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Black Bean & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Hey, all. Remember me? I'm the one that started this here blog and then proceeded to ignore it for a year... or more. A lot more, actually. Anyway, I have a recipe I want to share that is totally rockin'. It's delicious. My kids jump for joy when I announce we're eating this salad. Seriously, they actually jump up and down. It's nice to also say that this is super healthy. It's actually Don approved, which is saying a lot. (Don is my vegan, no oil father-in-law.) And lastly, this salad rocks because it's easy-peasy to make. I'm not even going to consult a recipe, because I have it memorized. That's partly because it's easy, and also because we eat it all the time.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with quinoa, give it a try! It's a great little grain (actually seed, I think) that's full of protein and is much faster to make than brown rice. I adore brown rice, but it seriously takes for.e.ver. I keep cooked quinoa in my fridge, then for lunch I warm up a tortilla, throw in some spinach/lettuce, quinoa, and beans, drizzle on some salsa (mango salsa is fabulous), wrap it up, and--voila! Lunch! Anyhoo.... The recipe:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

Juice of 1 lemon (Don't you DARE use bottled lemon juice!)

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp sugar (or sub agave nectar)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tomatoes, diced

2 green onions, chopped

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Rinse quinoa well to remove bitter coating, then combine in sauce pan with water, bring to a boil, cover and bring heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Juice and zest lemon into large bowl. Whisk in sugar, salt, and pepper. When quinoa finishes cooking, combine with the dressing in the bowl. Then stir in remaining ingredients. I love this salad warm, but it can also be served cold. Make a big batch at the beginning of the week, and if you're lucky enough to have leftovers you can have it for lunch all week. Just pull it out of the fridge and dig in with a spoon! Our family can go through the whole bowl in one sitting, though, so I rarely have this pleasure.

Tell me if you try it! I wanna know how it goes over.

Green smoothie

I've been messing around with my green smoothie recipe to get one that Eric would actually enjoy and not just endure (Noah and I are easier to please when it comes to smoothies, I guess). This is the latest and we all drink it happily for our breakfast. We usually have some nuts and some toast to round it all out.

1 15 oz can no-sugar-added peaches in water
Three [very] large handfuls of fresh spinach (it should nearly fill the blender)
1 banana
1 cup plain fat free yogurt
1 cup of ice

Pour the peaches and liquid into the blender, puree. Add spinach and puree until smooth, about 30 seconds or so. Add in banana and yogurt, blend briefly to mix. Add ice and puree until smooth.

Super quick and easy, so incredibly healthy, and super tasty. If you have family members who might gag at the sight of green liquid, you can add a cup of mixed frozen berries instead of ice, which gives it a nice purple tone.

I got Katy to give us all administrator permissions:)

Labeling our posts:)

First off im not trying to come off as a micro manager, more of a OCD organized efficiency individual;) sound better?;)

so i decided to go back and see what recipes i had put on here and see if i could add the type of food it was in the label box i.e. "soup" "dessert" whatever, so...if this recipe the sweet potato-peanut bisque shows up again under a post for May 4th instead of its original date like 2 years ago, sorry,...just experimenting with the blog:) if it DOES work or if anyone else would like to go "label" their previous post i say..."happy blogging" to you, sorry i apparently have a lot of time on my hands as i am laying in bed not feeling well, so...no pressure to do so:)

oh and maybe we could put the labels on the side bar, i know you can do that i just can't remember how and i think katy's the only one with permissions as the admin or whatever, then we can click on "desserts" when we want a dessert recipe or whatever:)

so...i feel pressure to label this post, but...i am 'fresh' out of foodie ideas;)

ps i tried it and it stayed in its original date i posted it, if anyone cares:)

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday**.....and well...curry too;)

So i realize i R.A.R.E.L.Y post on here, because well...i rarely cook, but...in my defense i cook for one, so...i think it makes it a wee bit more challenging because though i LOVE leftovers, i cannot seem to eat a meal more than 5 times within a few days...sorry i guess just a quirk of mine;)

With that said since im all about trying to marry off my friends (and who knows perhaps i will marry off myself one day as well:)...) so i have been creating "opportunities" for my nearest and dearest to meet:) I have been having dinner parties 4 guys/4 girls or 5/5 6/6, so...i get to subject potentially 7-11 strangers to my cooking;) yahoo. !!! I have been forcing myself to do the main dish then assign out desserts, salads, sides etc. though i'd rather just do the salad or dessert b.c we all know you can't screw those up, but...nonetheless i have been trying to stretch myself, and though we've had a few minor mishaps ...(filling up my parents house with smoke, leaving them to clean it up, then rushing home to try the same recipe at my house only to have my roomates help me air out the house before we (scratch that ME) set off the smoke detector again....but i'm learning, so that counts right?;)

We did a curry night a few weeks ago and i think it went rather well. I made 2 and my friend made 2, we were cooking for 10-12 that night i can't remember, either way we had way too much food, but the idea was...if 1/2 of them tanked (since neither she or I had made them or curry for that matter) then we would have 2 other ones.

Here are the 2 that i made (and when i say "i" i mean my 2 friends and mother who came to the rescue as i hopped in the shower and they finished off the recipes, though i did prep everything (minus the chicken because it scares me...like i wont touch the stuff)...so it counts as "helping" with the recipe right?;)

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/mango-chicken-salad-with-coconut/

* note from my sister, which i didn't read, and it was a bit too spicy, not bad, but i just wanted something a little softer with mango/coconut as the ingredients, maybe this would have fixed the problem;) "This is one that my friend Jen has tried--it is one of their family's favorites--they do take our the jalepenos though (I read in the comments that it you want to use jalepenos, take out the seeds and then cook them before adding them to the recipe. this will take out most of the heat)"

oh and we put it over rice as does my sister, so...to each their own;)

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/basil-chicken-in-coconut-curry-sauce.html

both were fantastic, oh and melskitchencafe had a nan recipe that i didn't dare try because well...i was running behind on time anyway...everything from missing ingredients to "Empty" gas lights coming on while you are frantically trying to get home:(


Sorry this post is so long, you wonder why i dont post often;) If you do have any ideas for my future dinner parties i would LOVE to have them. Whether its just a main dish idea or you have sides and all sorts of other ideas to add to it, because i make-up a bunch of stuff that i think a normal family would eat together then make food assignments. (because if it was me i'd be eating peanutbutter and jelly with my thai food because...i love both thats all, no rhyme or reason besides that)

OR...if you are afraid i might botch your tried and true family recipe, then..if you have any single gentlemen in your midst you would like me to include in my dinner parties, im all about opening my social circle, come on! us singletons need as much help as we can get in meeting new people;)

**totally not my version of how you would quote Princess Bride but IMBD seems to think it does it justice, so...hope you weren't TOTALLY perplexed the entire post;)

SO simple, SO yummy

Simmered Leeks