"Kitchen Sink" Quinoa Salad

 I named this quinoa salad after the kitchen sink, because you can literally add just about anything but the kitchen sink and it will still be yummy. (Okay, any VEGETABLE, for all of you ultra-detailed people!) We had a surprising string of summer-like weather here in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, and suddenly I didn't want to make the kitchen any hotter than it already was by using the oven. This salad was cool and refreshing, while still being really satisfying. My family loved it and the kids were asking for seconds and thirds! Which is good, because this recipe makes LOTS of salad...enough for my family of five to have for dinner, plus some leftovers for lunch the next day. (If you'd like a more modest amount for a smaller family, simply cook half the recommended quinoa.) Have fun with this one and add whatever fresh veggies you have on hand...make it your own! If I'd had zucchini or summer squash, or fresh tomatoes, I definitely would have thrown those in. We ate this as our main dish last night, but it would also be a lovely addition to a picnic or barbecue! It's reminiscent of a pasta salad but oh-so-much-healthier and even more satisfying. (Oh, and I just tasted it again today...I can now vouch for the fact that it's even BETTER the second day!!)

Kitchen Sink Quinoa Salad

SALAD
about 4 cups cooked quinoa*, cooled
1 sweet bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), chopped
1-3 heads broccoli, chopped into florets
1 cucumber, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup kalamata olives
any other veggies of choice (fresh tomatoes, carrots, or celery would all be delicious)

DRESSING
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons dried basil (fresh basil would be even better!)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

*How to cook quinoa:
1. Rinse well, just like you rinse rice. This means you add water to the pot with the quinoa, move your fingers around in the pot several times till the water is a bit cloudy, pour the excess water off, then add more water and repeat. You could do this for 3 or 4 minutes!
2. Add 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. For this recipe, I add 4 cups of water to 2 cups of quinoa. (After rinsing the quinoa repeatedly, however, I estimated that there was already about 1 cup of water in the pot, so I only added 3 cups of water to the pan.)
3. Bring water and quinoa to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. Remove lid, fluff quinoa with a fork, and let it sit for about five minutes.
 5. To cool it quickly for quinoa salad (since I never seem to think far enough ahead for nice cold quinoa salad) spread it in a shallow baking dish and put it in the freezer while you prepare your vegetables and dressing. In a perfect world, the quinoa would be made and chilled before you start dinner prep. But who lives in a perfect world?

Chop your veggies. Add them to the quinoa. (I've been saving glass jars that some of my foods come in and they make great dressing jars!) Add all the dressing ingredients to a small glass jar and then shake it up - much faster and more efficient than trying to whisk your ingredients together. Anyway, pour it over the salad...mix it all up...and enjoy! The colder the better, so you can easily make this salad ahead of time and serve chilled. Yummers!

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Eat Your Greens...and Enjoy Them! (That's an order!)

When I began making an effort to get healthy, I would hear about greens and how good they were for you and how they were super foods and yada yada yada (I probably rolled my eyes, too). I had no idea what "greens" were or how to cook them. Not only that, but the thought of eating warm, wet, slimy greens was...shall we say...less than appealing.  But as with so many different foods throughout this process, I've discovered just how good that green stuff can be! 

I wish someone would have taken me by the hand and given me a tour of the "greens" section of the grocery store. I didn't like feeling like I didn't know what I was doing...but everybody's gotta start somewhere, I guess. Obviously these are not the only "greens" out there, but I thought I'd just list my top three favorites with photos and a simple recipe that will work for any one of them. 

My husband is a huge fan of kale - that's his favorite. I, however, am a big fan of swiss chard and collard greens. I find their flavor to be a bit more mellow and mild than kale when they've been sauteed. I tell you, I eat them this way and I feel like it's practically dessert. Here's my simple recipe:

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Greens

2 tablespoons olive oil

one onion, chopped

two bunches of greens (kale, collard greens, or chard - or a combination of each)  

two large cloves (or three little ones) garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock (or water, if you don't have any stock on hand)

salt + pepper to taste

First, heat olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Add the chopped onions and saute them until translucent. While onions are cooking, I prepare the greens by slicing the leaves off their center stems (the stem is fibrous and difficult to chew) and then chopping them into pieces (roughly a couple of inches square). Once the onions have become nearly translucent, add the greens to the pan. Add the chopped garlic and salt (I usually throw in a couple of pinches, probably about half a teaspoon worth?) and pepper (probably about 1/4 teaspoon). Saute the greens for a couple of minutes until they look "wilted". Then, add the chicken stock or water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the greens are nice and tender. Enjoy!

This is my Swiss chard in the pan last night, after I had sauteed them for a couple of minutes, but before I simmered them. (They got eaten so fast by my hungry family, I didn't get a chance to take a picture when they were finished.) They will lose much of their lovely green color during the cooking process, but don't let their wilted appearance at the end fool you...not only are they the most nutrient-dense food you can possibly serve your family, but they also happen to be delicious! I've been completely converted.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts - our new french fries!

image source: White On Rice Couple

There have been so many foods that our family has eliminated lately, and I often get asked, "What DO you eat?" The answer is simple: we eat a whole lot of fabulous veggies that we never even knew existed before. And when the food you do eat tastes amazing, it's easier to not miss the things you can't have anymore (whether it's due to allergies or simply making healthier choices).

