Bean & Quinoa Chili with Corn Souffle

I have 2 brand new, vegetarian and gluten free recipes to share today! With Jason's help chopping tonight, we were able to whip this healthy meal up in about an hour. Here's me seriously whipping:

From the June/July edition of "Living Without", I made Bean and Quinoa Chili:

Bean & Quinoa Chili
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 stalks celery, washed and sliced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2tsp chili powder
1 can Italian tomatoes, crushed
1tsp salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1cup quinoa, thoroughly tinsed
1 can navy beans
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Put onion, garlic and celery in a saucepan with the olive oil. Cook gently for 10 minutes or until vegetables soften. Stir in the chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, saly and pepper and bring to a coil. Cook sauce gently for 25 minutes or until pulpy.
2. Cook quinoa
3. Add drained beans to the tomato sauce and cook for a minute or two. Stir in parsley.
4. Divide quinoa into individual serving bowls and spoon chili on top of quinoa.

Our second dish of the night was from the same library book I've been using lately....

 Corn Souffle
1 17ounce can whole kernel corn
3/4cup (approx.) milk or non dairy liquid
1/4cup butter or margerine (I used just a teeny square)
1/3cup cornmeal
3 eggs, seperated
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
dash cayenne pepper
1 to 3 tablespoons bell pepper (I used orange)
3 to 4 sliced green onions

Preheat the oven to 375.
Drain the corn, saving the liqiod. Add the milk to the liquid to measure 1 1/2cups. In a saucepan combine the milk mixture and margerine and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the cornmeal. Bring back to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
To the egg yolks, add the baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, bell pepper, onions, and corn. Stir the corn mixture into the cooked meal. Fold in the egg whites (As I type this, I realize we reversed the egg whites and yolks in this step and it worked out just fine). Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned and set.

MY REVIEW: Both dishes were great. The corn souffle tasted more like a breakfast or brunch item than a replacement for corn bread, but still good! You may notice we used red quinoa today inside of the regular stuff.... you prepare it the same and I couldn't taste much of a difference

JASON'S REVIEW: Everything was delicious and I feel 5 years younger.

A few things this weekend

I'm a little behind in my blog writing but lets start with Saturday morning. It's a rare occasion that we have a fancy breakfast. If it's during the week, it would only be for someones birthday. Sometimes on the weekends though I'll wake up in a cooking mood. Yesterday was one of those rare mornings!

No fancy recipes here. Scrambled eggs full of veggies - zucchini, orange pepper, mushroom & onion. I made some crispy dill potatoes too. After much trial and error I've found *what I think* is the best method for making crispy hash-brown-like potatoes. After boiling them until they're tender, I put the potatoes in the oven with some olive oil and dill and cook them for another 15 minutes or so at 400. The secret is to use the convect setting on the oven though! It leaves the inside soft while crisping up the outside.

I "toasted" some gluten-free bread in the oven as well. It's just easier if both Jason and I are eating the same bread and using the same knife so I treated him to some amazing Udi white bread. 

My mom purchased this bread for me first and it's honestly better than any gluten-filled bread I've ever had. I'm hooked on the plain white bread which is usually not what I go for - but damn. It tastes like it was just baked. I've also tried the blueberry muffins which were awesome.

We also had chai tea!

JASON'S REVIEW: That was the best start to the day I've had in a long time. The potatoes tasted like sweet tuber heaven.
MY REVIEW: I agree with Jason.. except for the tuber part?

Now moving right along to Saturday evening. I had wanted to make skewers but the skewer sticks are temporarily missing. Instead, we used our little grill bowl to make veggies on the BBQ.
A little olive oil with salt and pepper is all I added to these vegetables.
JASON'S REVIEW: They were tasty. 
MY REVIEW: The fresh pineapple was my favorite. The salt & pepper do not ruin the flavor.

Last, but not least, this evening we had a fantastic meal. I found some gluten free butter chicken sauce that comes in a jar. It's a lite sauce as well and for some reason can't find it on the Sharwood website - but you can find it at Safeway.

I can no longer find the recipe that inspired this salad so don't give me FULL credit for it! Here's what's in it:

mixed greens
2 sliced pears
crumbled gorgonzola cheese
dried cranberries
walnut pieces

Dressing
rice vinegar
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
pepper

Again, no measurements. I hope nobody just skims over my vague recipes and refuses to try them because I never write measurements. Tell me if you do! Please? I'll try harder.

MY REVIEW: I am on such a moldy cheese kick! This was great. Rice vinegar worked very will on this salad too.

JASON'S REVIEW: He's doing laundry so I don't want to bother him anymore. He liked it! He probably thought it was tasty!

Asparagus Mimosa

I attempted something from "Closet Cooking" today. Not only are his recipes fabulous and creative, his pictures are always so bright and vivid! Here is Kevin's Asparagus Mimosa...

And here's mine:

What gives?? I followed the recipe EXACTLY but my eggs are not near as bright! Aside from the appearance however, this recipe was pretty good. It was nice and light and fresh tasting. Here's the recipe:

Asparagus Mimosa 

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 pound asparagus
1 lemon (juice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful parsley or chives (chopped)

Directions:
1. Cover the eggs in water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 7 minutes.
2. Transfer the eggs to cold water and let cool enough to hold.
3. Meanwhile cook the asparagus in boiling water until it just turns bright green, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Run the asparagus under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside.
5. Remove the shell from the egg and force the egg through a sieve with medium sized holes (and when this doesn't work, simply smoosh and crumble with your fingers).
6. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
7. Toss the asparagus in the dressing and plate it, topping it with the remaining dressing and the egg and garnish with the parsley.

MY REVIEW: Lovely recipe which satisfied my previously mentioned dijon mustard *as an ingredient* craving for the day.  Any ideas on how to get my egg yolks that yellow??

JASON'S REVIEW: I thought it was delicious and I don't know. It was good. Damn good.

Spinach & Turkey English Muffin with Seasoned Potatoes

I did a healthier version of the Egg McMuffin today. The potatoes look shiny which makes them look unhealthy but really they were decent! I didn't follow any recipes today... I was inspired by all the little baggies in the fridge that were about to turn rancid!

In the english muffin:

1egg
1 piece of turkey bacon cut in half
Handful of spinach leaves

For the potatoes, I cut up some fingerling potatoes and boiled them in water. While they were cooking I sauteed mushrooms and onions in a little bit of margarine. Once the potatoes were ready to rock I threw them in the frying pan and stirred them around until everything was crispy. I seasoned with fresh ground black pepper and some garlic powder.

MY REVIEW: I really liked the english muffin. I could skip the cheese every time and go for the spinach version. I guess the turkey bacon isn't really that great for you but it's better than the real thing. Potatoes were great. I was so happy when I finally realized that to make your own hashbrowns, you should probably cook the potatoes first. So many camping trips.... so many hard potato bits...

ON A SIDE NOTE, the last 2 pictures were taken using my phone. It's kind of a hassle to whip my huge camera out everyday... just incase you noticed the quality had gone down the drain! ALSO, for the record, I usually only ever take a picture of Jason's meal. My plate is never as fancy unless there's 2 plates in the picture. Plus I don't eat like a hungry man.

JASON'S REVIEW: He really liked the spinach and said it hit the spot since he was so hungry.