Sunday, February 24, 2013

Super Easy Quinoa Salad

Quinoa was something I really wanted to try cooking with, so I grabbed a box of Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa and looked for a yummy recipe to create. Fortunately, there was one right on the box! It was super easy, turned out great, and kept for days in the fridge! Here's what I did:

Quinoa Vegetable Salad:
Ingredients:
1 box Quinoa
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1/2 sweet (red, orange, yellow) pepper
1/4 cup green onions
*Other veggies that would work well include radishes, snow peas, or zucchini.

Dressing:
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
Mix to taste
*A fun variation and a way to kick it up a notch is to add Dijon mustard to the mix.

Rinse and drain the Quinoa. I used a large tea strainer, it worked great and my salad was completely free from  crunchies. Bowl the Quinoa according to package directions. Once the Quinoa is cooked (it should be nice and fluffy), set aside.
Chop the veggies and mix into the Quinoa in a large bowl.
Prepare the dressing and pour over the mixture. Stir well. Enjoy!



From top - the dressing, the chopped veggies, combining the ingredients, and the finished product!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Delectable Dijon Pork with Apples

I tried something new the other night, and it was fantastic. Not only that, but it was relatively easy and healthy (if you use pork with the fat trimmed off). Feel free to be creative with the veggies and spices. I made it really close to the recipe for the first try, but I think you could be quite creative with this meal.
This is the link to the original recipe: Mustardy pork & apples recipe

Ingredients (that I used, the recipe linked to above is slightly different):

  • 5 pork steaks
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 eating apples, cored and cut into eight
  • 1 onion, halved and sliced
  • 4 large potatoes, sliced thinly
  • small handful sage leaves, torn, or 2 tsp dried
  • 1 cup chicken or ham stock (from a cube is fine)
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard or wholegrain mustard










Instructions:
Rub the steaks with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and herbs and spices to taste. I used Montreal steak spice and garlic. Put into heated large frying pan and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from pan, add more oil, and fry the onions, potatoes, and sage for five minutes, then add the apples and fry until apples are slightly softened (about three minutes).

Pour in the stock and spoon in the mustard, then return pork to the pan and simmer until the sauce is reduced by about 1/3 and the pork is cooked through (about ten minutes).

It's a relatively easy one dish meal. Clean up is easy and it heats up great for leftovers! I could see adding peppers or squash to the mix as well, although I did refrain from getting too creative the first time out.
For a vegetarian twist, use tofu and veggie stock. 


Best Ever French Toast

Mmmm...don't you just love French Toast? Super easy to make, smells delicious, and fills you up for hours.
I have a tried and true family recipe guaranteed to make the best ever French Toast. I had to make my breakfast this morning dairy-free, but usually you would use regular milk and butter instead of the rice milk and vegan margarine. You can also make this a vegan dish if you substitute egg replacement product for the eggs, although I have no idea how that tastes.

The recipe is as follows:

2-3 eggs (figure 2 pieces per egg for normal bread)
Splash milk (I used rice milk for a non-dairy version)
Tsp vanilla
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Tbsp butter (I used vegan margarine)






Beat all ingredients together in a pie pan to allow for easy dipping of the bread slices. Thoroughly soak bread on both sides. Heat the butter in a skillet, put bread in pan, and cook until the batter is fully cooked on the bread.

It can be served with syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream and berries, or pretty much anything you desire. I find the cinnamon gives it an extra bit of zing.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Fresh Veggie Madness Part II

The last of the "Fresh Veggie Madness" page from Sweet Detachment. Here we look at how to make your own homemade salsa. Mmmm, delicious! This was made from tomatoes and jalapenos from my own garden.



Time for homemade salsa!

The ingredients are simple and many can be grown in your own garden.
8 medium sized tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 medium jalapeno pepper (add the seeds for a spicier salsa)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tbsp of lime juice (fresh is best)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

You can chop by hand or use a food processor. Make sure everything is finely diced. To reduce the amount of liquid in your salsa the tomatoes should have the seeds removed, so you are only using the "meat".
If you would prefer a milder flavour in your salsa, you can pour boiling water over them and allow them to cool before adding them to the rest of the mixture.
Mix everything (up to the cilantro) together in a large bowl and pour lime juice over everything. Add salt and pepper to taste. It's best to put the salsa in the fridge over night to allow all the flavours to have a chance to come out.


Fresh Veggie Madness Part I

From the archives of Sweet Detachment. These zucchini recipes were from "Veggie Madness" and were made with fresh veggies grown in my garden.


Zucchini Muffins:

First I made muffins using one of the giant zucchinis I grew. One thing I learned? Grated zucchini goes far, so I could probably literally make hundreds of muffins out of my one and 1/3 zucchinis! First I had to grate those ginormous zucchinis, which really wan't as much work as you'd think.You do have to grate it on the large side, though, because if you use the small side of the grater your zucchini kind of liquefies  Then you do the usual muffin making process.

The recipe I used was fairly simple and can be found at this link on Cooks.Com.

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
 2/3 c. sugar
 1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. shredded zucchini (about 2 med.)
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. baking soda
 1/2 tsp. salt
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 8 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches or line with paper baking cups. Mix sugar, oil, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Divide batter among cups. Bake 18 to 23 minutes or until golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly. Cool 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from cups.
 *Next time I would put in less sugar and add half a cup of pineapple to increase the moisture level. Other than that, though, this recipe was easy, simple, and tasty (almost cake-like).




 Zucchini Chocolate Cake/Brownies:

I went to make Zucchini Chocolate Cake (check out the recipe!) and I ended up making brownies, haha. However, they were still delicious! Next time I think I would leave out the chocolate chips, though. (I made a few other changes to the recipe as well. I used canola oil instead of olive oil and plain ol' brown sugar instead of organic cane sugar. And one word of caution! Do not overmix. I did the second time I made these and the end result was pretty lumpy :)

**This recipe is from the blog "Chocolate and Zucchini" - http://chocolateandzucchini.com/

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake
240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
60 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
180 grams (1 scant cup) light brown sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar)
115 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, or 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or 2 tablespoons strong cooled coffee -- this is just to deepen the chocolate flavor, you won't taste it in the finished product
3 large eggs
350 grams (2 cups) unpeeled grated zucchini, from about 1 1/2 medium zucchini - 160 grams (1 cup) good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
 Confectioner's sugar (optional)
 Serves 12. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Grease a 25-cm (10-inch) round springform pan or a 22-cm (8 1/2-inch) square pan.
 In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer (or by hand in a large mixing bowl), beat the sugar and butter until fluffy.
Add the vanilla, coffee, and eggs, mixing well between each addition.
 In a large mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, chocolate chips, and about a third of the flour mixture, making sure the zucchini strands are well coated and not clumping too much.
Add the rest of the flour mixture into the egg batter. Mix until just combined; the batter will be thick. Fold the zucchini mixture into the batter, and blend with a spatula without overmixing.
Pour into the prepared cake pan, and level the surface. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the pan to loosen, and unclasp the sides of the pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or a chocolate glaze if desired.

My personal addition was to use super easy cream cheese icing to top it off.

1 package cream cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
 I use a mixer because it's waaaay easier, but you could mix it by hand too - although it might take awhile. Once the cake has cooled, spread icing on top and enjoy!!