Sunday's Salad/Ancient Grain Power Salad

It has been an interesting week, and I have missed checking in with you :(

You'll never guess what I will be doing bright and early tomorrow morning...I'm taking a hot air balloon ride!!!!!! I'm so excited :)))) 
Since this is the summer of the bucket list, the opportunity came up and I decided not to let it pass me by. I will take lots and lots of pictures, and share them on Tuesday.   

I was once asked what my favorite meal of the day is. Hands down, my favorite meal is lunch. When I was in school, I always ate breakfast before leaving home, but by 10:30 in the morning, my stomach would start to growl. Lunch could not come soon enough. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a thermos of hot soup and a piece of cornbread in my lunchbox. That first bite was always just the best! All these years later, I still begin to get hungry around 10:30 in the morning, and the first bite of my lunch is still...just the best!

Along with soup, I love sandwiches and salads. At some point, I'll share some of my sandwich concoctions. They're pretty good if I say so myself ;) But today, I want to share a wonderful salad I made this past week. The grain is quinoa, love quinoa! The other ingredients consist of garbanzo beans, feta cheese, radishes, and arugula.   

Here's what really makes it special, the dressing. Fresh lemon juice is mixed with olive oil, oregano, and chopped kalamata olives. All of the ingredients are blended resulting in a lovely, earthy red dressing.

I placed a big scoop of the quinoa mixture on a bed of mixed greens.

Then drizzled the dressing over the salad. Delicious!!!

The quinoa salad mixture will last for a few days in the refrigerator, so great for repeated lunches.

Ancient Grain Power Salad
downloadable recipe

Ingredients

For the salad;
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups canned garbanzo beans rinsed
1 cup slightly chopped arugala
1/2 cup chopped red radishes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Mixed greens of your choice for serving

For the salad dressing;
6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives(pits removed of course)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste

For the salad;
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Allow to cool. Add the remainder of the ingredients, except for the mixed greens. Mix well and set aside.

For the salad dressing;
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust salt a black pepper to taste. 

To serve;
Place mixed greens on a plate. Place a large scoop of the quinoa mixture in the middle of the greens. Drizzle dressing over the quinoa and greens. Serve and enjoy! 

 The salad dressing will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator, so it can be enjoyed on other salads of your choice.

Wishing you many happy lunches!

Rhonda

What's For Dinner?

One of the exchange organizations that we used when we hosted students began just after World War II. Their hope was that the world would be brought together through exchange students. Since we have hosted students from many countries, my ears always perk up whenever I hear of a disaster in a country in which they live. But today, my eyes are upon Texas. The area that is being hit so badly is where I am from. I have friends there who are struggling. It breaks my heart, and I wish I could do more than pray. Hopefully the worst is over.

From time to time, I will cook chicken for my husband. He is always quite grateful :)

This past week, I made a dish that will work well if you have a vegetarian and non-vegetarian home. I'm calling it;

Ying and Yang Layered Pesto Dinner 

First, begin with the sauce.

Saute a large chopped onion, red bell pepper and garlic until translucent and tender.

Once the vegetables are tender, add a 28oz. can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper to taste, and a 1/2 cup of  nice chardonnay. Bring to a boil and allow the wine to reduce for approximately 15 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for about another 20 minutes. Puree with a hand held mixer, or place into a blender to puree. Return to pot to keep warm. 

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Drizzle a little olive oil over the breasts. Place on the grill and cook on each side until cooked through, approximately 3-5 minutes per side.

Turn off the fire on the grill if you have a gas grill. If not, remove breasts to a plate. Top with pesto. If you have removed the breasts to a plate, cover with foil to keep warm.
You can find my pesto recipe HERE. 

Cook quinoa according to package directions. I just happened to have black quinoa. 
Place a layer of quinoa on each plate.

Top the quinoa with the sauce.

Add a layer of spinach on top of the sauce. I like to use frozen spinach that I have cooked in the microwave. It's easy and takes no time at all to prepare.

