Love at Last

I have made attempt after attempt to love quinoa. It seems to have superpowers, according to healthy foodies everywhere. All attempts failed until this one. I have discovered, by stealing an idea from a local vegetarian joint, that I love quinoa when it is paired with lots of other crunchy textures of food. So, my last and best attempt...Warm Vegetable Quinoa Salad.

Ingredients

spring lettuce mix

cooked quinoa (I used the red quinoa from TJ's)

tempeh (cut into small cubes, browned in a cast-iron skillet with some olive oil, salt and pepper)

onions (caramelized, lots of them!)

zucchini, tomatoes, peppers (lightly sauteed with a bit of crunch left in them)

herbed goat cheese (from my favorite store ever, of course...see quinoa above)

Just make all of this into a huge salad. Dump it all in. Onions and goat cheese on top, as they are super flavorful and with them added, you really don't need dressing.

I would serve this with some really good crusty bread and real, real, real butter. Yum.

And since it is such a complete protein/animal-friendly/high-in-vitamins dinner, you should definitely eat half of a dark chocolate bar like I did. :)

P.S. Avocado never, ever hurts. Pile it on if you have it.

P.P.S. I need to start taking pictures of our food before it is devoured, so my posts can be a visually interesting. Hunger always seems to beat boring blog post.

P.P.P.S. If you are thinking, "Her kids eat that!?" You are erroneous. But I keep hoping...

Job Well Done

You know when I feel really good about a day of parenting?

When the day is halfway through and they look like this.

Fun was had, don't you think?

Intermission

So, I am realizing that taking time to write a blog implies that you have time. Here lies the problem...My lovely little L must have talked to her other 4-year-old friends and the jig is up. No more naps for me (I mean, for her, ahem....) Needless to say, my two-hour-block of quiet lunch, quick cleanup, serene shower and zone-out internet time, are OVER. Can you hear me weeping?

However, I have two recipes I must share before I depart. Tomato Soup and some sort of Quinoa Warm Salad that I have made up, which I will try to post next week.

Let it be known that I actually LOVE Campbell's Tomato Soup. This is a simple, healthy version of said soup with a little more oomph and texture. I got it from the 345 lb. book by Mark Bittman How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. This cookbook is definitely on my Christmas wishlist, by the way, seeing as my local library has already lent it to me two times.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 large onion, sliced

1 carrot, diced

Salt and pepper

4 cups canned whole tomatoes (include juice)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp. sugar (optional)

Heat oil deep saucepan. When hot, add tomato paste and let it cook for a minute. Add onion and carrot, salt and pepper. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and thyme and let cook for about 15 minutes. Add stock, stir and taste. Adjust seasoning if soup tastes flat. When soup is cool, pour into blender and puree.

I added salt and pepper upon serving. We ate this with cornbread muffins (made from Trader Joe's mix.) Of course, grilled cheese would be perfect also.

Bittman offers several variations in his cookbook, including adding cream or milk. However, I found that with the blending, this soup turns out very creamy without the addition.

And the greatest miracle of all, both kids ate it. I owe you one, Bittman.