LindsSays: Quinoa

Showing posts with label Quinoa. Show all posts

Mmm sometimes I'm just craving some ooey gooey Italian food, and this experiment really hit the spot. The quinoa, eggplant and cheese really hold it together so it's more like a lasagna consistency.

The BF refuses to eat eggplant and thinks quinoa is "too weird" so told him this was lasagna and he ate 3 helpings. That was easy.

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, cooked ($1.00)
1/2-lb ground turkey ($1.50)*
1/3 cup natural chicken broth ($.50)
1 medium white onion, diced ($.80)
1 large eggplant, cubed ($1.00)
3 cloves garlic, minced (if you're not as garlic-crazy as us use 2)
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 14-oz can natural, no sugar added tomato sauce ($1.00)
1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes ($1.00)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese ($2.00)
2/3 cup mozzarella cheese ($1.00)
1 tablespoon olive oil/coconut oil/your oil of choice

*optional- vegetarians leave this out

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the eggplant into cubes and put the cubes into a bowl of ice water. Let the cubes set in the ice water for about 20 minutes- I read somewhere that this pulls the bitterness out of the eggplant, and since I had to trick the BF into eating it I figured the less eggplant taste the better.

While the eggplant is setting, pour the broth into a small frying pan. Add the turkey meat and cook until the turkey is brown and the broth is absorbed.

In a medium frying pan, combine a tablespoon of coconut/olive oil with onions and saute for about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute together for about 2 minutes. Add the eggplant cubes and saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently (do NOT let that eggplant get stuck to the pan- that is the WORST).

Add the crushed tomatoes, sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings and half the basil. Mix well, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low and let it cook for about 25 mins.

After 25 mins, remove it from the heat and combine with the quinoa, red pepper, turkey, and half the parmesan cheese. Mix well and add it to a greased 9x9 baking dish (I only have my 9x13 so I built a barrier with aluminum foil). Top with remaining parmesan, mozzarella cheese, and basil.

Cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

Cut up and enjoy!

Amazon.com Widgets

Eggplant and Quinoa Parm Lasagna

Monday, December 23, 2013

Sweet potato season = cheap sweet potatoes = I am hoarding sweet potatoes and finding every way possible to cook them. This is a recipe I found on Pinterest and cleaned up to make it something us clean eaters can enjoy, and added meat so the BF can enjoy. Since this recipe is essentially stuffed sweet potato skins, I used the guts to make one of my favorite Thanksgiving sides: mashed sweet potatoes!

For the Black Bean Honey Lime and Quinoa Stuffed:
Servings: 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes ($1.75)
1 cup cooked quinoa ($1.50)
1 cup chicken broth ($.50)
1 can black beans ($.80)
1/2 lb lean ground turkey ($1.75)
1 medium onion, diced ($.80)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, cooked ($.50)
Lime juice of one lime ($.70)
2-3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced ($.25)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Tablespoons honey ($.50)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese ($1.00)
1/2 cup low fat Greek Yogurt ($.50)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the quinoa. Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes. Stab them Dexter-style with a fork all over--I stabbed mine about 12 times each. The little holes allow the steam to get out and helps them cook. Wrap your stabbed sweet potatoes in foil and place in the oven for an hour.

After an hour pull them out. You should be able to easily pierce them with a fork- if not put them back in for about 10 minutes. Scoop the guts leaving about 1/4-1/2 inch of the sweet potato on the skins. Use the sweet potato guts to make mashed sweet potatoes (below).

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, combine the chicken broth, garlic, onions and ground turkey in a frying pan. Cook until turkey is browned.

Combine the cooked quinoa, turkey/garlic/onion mixture, lime juice, black beans, cumin, cayenne pepper and honey in a bowl and mix well. Scoop the mixture onto the sweet potato skins and top with cilantro, mozarella cheese and Greek yogurt.

