Soup and Cookies

Crazy combination? I think so. Don't worry, we didn't eat them together...they're just two new recipes I tried today.

Curry Carrot Soup:
1 cup chopped onion
2 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup peeled and diced potatoes
5 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp minced garlic (about 1 clove)
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp cilantro
Salt to taste

Combine onion, carrot, potato, broth, curry and garlic in saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.
Blend in quinoa flour. Remove from heat and purée.
Add back to saucepan and add coconut milk, cilantro and salt.
Reheat for 5 minutes.


Double Chocolate Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups quinoa flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix flour mixture into butter mixture and blend well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Roll into 1 inch balls.
Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly
Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
Allow to set 1 minute.

Ok, so I only did 1/2 of the quinoa flour, and replaced the rest with white flour. The dough is quite thick, but rolls into balls easily. And seriously...so yummy! Critics loved it too.

The soup was just ok. Kind of too thick and had too much curry flavor without a nice balance of the others. Anyway, we ate it, but I probably won't do it again.

Tilapia Tacos

So while I was at Costco the other day with the Sous-chef to buy diapers and other such bulk items, we decided to pick up some Salmon. Something we all enjoy and feel good about eating. Right beside the Salmon was a package of Tilapia fillets. I mentioned, "I heard tilapia is good" and he said, "Get it then." So we did. We told the kids it was 'white salmon' so they would at least try it. And tonight, it was Tilapia night. The critics had also been bugging me that it had been a while since we have had Tacos, and since I'm off the red-meat thing right now, I decided Tilapia Tacos was in order.

Tilapia:
2 Tilapia filets
1 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix together salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper; sprinkle over tilapia, both sides. Brush with oil. Grill, covered with tin foil, for 5-8 minutes, until fish flakes easily.

Pico de Gallo:
chop up onion, jalapeno and tomato. Mix together and let sit together in the fridge for a few hours. Serve on top of tacos

Spicy Ranch:
2 tbsp ranch
few shakes of hot sauce or Tabasco to your liking

Fill up your tortilla with all the fixins. Top with grated cheese. Yum!
We had it with some spicy roast potatoes.

The critics ate it up. One said: "I taste the veggies first, and then the White Salmon just slaps you in the face with yummy taste." She's a bit dramatic.

I'm glad tilapia was a hit. Because we have a lot more.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

Tonight's recipe is a taste of Mexico...in honor of the in-laws visiting our Latino neighbours.

Southwest Quinoa Salad:
2 c. water
1 c. quinoa
1/3 c. olive oil
1/3 c. lime juice (about 2 or 3 limes)
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp minced jalapeno
1 1/4 c. corn
1 c. red pepper
1 can black beans
1/3 c. cilantro
1/4 tsp salt

Bring water and quinoa to boil. Cover, reduce and simmer 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for 4 minutes. Fluff with fork and cool.
Place quinoa in large bowl.
Whisk oil, lime juice, vinegar, cumin and jalapeno in small bowl. Stir dressing into quinoa. Toss with corn, pepper, beans, cilantro and salt.

Yummy. I'm not a huge cilantro and lime fan. I prefer the heat of Mexican cooking, like jalapenos, chili powder, and hot sauce. But my sous-chef loved this, and so did my family, whom I shared the left-overs with the next day.

Morrocan Chicken and Quinoa

In an effort to eat more healthy, I read my mom's new Quinoa recipe book from cover to cover the other day. I wrote down a bunch of recipes to get started, with the plan to buy some Quinoa, test if my family will actually eat it, and then go out and buy the recipe book for myself...because everything sounded SO delicious. So our first attempt was Moroccan Chicken.

Chicken:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 turmeric
1/4 tsp coriander
2 tbsp butter or veg oil
4 chicken breasts
1 c. diced onion
1 c. water
2 tsp garlic, minced
3 tbsp orange juice
salt to taste

Quinoa:
2/3 c. quinoa
1 1/3 c. water
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c. pistachios

Combine cinnamon, ginger, turmeric & coriander in a small bowl and set aside. Melt butter in large saucepan. Brown chicken breasts on one side (5 minutes), turn and add onion, water, garlic, orange juice and salt. Toss in spices. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until chicken is cooked.
Cook quinoa according to package directions using the quinoa and water.
Toss with butter, honey and salt. Stir in cinnamon and pistachios.
Serve chicken over quinoa.

I didn't have pistachios, so I used cashews, which were good too. I'd probably use less water in the chicken to make more of a sauce. It was delicious. And even the critics loved it. Score!