Quinoa Bowl

I've been eating quinoa for a while now, but usually only in a quesadilla. I can recognize the potential, though- it's a great base for adding other flavors. I prepared some the other day for my usual quesadilla but then I didn't want it that way after all, so I made a quinoa bowl instead. I threw in a lot of the fixings I would have used on the quesadilla and a few others- here's the throw-it-all-together recipe for one serving:

Quinoa, cooked, about 1/2 a cup if you're going for portion control*
Organic canned corn, rinsed, about 1/4 cup
Canned black beans, rinsed, about 1/4 cup
Diced plum or Campari tomato (or about the same amount of a larger tomato, although you can add more if you have a really good tomato sitting around!!)
Small Hass avocado, diced
Diced sweet onion cooked with a little olive oil until translucent
Diced bell pepper (any color) cooked with the onion
Shredded cheese, about 1/8 cup

Extra virgin olive oil, maybe a couple of teaspoons to drizzle
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together up through the cheese, salt and pepper to taste, drizzle on the olive oil, then dig in!

I thought about adding a dressing of some sort, other than just the olive oil, but the avocado I had when I made this was so creamy it acted as a dressing. The drizzle of olive oil was all it needed. It kept well in the refrigerator over night so I also had it for dinner the next day when a take out meal from a new restaurant left a lot to be desired. This would make a great picnic or travel meal.

*How to cook quinoa: when I first posted the microwave recipe for quinoa (thank you Melissa D'Arabian) I tried to get all fancy and use vegetable broth as the liquid, but it never turns out when I do that for some reason. It always has crunchy bits when I use broth. Just use one cup quinoa to two cups water, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil, microwave in a glass bowl with a lid (and put the lid on it!) for 9 minutes on high. (Results may vary depending on your microwave.) Let it sit and finish absorbing the liquid for a few minutes then you're good to go!

Quesadillas

I have decided I absolutely love quesadillas. We've made them several times lately and it's like our version of taco night. Everyone gets to make their quesadilla their way, and we all have very different ideas as to what constitutes "perfect". I like to throw mine in the frying pan so the tortilla part gets all toasty, golden brown, and crispy. DH likes to microwave his so it gets all chewy. The kids... well, whatever. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, will make himself a PB&J sandwich for some crazy reason, but he does that a lot and I try not to look. The Eldest can usually con The Middle Child into making one for her, toasty like mine, then The Middle Child makes one for herself, and hers are different every time. For fillings, we can make this a vegetarian meal (which we did last night to make up for eating chicken on Meatless Monday) by heating up a can of vegetarian refried beans, or we can use whatever leftover meat we have on hand. For additional fillings I like caramelized onions and sauteed portabella mushrooms along with whatever fresh veggies DH chops up. DH likes just the fresh veggies for his, diced bell pepper, shredded carrots, diced onion, zucchini, tomatoes, whatever we have on hand. Then we top it with cheese, of course. I picked up some quesadilla cheese at the grocery store yesterday (didn't know they made such a thing until yesterday when I was considering the Queso Blanco cheese) and we tried that; it was pretty good! (In the past we've also used Colby Jack or cheddar; whatever cheese floats your boat.)

To assemble, I first spray my tortilla with a canola oil spray on both sides then throw it in a non-stick frying pan to start toasting. (I used to use butter but didn't want the extra calories, so I tried the spray and it worked beautifully.) Once I get the first side warmed up (I don't completely toast the inside) I flip it and put on my fillings, starting with the refried beans, which we heat beforehand, then the onions and mushrooms, then any other veggies, throw on the cheese, fold it over, then flip as needed to let the cheese melt and the tortilla finish toasting. (I use one tortilla, fillings go on one half then fold over; you could also use two tortillas, fillings go across the whole bottom tortilla and top with a second tortilla, but you'd have to partially toast the second tortilla before you get started, I'm thinking.) (And it would be quite a challenge to flip.) DH assembles his on an uncooked tortilla then zaps it in the microwave. (His way is a lot easier, but I love that toastiness from the frying pan so it's worth the extra work.) I cut mine in half and savor every delicious crunchy, gooey, yummy bite. When we make it with the refried beans, this is one of my all time favorite vegetarian meals. As long as you don't go too crazy with the cheese, this is also a super healthy low cal meal, too. Can't beat that!

Veggie Recipe!

I found a new vegetarian recipe- hooray! Our "Meatless Monday" project is coming along nicely, I must say. Today we had our beloved Black Bean Patties with rice, applesauce, and carrot salad for lunch and the new recipe, Pasta with Beans and Greens from Southern Living Busy Moms Weeknight Favorites cook book for dinner. Nom nom nom.

I followed the recipe pretty closely except I subbed veggie broth for the chicken broth, and there are slight variations from the cook book version to the on-line version. The cook book called for a package of pre-sliced mushrooms; I used 3 large portobello caps instead, which is the same as the on-line recipe. (Which I didn't look at until after I tried the cook book recipe, so what a coincidence! I figured sliced mushrooms go bad quickly and the baby 'bellas that aren't sliced, with probably more than 10 per package, take more time to wash and slice than chopping up 3 large ones.) The cook book also called for minced garlic out of a jar, which is what I used. The recipe also calls for either spinach or kale; I used the kale but we found it too tough, and now I have all this kale leftover since the bag had way more than I needed for the recipe. We'll use spinach next time and if there is any leftover we can use it for salad. I forgot to add the Parmesan cheese at the end; it probably would have been good but we didn't miss it. For portion control purposes, I didn't mix the pasta and bean mixture at the end, either. I dished my half cup of pasta into my bowl then scooped the mixture on top of that. This is a really low cal dish, too, so I feel all healthy and veggie-virtuous now. :)