Quinoa Salad & Carrot Soup

Wow, it's been a while! I can't really come up with any clever excuses... I've been cooking a lot of the same recipes lately I guess. This whole gluten free thing is here to stay it seems. I found a new magazine at the library called "Living Without" and it's a gluten free magazine believe it or not! There are lots of dairy free recipes as well, in addition to articles on celiacs, allergies and food sensitivities. Not for everyone, but I found it damn interesting. It was in that very magazine that I found the recipe for this quinoa salad. It originally was called "Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Mint" but I made it without the chickpeas and mint due to lack of ingredients. Here it is, as written:

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas & Mint
1 cup quinoa, thoroughly rinsed
4 small tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4cup kalamata olives
2 cans chickpeas or white beans, rinsed and drained (I wish I had some of these and I usually do! I will add them next time)
1/2cup fresh mint leaves (didn't have any mint leaves)
3 ounces goats feta cheese or dairy-free cheese replacement, optional (I had cow feta)

1. Cook quinoa in plently of gently boiling water for about 12 to 15 minutes or until it softens. Tip quinoa into fine sieve, make several steam holes through it with a skewer and let it drain.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half. Remove the cores and seeds. Chop flesh coarsley. Set aside.
3. Mix the oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt & pepper in a large bowl. Add the cooked quinoa, black olives and chickpeas.
4. Just before serving, add the tomatoes and mint. Crumble the feta, if using, into the salad. Toss gently and serve.

Next... carrot soup!

I did a quick internet search and this was the first carrot soup recipe that popped up. Here's where I found the original recipe and here is the recipe:

Laura's Carrot Soup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped (about 1-1/2 cups) (I only had half)
1 rib celery, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large potato, skin on, chopped
4 cups hot water
4 teaspoons instant bouillon (or 1 bouillon cube)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground dill
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 cups skim milk (I only had about 1 cup)

Sauté garlic, onion and celery in butter until tender in a Dutch oven (or a big old pot). Add remaining ingredients except milk. Bring to a boil and cook until carrots are tender, 30 – 40 minutes.

Purée in small batches in a blender or food processor (I used the immersion blender). Return mixture to the cooking pan. Add milk, heat through and serve immediately.

MY REVIEW: It feels good to try something new and share it with you guys! Both of these recipes were great. I would most definitely make the quinoa salad again but this time adding the chickpeas - I'm not sold on the mint though.  The soup was fantastic and easy to make. Give it a try.

JASON'S REVIEW: It tasted like a garlicy fairy was dancing and my tongue and it was very delicious.

Chicken & Gravy with Glazed Carrots and Mashed Potatoes

Since we both had the day off today, I decided to put a little more effort into dinner than I have been able to lately. Brought out a bottle of our red wine to accompany it too!

We took one of our huge chickens out of the freezer on Monday in preparation. When I say huge I mean.....

Jason was in charge of the chicken, as he always is. Since my 9 year stint as a strict vegetarian, I have never felt fully comfortable cooking meat.  I don't think he made any sort of rub this time - just put it in the oven au natural. He also made his delicious gravy. To go along with the chicken, I boiled some potatoes (still from our garden!) and mashed those up. I found this recipe for Balsamic Butter Glazed Baby Carrots on RecipeZaar and gave it a shot:

Balsamic Butter Glazed Carrots

Ingredients
1 (1 lb) bag baby carrot
2 cups water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2/3 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter (margerine)
2/3 teaspoon minced thyme
2/3 teaspoon tarragon (didn't have any of this)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions
1 Combine carrots and 2 cups water in the dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes or until crisp tender.
2 Drain carrots and keep warm.
3 Cook balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over medium high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.
4 Stir in brown sugar and butter until smooth.
5 Pour vinegar mixture over warm carrots, toss to coat.
6 Stir in thyme, tarragon and salt and pepper.
7 Serve immediately.

For dessert, I wanted to try out my new beautiful ramekins! Here they are before going in the oven:

I found a fairly simple recipe for Chocolate Lava Cake and tried it out:

Chocolate Lava Cake

Ingredients (4 people):
6 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate (or use your favorite 70% dark chocolate bar)
6 oz. Butter (diced, room temperature) (I actually used butter!)
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Flour
Butter for Ramekins (I just sprayed vegetable oil)

How to Make It:
Preheat oven to 350°F
1. Melt chocolate on low flame in a bain-marie (double boiler). When melted, take of flame, and… (I put it in the microwave. I'm so fancy.)
2. Stir in diced butter, until it melts.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar, until it starts to whiten.
4. Stir in melted chocolate and then the flour.
5. Butter 4 individual ramekins, and pour in chocolate batter.
6. Cook for about 10 minutes. (Closer to 20 in our fantastic oven)
7. Tip ramekins upside down onto dessert plates and serve. (Perhaps wait about 5-10 minutes before doing this)
Voilà!

I tried to capture the inside oozing out as best I could:

As you know, I'm not a chocolate fan. Once Jason was finished his, he happily moved onto mine:

MY REVIEW: Great dinner! We've been having lots of macaroni and perogies lately. The carrots had a nice flavor but they looked kind of dirty. I guess that's not a big deal if the flavors there. Potatoes were great and chicken nice and moist. If you like chocolate, you must try the lava cake. Very rich and gooey and warm.

JASONS REVIEW: Effin' fantastic. The lava cakes blew my mind.

Carrot Cookies

I got the Appeal Magazine from Save-on-Foods in the mail the other day and there were a few really good recipes in it. Here's some healthy-ish cookies I made from that book!

1cup whole wheat flour
3/4cup rolled oats
1/2cup ground flax seed
1tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp baking soda
1 egg
3/4cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2cup margarine
1tsp vanilla
1cup grated carrot (this turned out to be just 1 large carrot for me)

Combine flour, oats, flaxseed, cinnamon and baking soda in a medium bowl. In large bowl, combine egg, brown sugar margarine and vanilla. Fold into flour mixture. Stir in grated carrot. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350.

MY REVIEW: These are really good! It only made about 26 cookies so I'd double it next time. They don't taste as low-fat as they are.

JASON'S REVIEW: ****ing tasty. They tasted really good.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Kind of a backwards night tonight. We couldn't decide what to eat and I wasn't feeling very inspired by the lack of groceries in the fridge so we went out to Swiss Chalet for dinner. After we picked up a few grocery essentials and came home, THEN I started to cook. Mom is sick so I wanted to make her some soup for tomorrow. I know ginger is supposed to be good for you so I searched around and found this recipe:

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (margarine for me of course)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup peeled grated fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups vegetable or chicken stock (i used veggie broth)
1 cup dry white wine (i think i used wet white wine)
1-1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon curry powder (i decided to leave this out... so many flavors going on!)
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. In the pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, and garlic and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add the stock, wine, and carrots. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer uncovered about 45 minutes, until the carrots are very tender.

3. Puree the soup in the pot using the immersion blender or use a regular blender. If using a regular blender you may have to do it in batches.

4. Season with the lemon juice and curry powder. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and swirl in a spoonful of yogurt or cream. Top with a sprinkle of chives or parsley and serve.

MY REVIEW: I tried a little sample.. it was interesting. It had one taste at first.. then after a second it changed. I liked it though and thought you could really taste the lemon which was a good thing. Jason was half asleep and I shoved a spoonful at him... he didn't say much. He's not a fan of ginger though anyways. The real review will come after my mom tries it! The color was a success if nothing else.