Quinoa Casserole

Today turned out to be just as great as yesterday!  We spent the day outside again and I feel totally rested (but also exhausted somehow?) and ready for the week.  We had my in-laws over for dinner and I thought we'd all really enjoy this quinoa casserole that I found on Savvy's website.  I served it with these black bean burgers (sans feta and curry paste but added parsley), and grilled asparagus and corn on the cob.

Quinoa Carrot Zucchini Casserole

1 cup quinoa

1/4 cup currant

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped celery

2 chopped carrots

2 chopped small zucchini

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp paprika

pinch cayenne

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup vegetable stock

* * * * * * * * * * * *

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

ground pepper

*Soak quinoa in water for 1 hour

 *Saute celery in olive oil until translucent, add carrots and cook 5 minutes, add zucchini and cook 1 minute.

*Add remaining ingredients (up to the asterisks and not including the stock) and stir until browned

*Pour into casserole dish, along with boiled vegetable stock and cook (covered) at 350

*Cook until stock is absorbed (about 20 minutes) and remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick

*Add parsley and ground pepper and serve!

Burger Wednesday: Fava Bean Burgers

I think I've only ever used fava beans in a mixed bean salad or in chili so when I noticed this recipe in (SURPRISE, I found it!) Veggie Burgers Every Which Way I just had to try it out.  I'm so glad I did because they were delicious.  I know I've said it many many times before but these really are my new favourite burgers.  I served them with a quinoa salad and some raw broccoli, I only wish I could have served some dessert but I'm in the middle of a sugar detoxing that just may kill me.  I only changed a few things from the original recipe so here is my version...

Fava Bean Burger

 2 chopped onions

4 cloves minced garlic

1 cup crushed walnuts

3 cups fava beans

 2 cups chickpeas

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup ground flax in 1/4 cup water

salt and pepper

3 cups toasted bread crumbs

*Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent

*In a food processor, pulse together walnuts, fava beans, and chickpeas

*Transfer to a large bowl and mix together with onion mixture and remaining ingredients

*Let sit for 10 minutes and form into 11-12 patties

*Cook in a well oiled skillet for approximately 10 minutes, flipping once

*Bake at 375 for 15 minutes

Easter Dinner

I think today there might have been too much food, even for this foodie.  It started yesterday when I made the mashed potatoes, ratatouille and started the tofurkey.  After church and swimming (our Sunday morning tradition!) I almost immediately got to work on the rest of our Easter supper.  It was a beautiful day (finally!) and I could hear the kids playing outside and feel the lovely breeze.  I spent a bit of time (while the rolls were rising) sitting with a neighbour on her porch.  It was a perfect day.  I can hardly move now though, from both sheer exhaustion and because I am pretty sure that I am literally stuffed full of food.

 

 

  So from the top, I have: the super easy cranberry sauce (sugar, water, cranberries, orange zest),steamed vegetables, apple pie (the only change I had was using slightly more apples), vegetarian gravy, Amy's super wicked mashed potatoes, quinoa rolls, tofurkey (which didn't at all hold up like the pictures BUT it did taste good!, ratatouille (I found this recipe in the Metro a few weeks ago), and stuffing (box mix that I added craisins, yellow and red onion, and celery to).

Amy's Super Wicked Mashed Potatoes

10 medium potatoes, boiled until very tender

1/4 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

salt and pepper

2 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup bread crumbs

*Mash together potatoes, butter, cream cheese, and sour cream

*Add salt and pepper to taste

*Transfer to a greased baking dish

*In a small bowl, mix together melted butter and bread crumbs, top potato mixture

*Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cooking

*Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

Ratatouille

 2 tbsp olive oil

2 sliced yellow onions

3 cloves chopped garlic

1 diced red pepper

1/2 cup fresh chopped basil

1 tbsp fresh chopped thyme

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

3-4 sliced zucchini

1 1/2 cups comte cheese (or gruyere)

*In a large skillet, saute onion, garlic and pepper for 10 minutes.

*Add basil, thyme, tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

*Spread a third of the tomato mixture over the bottom of a deep dish pie pan.

*Arrange a third of the zucchini on top, then a third of the cheese.  Repeat the layering two more times.

*Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

On why I try to always make supper in the morning.

Wednesday is my lazy day, it isn't that I don't do anything, it's just that I don't have to be anywhere.  My husband has the van that day and he does the school pick-up so if I want to, I can just stay home all day.  It's one of my favourite days of the week!  That being said, even though I don't have to be anywhere I still try and make our burgers in the morning.  You never know what is going to happen in the afternoon and today is the perfect example of that.  At about 1 my sister-in-law called and asked if I could watch two of my nephews (5 and 1) while she took her 3 year old to the doctor.  No problem!  But there was no way I could have made anything with 5 children, 5 and under, in the house.  We had a great time playing and I was so happy to not have to worry about supper. 

Today we had these vegetable burgers that my sister made for me last year.  I had just had a baby and she left me at least 25 of them in the freezer (I had asked her to make a million but she didn't listen!).  I ate them for lunch, suppers, and snacks until they were gone... I couldn't get enough!  Along with the burgers we had quinoa cooked with garlic and parsley (so quick and easy!) and some green, red, and yellow peppers.

Dana's Vegetable Burgers

5 potatoes, cooked and mashed

1 shredded zucchini

3 shredded carrots

2 shredded red pepper

1 chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1 can mixed beans, mashed

2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp curry paste

1 tsp parsley

1 cup rolled oats

*After shredding zucchini, carrots, and red pepper make sure to squeeze out excess liquid

*Mix together all ingredients and form into patties.

