Crunchy Asian Cashew Quinoa Salad

GThis is just so good. We do it as a main dish, but you could easily make it a side. It is so good chilled as leftovers for lunch the next day. The quinoa picks up the flavor from the sauce so well, and the crunchy bites from the cashews and cabbage give it a great texture. If you are wanting a good way to try quinoa this is a great example of how versatile it can be. I stumbled upon it when I was searching for new ways to eat quinoa on Pinterest., and just adapted it slightly. We certainly don't try to eat vegetarian but often do during the week because of the ease, and in this dish, you don't miss meat.

 

Crunchy Asian Cashew Quinoa Salad

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
• ½ red onion, very finely diced
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ cup chopped green onions
• ½ cup cashew halves (broken up into pieces)  
• 8 oz frozen shelled edamame, cooked

 

For the dressing:

• ¼ cup all natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

 

1. Cook quinoa by bringing quinoa and 1 3/4 cup water to boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook until all the water is gone, about 15 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork, remove from heat.
2. Use a microwave safe bowl to make the dressing. First combine peanut butter and honey; heat in microwave for 20 seconds to make it easier to stir. Add in ginger, soy sauce, both vinegars, lime juice, and both sesame and olive oil. Stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. You can adjust to your tastes here.
3. In a big bowl, toss the quinoa with about half the dressing.
4. Then add in the pepper, both onions, edamame, cabbage, carrots, and cilantro into the quinoa.
5. Add in more dressing and toss well.
6. Top with cashews before serving.

***Makes 4 servings
***This is 2 on Bryce's dish scale. Pot for quinoa, big bowl, small bowl, cutting board.

 

Greek 9 Layer Dip

I am always looking for new dips or things to bring to a party and I kept seeing recipes for Greek layer dips pop up on Pinterest. I combined about 5 different recipes and I came up with this.  I used a typical pie dish to create it so my portions are for that. A lot of recipes called for roasted red peppers to be included, but they cause major heartburn issues in my family so we skip them. Technically this has 9 layers if you count the parsley.- so that's why I call it a 9 layer dip. This is a great healthy spin on the typical 7 layer dip.

Greek 9 Layer Dip

• 1 3/4 cup Greek plain yogurt (I use non fat)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup and 1/4 hummus ( I used garlic flavored)
• 1 chopped cucumber
• 1 large fresh tomato, diced
•  2/3 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 12 oz jar or can of artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

 

 

1. In a bowl, Mix the yogurt, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper, garlic salt, basil, and garlic.
2. In a pie pan start your layers. Layer yogurt mix spreading with a spatula. Next spread the hummus over that. Then top with cucumber, tomato, artichoke hearts, feta, olives, parsley and scallions.

Chopped Thai Salad with Kale and Edamame

 I was looking for some new salads to try on Pinterest the other day and this one was exactly the change of pace I was hoping to find. I loved the idea of shredding kale to take away some of the toughness. Plus the large amount of cilantro sounded awesome. I did make a few changes because we turned this into a main dish.  I also took a few shortcuts to make it a faster meal. Because I hate getting out major appliances for quick weeknight meals I once again use my awesome Magic Bullet Blender for the dressing.

 

 

 

Chopped Thai Salad with Kale and Edamame

 

 

 

• 6 cups baby kale (getting the baby kale is important, its more tender)
• 8 oz frozen shelled edamame (cooked according to package instructions)
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots (I again buy them preshredded in the package)
• 6 mini sweet bell peppers (I prefer these because they are easier to slice into thin strips, if you can't find them an orange and yellow bell will do)
• 3/4 cup cilantro
• 3/4 cup of cashews (I buy the Kroger brand of Curry Cashews)
• 3 green onions

 

DRESSING:

 

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass paste
• juice of one fresh lime

1. Firsh step is shredding/chopping all your veggies. Cut the kale into thin strips so it almost appears shredded. Do the same with the peppers. Cut into thin strips. Chop the cilantro. And slice the green onions very thin.
2. Toss the kale, carrots, peppers, cilantro, edamame and green onions in a big bowl.
3. Combine all your dressing ingredients in the blender and pulse until you have a smooth dressing.
4. Toss the veggies with the dressing until it's coated.
5. Break the cashews up a little either with your hand or a knife so they aren't all whole. Top the salad with cashews and serve!

****Makes 2 salad servings
****It's a 2 on B's dish scale. Not too shabby. Big bowl, cutting board/knife and the magic bullet.



Quinoa Veggie Fried Rice

I spent a lot of time trying to find the right way to do quinoa fried rice. I love fried rice, but wanted to find a way to make it healthier. I looked at a million recipes online and used a few tricks and ideas from all of them. You will probably find you want to tweak this one too. I think the key to it is the combo of flavors that come out of the sauce. You might want to adjust the Siracha if you don't like spicy.  The first few times I tried this I found when cooking the veggies it got watery. So the key is when cooking the veggies to make sure all the water cooks out before adding everything else.

Quinoa Fried Rice

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1 3/4 cup water to cook quinoa
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• olive oil cooking spray
• one teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• one head fresh broccoli cut into florets
• 8 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup grated carrots (I shortcut and buy them pre shredded)
• one orange or yellow bell pepper chopped
• 4 green onions sliced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• one tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons Siracha divided, plus more for serving
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce ( I use reduced sodium)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup frozen shelled Edamame
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• garlic salt and pepper (about a teaspoon each)

1. Cook quinoa using the standard method. Combine water and quinoa in a pan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to simmer and let cook until water is gone. about 15 minutes.
2. While that cooks, spray a pan with olive oil cooking spray. Over medium heat toss in your egg and fry until cooked. Cut into bite size pieces with your spatula and set aside.
3. I use a wok to cook the main part of this dish, but any large non stick will do. Heat olive oil and sesame oil. Toss in green onions and garlic. Cook until just soft.
4. Add in peppers. Cook for another couple minutes. Add your broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms. Season all with garlic salt and pepper. Let that mixture cook down until veggies are cooked.
5. While that cooks (reminder your goal here is to cook out the water the veggies release) in a small bowl combine soy sauce, Siracha and ginger. This will be your sauce for later.
6. Add in your quinoa to the veggies when it's cooked and the water has cooked out of the veggies. Then toss in the corn and edamame. Mix everything together well, then coat with your Siracha -soy sauce mix.
7. Cook until everything is heated through and crisps up, gently tossing every few minutes. Add in the egg at the last minute.
8. Serve with another drizzle of siracha on top.

**This is a 4 on Bryce's Dish scale. 3 pots. And I use a lot of bowls as I chop up my veggies.
**This makes about 6 servings depending on how many veggies you add in.