Deep Fried...Something

Quinoa Salad

My friend Chris showed me this recipe, and it sounded too simple not to try.  I made it tonight and snuck a taste, but it's more of a breakfast salad than anything else.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 2 apples, diced (tart)
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt

Directions:
Add water, apple juice, cinnamon and quinoa to a pot, bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer until liquid is abosrbed (about 25 minutes).  Let quinoa cool and then chill for 1 hour.  Once chilled, combine with remaining ingredients.

Notes:
I used 1/2 cup dried cherries and 1/2 cup dried cranberries.  It tastes good, but I think I'll add a little more yogurt before I eat it tomorrow.

Spicy Beefy Curry Stew (Slow Cooked)

Another random recipe tonight, pulled from the internet and then changed a bit for my tastes.  Goes well with jasmine rice.

Spicy Beef Curry Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound beef stew meat, cubed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, diced
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 onion, sliced and quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 heart of celery, chopped
• 1 cup beef broth

Directions:

1. Place onion, carrots, and celery in bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and brown the beef on all sides.  Remove from skillet, reserving the juices, and add to slow cooker.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook and stir the garlic, ginger, and chipotle pepper in the skillet with reserved juices for about 2 minutes.  Add curry powder and mix well.  Mix in the diced tomatoes and juice and remove from heat.
4. Scoop skillet mixture into the slow cooker, and mix in beef broth.
5. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low or 2-3 hours on high.

Notes for next time:  I'll probably use 2 chipotle peppers next time, and a little more curry powder and garlic.   Oh yeah, and I'll put a little more salt.  I just put a dash, and it needs more than that.  Overall, pretty good though.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Grilled Steelhead with Quinoa and Pineapple

I didn't want to spend a lot of time on dinner tonight, but I wanted something tasty.  This took about 2 minutes to prep, and ~25 minutes for the quinoa to be fully cooked.  If you start the water boiling right when you warm up the grill, the quinoa is ready to go about the same time as the fish.

Grilled Steelhead with Quinoa and Pineapple

Ingredients:

• Steelhead fillets
• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 1 can pineapple chunks
• Yoshida's original gourmet sauce

Directions:
Warm up grill.  Bring 2 cups of water to a boil on stovetop.  Add quinoa to water, reduce heat to slow simmer.  Cook, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed the water.  Pour Yoshida's sauce over steelhead and grill over medium heat until fillets are fully cooked, about 7 minutes.  Serve with pineapple chunks and more Yoshida's sauce on top.

Photo by me

Big ol' salad

Last night, I had nothing planned to cook and we were at the grocery store.  I asked Sarah what she wanted for dinner, and she said, "A big ol' salad sounds good."  I couldn't disagree.  Here's what went into it:

1 bag of lettuce (mixed romaine and leaf lettuces)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 bag California Stir Fry (fresh broccoli, carrots, and snap peas)
red onion
celery
canned salmon (mixed with a few secret ingredients to make it into a salmon salad)
homemade salad dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Tabasco chipotle, dijon mustard, salt and pepper)

It came out really tasty, and didn't take very long at all.

Happy Passover!

For the last several years, we've gone to a friend's house for Passover.  It's become a tradition for me to make the charoset.  I can't give a precise recipe, because I just mix things in until it tastes "right" to me, but I'll do my best.

Ingredients:

• Granny Smith apples
• Kosher for Passover grape juice
• Honey
• Walnuts
• Cinnamon

Directions:
Remove core and stem from apples.  Place into Cuisinart with some walnuts.  Pulse until apples are finely chopped.  Place chopped apples and walnuts to a large mixing bowl.  Pour in a small amount of grape juice, a bunch of honey, and some cinnamon.  Mix well, and taste.  Adjust as needed.

I made this for the first 2 nights of Passover this year.  I added just a touch of nutmeg for the second night, and it came out really well.  Enjoy!

Photo by Sarah.  Click on the picture for her flickr page.

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Before I went grocery shopping last weekend, I surfed around on the internet looking for a few easy, healthy, and tasty-sounding recipes.  This one definitely fit the bill.  Preparation time is minimal, and you cook it all in one skillet.  It came out surprisingly good, considering how few ingredients there are.  I scaled it down to 3 servings, since we don't have 6 people in our house.

Braised Balsamic Chicken
Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions:

1.  Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts.
2.  Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken, and season with basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com.  I disagree with several of the comments, I can't imagine cutting the balsamic vinegar in this recipe.  It's not an overwhelming flavor at all with the tomatoes and onions, and it adds a lot to the dish.

Healthy AND Tasty? Is it possible?

I've been trying more healthy recipes lately, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how good some of them taste.  Tonight's dinner was no exception.  I made Quinoa Risotto with Arugula and Parmesan from the Mayo Clinic's healthy eating web site (link here).  I've been a fan of quinoa since I first tried it about a year ago.  It adds a nice flavor to dishes, and it's one of the healthiest foods I've ever come across (see here for more nutritional information about quinoa).  I used spinach instead of arugula, because the commissary didn't have any arugula in the produce section.  I was going to take a picture, but mine came out a bit darker than the picture on the Mayo Clinic page, mainly because of the nice dark vegetable stock I used. 

Chickpea soup

Dinner tonight (and probably the next couple of nights) is this remarkably simple and super tasty Chickpea Hotpot recipe.  If you're looking for healthy recipes that also taste good, this is one to add to your collection.  I use kale (instead of chard).  I've tried it with both bulgur and quinoa, and the unanimous verdict was that the version with bulgur had more flavor to it.

Food Blogging

People often ask me what I'm cooking these days.  I've decided to blog about it here, after being prodded by my lovely wife to do so. :)  I'll try to include pictures when possible, but no promises.

Today's dinner: Grilled buffalo burgers with muenster cheese.  YUM!