If you are vegetarian, top the spinach with some pesto and roasted pine nuts. 

For the non-vegetarian, top it off with the grilled pesto chicken. 

Super easy, and super good!

Ying and Yang Layered Pesto Dinner
printable recipe

For Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 28oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chardonnay
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence
salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil in pan. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add chopped red pepper. Saute until tender. Add garlic and saute an additional minute. Add tomatoes, wine, herbs de Provence, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and allow wine to reduce for approximately 15 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook an additional 20 minutes.

Using a hand held mixer or blender, puree sauce. Return to pot to keep warm.

Purchase desired number of chicken breasts to serve.

Sprinkle salt, black pepper, and garlic powder over chicken breasts. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Place on grill and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Remove from heat and top with pesto.

Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package directions. Amount will depend upon how many you will be serving. Use package directions to determine serving size.

Cook a 10 oz bag of frozen spinach in a microwave safe covered dish for 3 minutes. Stir. Return to microwave and cook an additional 4 minutes.

Place a layer of quinoa on each plate. Add a layer of the sauce. Top the sauce with spinach. 

*For a vegetarian dish, top the spinach with pesto, and roasted pine nuts.

*For a non-vegetarian version, top the spinach with the pesto topped chicken.

Serve and enjoy!

This dish is not only great for a weekday dinner, guests would love it too! 

Sunday's Salad/Mediterranean Summer Salad

I haven't posted a recipe in quite a while, but this one, at least in my opinion :), is well worth the wait. I originally made the salad during the winter, but for lack of a better name, I'm calling it a Mediterranean Summer Salad. It's light, and yet hearty enough for a main entree when you would like a lighter meal. For those of you who are vegan, it's perfect as it's full of protein.

Easy, easy to put together, just begin with mixed greens, about 3 cups. I like to tear them up a bit before I add the rest of the ingredients.

Top with 1/2 cup of cooked and cooled quinoa.

Next, 4 large, or 6 small radishes thinly sliced.

Chop 1/2 of a fennel bulb. The spicy aspect of the radishes mixes perfectly with the slightly sweet taste of the fennel.

Now add 1/4 cup of toasted and cooled chopped walnuts. If you are in a hurry, delete the toasting, but if you have time, the toasting of the walnuts adds a nice flavor. 

Chop 1 small avocado.
 

Toss the salad and set aside.

The dressing is so, so good. By all means, don't skip this step!
You'll need;
1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup of good olive oil
1 clove of garlic smashed and finely chopped
juice of 3 fresh lemons
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Mix well. 

Dish up the salad, be sure to dig to the bottom as the good bits always fall to the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle the salad dressing over, dig in and enjoy! A warning, the dressing is so good that you'll want to eat it right out of the bowl!!!

The salad will make 2 large entree servings, or 4 side servings. Just increase ingredients for a larger crowd.
 

Mediterranean Summer Salad

Yield: 2 Entrée servings, or 4 side servings

Ingredients:

3 cups of mixed greens

¼ cup cooked and cooled quinoa

4 large, or 6 small sliced radishes

½ bulb fennel chopped

¼ cup chopped and toasted walnuts

1 small avocado chopped

Salad Dressing

1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic smashed and finely chopped

Juice of 3 lemons

Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all salad ingredients.

Stir to combine salad dressing ingredients.

To serve, drizzle salad dressing over salad and enjoy! 

Eating For Your Future/Massaged Kale Salad with Quinoa and Pomegranate

For those of you who have become accustomed to seeing a daily post from me, you may be thinking that you'll need to put out a missing persons alert ;) All is well, I've just been super busy in my garden, in fact, all of my spare time has been spent in the garden. Later this summer, we are hosting 2 rather large parties and my garden really needs some attention. By the end of this upcoming week, I should be in pretty good shape, fingers crossed. Between the garden, trying to get ready for the marathon in October, as well as other activities, something had to give, and sadly, it has been the blog. So hopefully one more week and life will begin to get back to normal, at least my normal :) 

On a fun note...

