, I added the soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic powder, red chillies and black pepper to a large bowl. I microwaved it for about 1 minute, taking it out and stirring the mixture at 20 second intervals. When stirred well, this resembles a thickened pad thai sauce.

Once the pasta was cooked (the vegetables were still in there), I strained, rinsed and added it to the bowl with dressing and tossed away like nobody’s business. Then, I seasoned it with sesame seeds. You can also throw in sliced green onions. If you like your onions and peppers raw, you needn’t blanch them.

This made two servings, and the whole process took about 15 mins.

Other suggestions:

You could also add snow peas, chopped chinese lettuce, cooked shredded chicken.

I used Rotini whole wheat pasta (so I can make a clever name) but whole wheat pasta is baloney, so use the real deal.

Fish sauce will be a fun addition, obviously. Just throw it into the bowl– I would add 1 tbsp to get a slight hint.

Maybe it’s the carb load but I loved it and I am very happy right now.

Also, please enjoy:

The Atlantanberg Fennel : Bowtie Pasta with roasted fennel and cracked black pepper

Pasta is awesome. It is delicious and it is versatile and you want to eat it and it’s simply the best. It is humankind’s creatively-shaped, carb-filled, double-edged sword.

The hardest part about eating pasta knowing how many carbs it brings is the sauce you have to dunk it in to make it edible. An easy task for tomato lovers, you say. Agreed. Some of us don’t love tomatoes. They are mushy and taste weird raw and overwhelming when cooked. Moving on from hating on tomato based pasta sauces, why not pesto or alfredo, you ask. Fair enough. Pesto is oily and herb filled and delicious. Alfredo is cheesy and cheese filled and delicious. But sometimes you are craving a flavorful 500-600 calorie  pasta meal that need not be eaten in a tiny portion because it is laden with cheese or oil.

Here is a pasta I made today that may be one option.

Before I opened my fridge to look at what I had inside, I boiled some water and added bow tie pasta (farfalle are so pretty) to it so it would cook.

Then, I put one yellow onion in a bowl of hot water and submerged it completely. I also cut a quarter bulb of fennel.

I heated a pan and added a tablespoon of olive oil. I added the chopped onions, fennel and 3 cloves of sliced garlic. I sweated these in the pan for a bit and turned them in the pan to get a roast going, and added the cracked black pepper.

After cooking this mixture in a closed pan (it smelled delicious, I couldn’t let the aroma escape), I added the pasta to it and closed it again.

To this, I added a cube of mozzarella, diced and sprinkled all over the pasta. I closed it again so the cheese would melt and then tossed it for a bit. Here is a picture I took that clearly does no justice to the food, as you will know when you try this.

You can also add minced broccoli florets for added vegetable related health benefits. Alternatively, you can add cauliflower florets and substitute tarragon for fennel.

Also, enjoy: