Coconut Curried Sweet Potato Lentil Stew with Quinoa and Kale

Whew.  That's a long name for something that was pure improvisation.  This stew was born from a case of the blues.  It's gray and rainy and cold and altogether nasty outside, precisely the weather I really hate.  I have a chest cold, and the cough is driving me crazy.  I'm chronically sleep deprived and completely exhausted.  I went and worked out, but it was a gargantuan effort, and it made me feel worse instead of better.  Everything was just crappy, and I needed comfort.  It was also lunch time, so comfort food sprang from the meager ingredients I have in my kitchen.  It's also got three super foods, but that happened completely by accident.  I was just using things I thought would be good together.  I suppose it says something at least slightly positive about my eating habits that I even had three super foods hanging out in my kitchen!

Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

I love quinoa.  It's one of those things I ate before I knew it was good for me.  Once upon a time, a long time ago, I spent a year living in the third world.  We didn't have a lot of food, and the food we did have was rice.  I grew rapidly sick of rice, and I couldn't eat it for a VERY long time after returning to the states.  Even now, 19 years later, while I can eat it again, I don't ever really want to eat it.  I love stir fries and other Asian dishes though, so I was thrilled when I discovered quinoa.  It makes a wonderful stand in for rice.  It's super easy to cook and so versatile.  It's good hot or cold, sweet or savory.

Quinoa also happens to be fantastic for you.  It's an ancient grain (though it's not technically a grain either), and it was a staple of the South American indigenous diet.  It was called the gold of the Incas.  Quinoa is high in protein.  Not only that, but it's a complete protein, which means it supplies all nine essential amino acids.  It's got a whole slew of health benefits.  I'll spare you the continued rhapsodizing about the wonders of quinoa, but if you'd like, you can read more about it HERE.

Anyway, this breakfast porridge was my first attempt at making quinoa as a main dish instead of a side dish and sweet instead of savory.  Not surprisingly, I loved it, and I've been eating it ever since.  You can, of course, change the liquids and the dried fruits to suit your own particular taste.

Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (uncooked) quinoa
• 1 cup lite apple juice
• 1 cup lite soy milk
• Splash vanilla
• Dash cinnamon
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup dried blueberries

 Topping Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (If additional sweetener is desired.  I don't sweeten mine; I think the apple juice and dried fruit provide plenty of sweetness.)
• ¼ cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 tablespoon slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

 Directions:

1. Rinse and drain quinoa well.
2. Add quinoa, apple juice, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla to medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
3. Cover and reduce heat to simmer.
4. Simmer for ten minutes.
5. Stir in cranberries and blueberries, cover.
6. Continue simmering for ten more minutes, until all water is absorbed and quinoa is firm.
7. While quinoa is simmering, toast nuts in oven at 350°, shaking every two minutes until evenly golden brown.  Time will depend on your oven and on how done you like the nuts.  I leave them in for about ten minutes.
8. Spoon portion into bowl (recipe should make approximately four servings).
9. Stir in maple syrup, if desired.
10.   Top with yogurt and then nuts.

Enjoy!

Garden Grain Burgers

This is another one of those recipes that helps use up left overs.  There's always left over rice and/or quinoa here, so creative and yummy ways to use it are always appreciated.

Garden Grain Burgers

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (or a combination of rice and quinoa, but no more quinoa than 50%, or they won't hold together properly)
• 1 cup grated carrots (zucchini works well too)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 2 cloves pressed, or finely minced, garlic
• 1/2 onion, grated
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 egg replacers (I used the flax seed method, but feel free to use your replacer of choice)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup spinach leaves, chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground thyme

Directions:

1.  Mix ingredients in mixing bowl.

2.  Measure out 1/3 cup for each patty.

3.  Form into a four to five inch patty.

4.  Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat and lightly spray with cooking spray.

5.  Add three patties to skillet.

6.  Add a tablespoon of water to skillet and cover. 

7.  Cook each side for four minutes, adding another tablespoon of water upon flipping.

8.  Let patties rest for five minutes before eating.

Makes eight burgers.  They can be made in advance and frozen.  They reheat well straight from the freezer in the microwave, oven, or on the stove top.  However, they don't grill well.

I don't have any pictures of them on the buns with condiments and stuff, because they boy made them disappear really quickly!

Enjoy!

Quinoa Salad

I love quinoa.  I can use it in everything from main dishes to side dishes to breakfast to desserts.  This means that I generally have leftovers, and I'm all about using up all of the leftovers.  We don't waste food in this house.  We operate on a budget, and I've lived in the 3rd world.  That changed pretty much everything about how I see ... well, everything.

 

Anyway, moving on.  One of my favorite things to do with left over quinoa is to turn it into a bright and healthy salad.  What you add is pretty much up to you.  This is what I did.

 

Leftover Quinoa Salad

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

 Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl
2. Mist with olive oil
3. Squeeze juice of lemon into bowl
4. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!