I went to the drug store a few days ago and basically bought out the Epsom salts. My husband picked up the bag of salts that I had in the car and without hesitation exclaimed, "how many pounds of Epsom salt did you buy?!!! My muscles are screaming and I need all the help I can get!

So now for a really good salad. Hey, who doesn't like a massage?!! Well, I guess there are a few people in this world, I'm not one of them. As it turns out, even kale likes a little massage ;)

With most green type salads, they really need to be made and eaten the same day. Not so with this salad. The kale really holds up, so the salad can be made the day before, and leftovers can be eaten even a few days later.

Massaged Kale Salad with Quinoa and Pomegranate 

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale

1 large clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 purple onion sliced into strips

5 radishes sliced

1 cup cooked quinoa(I like to use red quinoa as it stands out against the green kale)

seeds of 1 pomegranate

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

extra salt and black pepper to taste

The key to this salad is the dressing that is massaged into the kale.

Begin by chopping the garlic clove. 

Then mash the garlic to form a bit of a paste, but not a complete paste, you want there to still be bits of the garlic.  

Combine the garlic with the lemon, salt, and olive oil. Set aside.

Remove the stems from the kale and then roughly chop. Place kale in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the dressing over the kale and then start massaging. Be sure your hands are clean!!!

Massage until the kale begins to wilt. This will only take a few minutes. The kale will soften slightly, but will retain its crunch.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

The result is a hearty, yet light salad that is full of protein. And it's pretty too!!! The lemon juice gives the salad just a bit of a tang and the pomegranate offsets the tang with a touch of sweet.

If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it!
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/ Kale and Quinoa Pilaf with Pan-Roasted Squash

I so enjoyed the Kale and Quinoa Salad that I posted last week. It was so easy to just spoon into a bowl and enjoy for breakfast. But after eating it for 2 weeks in a row(I can really get in a rut!) , I was ready for a change. In my search, I came across THIS recipe from Epicurean Escapian. It's another kale and quinoa salad, but so very different from the recipe that I posted last week. It's savory, yet sweet and just all out YUM! I had planned to have it for breakfast, but it didn't quite make it. As I was putting it together, my husband came into the kitchen and said, That smells awfully good. Are we having that for dinner?" How could I disappoint him, so yes, it was for dinner. As usual, I made a few changes.

The recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of Butternut squash. I purchased a small squash which yielded 2 cups of diced squash. 1/2 cup seemed a little skimpy to me, so I decided to use the entire squash. I'm glad I did. If you do decide to use more squash, increase the spices in proportion to the amount of squash that you have. For 2 cups of squash, 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons of oil would have been sufficient. So do not increase the oil in proportion to the amount of squash that you have. Use a little less.    

 To peel the squash, I use a vegetable peeler. Works great!

The recipe says to massage the oil, lemon and salt into the kale. Be sure to do this as the mixture will permeate the kale and give the most wonderful flavor. Just be sure to wash your hands first!!!  :)
I also used quite a bit more kale, about triple the amount that the recipe called for.

Once the quinoa has cooked, stir in the kale. To be honest, you could stop right here as the mixture is absolutely delicious. It would be great with some toasted pine nuts and a little grated Parmesan cheese. 

Finally, I chopped and toasted pecans, and sprinkled them over the top of the roasted squash. Great addition.

I will be making this dish again and making sure that I have some for breakfast. The butternut squash has a slightly sweet taste, but for breakfast the addition of little honey drizzled over the mixture would make for a nice breakfast treat. 
I hope you enjoy as much as I did if you give it a try :)
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Kale Quinoa Salad

A year ago, I was diagnosed with moles on both of my retinas that have the potential to become cancerous. I now see a retinologist every 6 months, have my eyes dilated, and an ultrasound is done to determine if there have been any changes since my last check up. Thus far, I've been fortunate, no changes, no cancer. My next appointment is at the end of this month and of course there's always a little apprehension. I'm lucky in so many ways, but especially so in that my husband has insisted to be by my side at every visit. 