*Fry patties in a little olive oil for 5-6 minutes per side

*Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Sweet Potato Fries

It is spring break for the two oldest kids and we are celebrating all week with some of their favourite meals!  Their first choice was a definite grilled cheese sandwich and fries and we were running quite low on our freezer stash of bread so we spent the afternoon baking.  In my opinion quinoa whole wheat bread is one of the easiest breads to make, plus the kids love it and it freezes really well.  We had sweet potato fries and broccoli on the side but our little Monday friend still hasn't loved any of our pre-dancing meals.  There is always next week, right?

Whole Wheat and Quinoa Bread

7 cups milk

1/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups quinoa

1 1/2 cups steel cut oats

  4tbsp yeast

2 tbsp honey

6 tbsp vital wheat gluten

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup wheat bran

1/4 cup ground flax

1/4 cup oat bran

7-8 cups whole wheat flour

*Add room temperature butter, quinoa, and oats to milk in a large bowl.  Mix well and let sit for 45 minutes.

*Add remaining ingredients except flour and mix well.

*Add flour a little at a time until it is difficult to stir.

*Remove from bowl, and knead while adding flour for 8-10 minutes.

*Cover and let rise in a warm place for at least an hour.

*Liberally grease 5 loaf pans.

*Divide dough into 5 pieces and place in loaf pans.  Let rise again for at least 1 hour.

*Bake at 400 for 45-55 minutes.

*Allow to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting!

Another theme night?

Looking back on the last few weeks menus, I'm noticing a new theme day.  Burger Wednesdays!  Tonight we had a quinoa and spinach burger from the same cookbook as the mixed bean and black bean burger that I've posted about.  They don't stick together as well as the bean burgers but they are equally delicious.  I served them with homemade french fries and steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce.  They were so good that I had 3, no joke, I really did eat 3 burgers!  This recipe is not exactly as seen in the book.  I've made a few modifications that worked well for us.

Baked Quinoa Burgers

2 cups quinoa

10 oz chopped spinach

1 large minced shallot

4 cloves minced garlic

2 beaten eggs

6 tbsp flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

red pepper flakes to taste

*Rinse and cook quinoa according to package instructions

*Saute garlic, and shallots in olive oil.  Add spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes.

*In large bowl quinoa, spinach mixture and remaining ingredients

*Shape into 12 patties and baked for 25-30 minutes, flipping half way through

Curried Bean Burgers

bWe seem to be eating a lot of veggie burgers lately, just can't get enough!  I was flipping through some magazines on the weekend and saw a recipe of curried pork burgers, it sounded gross BUT I thought curried bean burgers sounded DELICIOUS.  So I spent the afternoon perfecting a recipe for the couple of cans of black beans I had in my pantry.  We had a few of the quinoa rolls left from the other day so I served the burgers on those, along with a toasted quinoa salad and some roasted caulifower.

 Curried Black Bean Burgers

2 cans of black beans

1 chopped onion

3 cloves minced garlic

1 inch grated ginger

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced

3 tbsp curry paste

2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

handful chopped cilantro

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

*Place beans in food processor and quickly pulse a few times

*Saute onion, garlic, ginger and jalepeno until softened

*Mix beans, onion mixtre and the remaining ingredients until well combined, let rest for a few minutes

*Fry in olive oil for 5 minutes per side and place on baking sheet

*Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Did you miss me?

After a full 48 hours stuck in bed with a migraine, I honestly could not wait to get back in the kitchen.  The kids (except baby) are at their grandparents for the night so I took full advantage.  Lentils are one of my favourite foods as you will soon find out, and this is one of our favourite dishes!  Lentil casserole (or lentil bake as my kids love to call it) is super easy, super filling, and really just all around delicious.  I have been asked for the recipe so many times that I have now just saved it as a document to attach to the emails.

The quinoa rolls are a newer one around here.  We had our first totally vegetarian Christmas last year (past years were spent with family with our food on the side) and I wanted to find the "perfect roll" but due to chef error they did not turn out.  I  made the rolls entirely too big and they were less than appetizing.  No chef error tonight, they were delicious!

Lentil Casserole

1 chopped onion

2 minced garlic clove

3 sliced carrots

3 sliced celery

2 cups of cooked lentils

1 batch (or 3-4 cups) of chunky pasta sauce
some shakes of red pepper flakes and/or hot sauce

lots of cheddar cheese!

*Saute onions and garlic until translucent

*Add carrots and celery add saute until soft

*Add lentils, spices and sauce to mix

*Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish and top with shredded cheese

*Bake at 400 for 30 minuts

*Broil for another 5

Quinoa Dinner Rolls

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

3 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp active dried yeast

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup honey plus 1 tbsp

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs whites (or you can skip and add more oil/cooked quinoa water instead)

2 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups bread flour

*Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp of honey (bring to a boil and simmer covered for 15 minutes)

*In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in one cup of warm water

*Add the honey, eggs, and oil. Add the 2 cups of whole wheat flour and mix well

*Add 2 teaspoons salt and 2 cups of the bread flour and mix well

*Add quinoa (minus 1/4 cup-save for later!) and 1 more cup of flour and knead dough, adding last cup of flour as needed 

*Knead dough until dough is smooth and fairly stiff

*Place dough in oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours

*Punch down and divide into (at least) 16 rolls.

 *Place seam down on baking sheet, and brush tops with margarine and reserved quinoa

*Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then lower the heat and bake for another 15-20 minutes