Zzzzomggg this was so good and I will cook this every week until sweet potato hoarding season is over!!

For the mashed sweet potatoes:
Servings: 2 (this is an easy one to double, triple, quadruple, etc)
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes ($1.75)
2-3 tablespoons coconut milk- depending on the consistency you're going for. Less milk = more thickness. ($.50)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey ($.10)

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mash together with a spoon until it is mixed well. Yep, that's it. And yep, it tastes amazing.

Sweet Potato Recipes: Black Bean Honey Lime Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"Casserole sounds like something I'm forced to eat as punishment"

-BF before this creamy deliciousness changed his mind.

Didn't we all grow up eating broccoli chicken casserole that was made with things like heavy cream, cream of chicken, noodles and lots of other things we would never touch now that we know the effects they have on our bodies? I played around and found this replacement!

P.S. What is your favorite childhood meal? I'm having fun experimenting on cleaning up childhood classics. Leave a comment or email if you have a suggestion for me to try!

Servings: Lunch for the week (about 7)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs Chicken Breast, cubed ($4.00)
1 large head of fresh broccoli ($3.00)
4 cloves garlic, minced ($.30)
3/4 cups coconut milk
1 cup quinoa, cooked ($1.00)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon pepper
Sea salt to taste
2 cup Greek Yogurt ($.50)
1/4 cup water

While the quinoa is cooking, chop up the broccoli- don't be scared of the stems! I chopped it up and used most of the broccoli head. Put all the broccoli into a frying pan with about 1/4 cup water, and cook covered about 15 minutes, or until the broccoli is softened.

Season the cubed chicken breasts with salt, garlic powder, and pepper. In a separate frying pan combine the coconut milk and seasoned chicken cubes, and the minced garlic. Cook together 15-20 minutes or until the chicken has no visible pink.

In a large bowl combine the broccoli, quinoa, chicken and Greek Yogurt. Add more or less yogurt depending on the consistency you want (I added a lot- I love the creamy texture!). Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Monday, November 4, 2013

All goodness

These were a hit! These are surprisingly filling thanks to the quinoa and meat, so we had plenty of leftovers. Unfortunately the next night I came home from happy hour at Piola, took the leftovers out of the fridge to have a bite, and the next morning discovered I had left them out over night. Also I should mention I paid $17 for my 3 hours of eating delicious food and binge drinking wine that night, sooo really, try it out. Anyway- the chicken broth makes the meat especially savory, and all the seasonings add a real Italian meatball taste.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Servings: 6- unless you come home with drunk munchies and leave them out overnight. Then it's only 2 servings + 1 bite

Ingredients:

1 lb of lean ground turkey ($4.00 on sale at Sniders! I loaded up!)
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa ($1.00)
1/2 large yellow onion chopped ($.50)
2 cups chopped mushrooms ($3.00)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained ($1.50)
1 cup chicken broth ($.50)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TEAspoon cumin
1 TABLEspoon cayenne pepper
1 TABLEspoon garlic salt
1 TEAspoon chili powder
1 TABLEspoon dried parsley
Sprinkling of rosemary
6 whole bell peppers + 1 bell pepper chopped ($5.00)
Optional: some Parmesean cheese
**Next time I'm going to try adding tomato sauce to make it more Italian-y

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook your quinoa. In a large frying pan combine ground turkey, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic salt and chili powder. Cook the turkey over medium heat until there is no pink left. Add in onion, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, and the chopped bell pepper and cook over medium until the onions are translucent.

While this is cooking chop the tops off of your 6 remaining peppers and cut out the ribs and seeds with a knife. Trust me, I have zero hand-eye coordination and thought this would be a difficult task but it's real easy. Put the peppers onto a baking sheet and heat in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they are hot and softened a little.

Transfer the meat/veggie mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the quinoa and parsley. Mix it together and spoon the mixture into the peppers. Top the mixture with rosemary- we also added parmesean cheese which was deliissshhh.