When I initially saw the specialist, he told me that it is imperative that I eat a very plant rich diet. I've always had a fairly healthy diet, it's just more focused now.

I was recently looking for a breakfast dish that would be a little higher in nutrients than my favorite bowl of oatmeal and I came across THIS recipe for a Kale and Quinoa Salad. Not only is it good as a salad, but warmed up, it's great for breakfast too. In fact, I'm on my second batch. I can be a little lazy in the morning, so I love that I can make up a batch and then just take out what I want and quickly warm it up. I basically followed the recipe, but as you can see below, I added quite a bit more kale and rather than tear the kale, I chopped it up. Rather than 1 cup of chopped kale, I added 3 cups. 

I love blueberries, and I try and buy bunches when they are in season and keep them in the freezer for use over the winter. So rather than blackberries, I added blueberries.

Quinoa is a great source of protein, but I love nuts and they do add a little more protein, so I usually top the salad off with roasted slivered almonds.  

I suggest making the salad up and allowing it to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and allow the dressing to really soak into the quinoa. One last change I made, rather than a lemon, I used the juice of 1 lime in my dressing. I also reduced the oil to 1 1/2 tablespoons rather than the 3 tablespoons.
As I said, this recipe is great as a salad. It can be served as is, over salad greens, and even for breakfast. If you enjoy the addition of a little cheese, some fresh feta or a good blue cheese would nice too.
Enjoy!
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Super Salad!

Have you ever heard of a lemon cucumber??? I stopped by a friend's house a few days ago as she has such a lovely garden, and I wanted to beg for one of her cucmbers. My husband had stopped by a few days before and she gave him an English Cucumber that was out of this world. When I arrived, lucky me, she was in the garden harvesting a few things and had just picked the lemon cucumber and asked if I would like to have one. Sure!!!, I'm always game to try something new.

As it turns out, a lemon cucumber does not taste like a lemon, just looks similar to a lemon.

When cut open, they have the loveliest green center and the richest cucumber smell I've ever smelled.

I decided to look around for a recipe that would be fitting of my precious little cucumber and I found a delightful website called 101 Cookbooks, A Natural Foods Recipe Journal. The recipe that caught my eye is called
Orzo Super Salad

1 cup dried (whole wheat) orzo pasta
8 - 10 medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch segments
1/2 a medium head of broccoli (or broccolini), cut into small trees
small handful of cilantro(or mint if you prefer), chopped(I used mint) 

1 small clove of garlic, mashed with a big pinch of salt and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

a small handful of sprouts
1/3 cup almonds, toasted
1/2 small cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 medium avocado, sliced into small pieces
1/4 cup feta, crumbled

As usual, I made a few changes. While shopping for the ingredients that I needed, I came across a Quinoa pasta that looked interesting, so I decided to give that a try rather than the orzo.

The recipe says to throw the broccoli and the asparagus in the boiling water for the last 30 seconds of cooking. Be sure to do this as the vegetables stay crunchy, but not as hard as they would be if they are completely raw.

For the salad dressing, be sure to mash the garlic with the salt as directed. Makes all the difference in the world.

I'm growing pear tomatoes this summer and they are just beginning to ripen, so I decided to add them to the mix. I'm also growing jalapeno peppers, so I added one of those as well. I do like my peppers!!! 

I left out the sprouts as I was just too lazy to make the trip to the store where I can find them, My neighborhood market typically doesn't carry them.   

You can find the full recipe HERE. This is such an amazing salad. The mixture of the mint, lemon and garlic make for an especially tasty salad dressing. I used a Bulgarian feta which is rather creamy, fabulous! Since the feta added such a creamy aspect to the salad, I left out the avocado. Be sure to add the slivered almonds and be sure to toast them. Adds just the right amount of crunch to the salad.
You can eat the salad just as it is or serve it on a bed of greens. It would make a wonderful light supper and then the leftovers are perfect for lunches.
Once you visit 101 Cookbooks, be sure to look around a bit as she has some wonderful recipes posted. I plan to just camp out a while on her website as there are a number of recipes that I want to try.
Hope you enjoy the salad as much as I did if you give it a try!