These brussels sprouts are my family's new french fries. I'm not even kidding. Who knew that something green and round (and sugar-free) could be so tasty? Who knew that something so good for you could be so delicious? I just discovered Roasted Brussels Sprouts a few months ago. Life-changing, people! We no longer eat French fries, but have found these to be just as tasty and just as addicting. I usually can't help popping a couple (okay, quite a few!) in my mouth as I am putting the final touches on dinner. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside...uh-huh, with just the right amount of saltiness. So good.

Here is Ina Garten's extremely simple recipe. The only thing I would add to her directions is that once I cut off the brown end, I also slice the Brussels sprouts in half lengthwise. This makes them a more manageable size, both for me and the little mouths in the house.

And those outer leaves that fall off the brussels sprouts and get all dark brown...THOSE are the best part! They get really crispy and delicious. Most of them don't make it to the table because Momma's gotta sample first. :-) Just doing my part to make sure everything's tasty enough for my fam!

And just for fun, here's another recipe I haven't tried yet but plan to - Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic...so simple but probably SO tasty. Anything is good with balsamic!

Purple Mash (a Healthy Mashed Potato Substitute)

Let's face it, cauliflower is not always that exciting. But it's a super food, so I keep trying to figure out ways to incorporate it into our diet. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I spotted purple cauliflower at Whole Foods. I told her it would be an "adventure" to cook it...and she was totally into it! Here's how to make purple mash that kids will actually like:

1. Buy PURPLE cauliflower (they have orange, too! and of course white will work)

 2. Chop and steam it

3. Blend and mash it...add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Add a few tablespoons of the milk of your choice to make it more creamy.

4. Enjoy your healthy PURPLE MASH!!!

Miracle at Whole Foods & Kale Chips Recipe

roasted kale chips

A couple of weeks ago I was standing in the produce section at Whole Foods. Two ladies came up next to me and were clearly new to the store...or at least the produce section. One of them said,
"We need kale....what IS kale, exactly? What does it LOOK like?"

Since I was standing right next to them (and in front of the kale!) I couldn't resist helping them out:
"Here it is...this is the green kale and this is the purple kale."

But this didn't end their confusion. "Which one's better...the green or purple?"

I told them they both taste the same to me, and both have the same nutritional content, so it was just a matter of personal preference.

Their questions weren't done. "So how do YOU cook kale?" (I am now the resident kale expert, apparently.)

I told them about a couple of different ways I like to prepare kale...making kale chips and braising it with garlic and onions for a while. I gave them specifics on oven temps and cooking times, and they were most grateful. Off they went to bravely face cooking kale for the first time.

This whole scenario was a complete miracle. Why, you ask?

Because less than six months ago, that was ME. I was the one who bravely entered the organic section of a grocery store for the very first time and had to humble myself and ASK someone "What in the world is kale?". I desperately wanted to SEEM like I knew, but of course I did not. In fact, the first time I even shopped at a Whole Foods I felt like a complete fish out of water. There I was...one of very few overweight people in the whole store...in a produce section bigger than my house...purchasing all kinds of veggies I'd only ever seen before on the Food Network.

Fast forward six months, and not only have I cooked kale...a lot...but I LIKE it. And I can make it a few different ways without so much as a recipe. Oh. My. Word. Who is this person???

It just goes to show. Miracles can still happen. Even at the grocery store.

To celebrate, here's a simple recipe for kale chips. These are now like potato chips at my house. They look TERRIBLE but taste AWESOME and are quite addictive. But it's okay because they are a complete superfood. So go ahead, have some more!

BASIC KALE CHIPS

1-2 bunches kale (any variety)
olive oil to drizzle (maybe about 2 tablespoons or so?)
coarse sea salt (fine works too)
freshly ground black pepper

Wash, rinse, and dry kale. Make sure you get the kale REALLY dry. Remove the leaves from the stems (which are kind of woody and hard to chew). Chop the kale into smaller pieces (I do rough squares/rectangles, a couple of inches across.) Lay them out in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (Or not, if you don't have parchment paper...that just helps them not stick to the pan.) Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle to taste with sea salt (I like the coarse stuff) and fresh ground black pepper. The biggest mistake I always used to make when cooking is that I was very timid when seasoning things, and therefore they often seemed tasteless. Depending on what kind of diet you're on, perhaps you can handle salt or perhaps not. If you need a lower salt recipe, perhaps add a liberal amount of garlic powder and black pepper in place of the salt.

Bake them at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. They will be the ugliest little things, but SO tasty! You can modify this recipe with whatever spices you have on hand that sound good...cumin and chili powder with some red pepper flakes would be a nice spicy version!