Eating For Your Future/Quinoa and Black Bean Vegetable Salad

A few months ago, I received a lovey email message from Diane of www.rememberingoz.blogspot.com. She knows how much I enjoy quinoa, as well as a healthy dish in general, so she thought that  might enjoy the dish that I'm sharing with you today. I think Diane must know me well as I REALLY did enjoy it and my husband did too!

Quinoa and Black Bean Vegetable Salad

Dressing;
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice or juice of 2 limes
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon fresh minced cilantro

mix all ingredients together and set aside

Salad Mix
1 cup quinoa(cook according to package directions)
14 oz. can black beans drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
2 green onions chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh corn(I sliced mine off the cobb)
1 small avocado chopped

Cook quinoa and allow to cool. Combine all other ingredients. Add quinoa once it  has cooled. Stir in dressing and serve.

The only changes I made to the recipe was to add more green onions and I also chopped up 2 jalapeno peppers and added them to the mixture. I like spice!!
The salad will keep well for lunches, in fact, it's probably better the second day as the flavors have had time to mingle. The salad is also wonderful on a bed of your favorite lettuce. Maybe add some sliced avocado and sliced tomatoes and you'll have a wonderful main dish salad.

Thanks so much for the recipe Diane! I think it will become a go to recipe in my house.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did if you give it a try.
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Lettuce Wraps

It seems that the less I write, at least on the blog, the easier it is to not write. But in recent days, I have missed checking in, so maybe that's a good sign :)

This past week, I made a fun dish that I thought I would share. My husband loved them and I also thought they were especially good. Rather than using ground meat or ground chicken, I substituted quinoa for my lettuce wraps. You could actually make a regular salad and just top it with the quinoa mixture, but using a lettuce leaf as a wrap is fun!!! And I might add...a lot healthier too.  

   

Quinoa Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa uncooked

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

3/4 cup chopped water chestnuts

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 carrot shredded

bib lettuce, or lettuce of choice for wrapping

1 avocado sliced

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. 

While quinoa is cooking, saute onion in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and saute for just about a minute longer. Add ginger and set aside until quinoa is completely cooked. Once quinoa is cooked, add to onion mixture. Add water chestnuts, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Stir well and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes to combine flavors. Before serving, add peanuts and chopped green onions.

Arrange lettuce leaves on serving platter. Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of the quinoa mixture into the center of each leaf. You may be able to add more, just be careful to not over fill the lettuce leaves or they will be a little difficult to form into wraps. Top with shredded carrot and a slice of avocado.

Serve and enjoy!

I think these would pack well for lunches as they do not need to be served warm. If you are packing them for your lunch, pack the lettuce and quinoa separately so that your lettuce will remain crisp.  

And as I said earlier, you can always make a regular salad and just top it with the quinoa for a little something different.

Enjoy!

Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa Salad

We all have childhood food memories that are far from pleasant. For me, dinner was always a dreaded event. Had I been given a bowl of rice with butter, I would have been a very happy little girl, but of course, that was not the case. Brussels sprouts were one of the worst foods, bitter and just all around unpleasant. Thankfully, I have learned how to cook them so that they are not bitter and they are now a dish that I absolutely love. We change :) 

I came across this recipe for a Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa Salad. Since I could eat quinoa everyday of the week, I had to give it a try. Quinoa is an all around great food, mixes well with so many dishes and supplies a complete protein.

The salad is delicious! I recommend making it up ahead of time and giving it a little time to sit so that the flavors really come together. The salad will refrigerate and keep well for lunches.

I enjoy dried cranberries that are infused with orange oil, so I used those in this recipe and it really enhanced the orange vinaigrette. My chives are up, so I think I will garnish the salad with some fresh chives as well. Other than using red quinoa, I made no other changes to the recipe. 

You can find the recipe and a great printable version HERE. I think you'll love it!!!