Quinoa Pilaf with Dried Fruit

We love this recipe for a Quinoa Pilaf with Dried Fruit. A perfect side dish or have it cold as a salad…great for lunch! Easily adaptable to your personal taste which just adds to the glory of this recipe!

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Vegetarian Chilli

I posted this in January 2017. I have updated that original post
I love a thick delicious chili. Most often, we eat it with ground beef but I do really like a vegetarian chili. There are many options to make this… you can follow this recipe & have it vegan, *you can add any ground meat you want…beef, chicken…just sauté the meat with the onions & cook until the meat is completely cooked stirring often, *you can use a vegan ground round if you like
I love the flavour that a can of Campbells Tomato Soup adds to my chili. I have tried making chili without it & I really prefer adding it!
This is good served  in a bowl.. with a delicious fresh bun..these Feather Buns go with this nicely, also Corn Muffins are great with chili. I served this with some corn tortillas that I had heated up in a skillet
Here is the recipe
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 yellow pepper,  diced
3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
1 zucchini,  diced
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed *** alternately add a can of lentils instead of the black beans
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and the juice
1/2 cup of water
1 can of condensed tomato soup ** I use Campbells Condensed Tomato Soup
1 tbsp chili powder ( or as much as you like)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
Method
In a medium-sized saucepan:
  1. Sauté the onion & garlic in the 2 tbsp of olive oil until translucent of course it started to brown…which is ok!!
  2. Add the celery & continue to sauté until the celery starts to cook & becomes translucent
  3. Put the yellow pepper & zucchini in the pan, mix well. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients & mix well
  5. Bring to a boil & then reduce thereat so that the chili is simmering with a medium bubble
  6. Cover & simmer for about an hour, stirring often

Enjoy!

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Chopped Broccoli Salad

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I had some broccoli crowns in the fridge, some carrots and purple cabbage so I decided to make it all into a salad. It turned out really nicely. The key, Murray says, is to cut the broccoli up into small pieces. The dressing is slightly sweet with the addition of maple syrup. I have changed the type of vinegar in the dressing from the original recipe which I got from a friend. Served this with some salmon patties last night, but of course it will pair as a side with anything.

Here is the recipe

Chopped Broccoli Salad

serves 4 as a side dish

SALAD

 2 1/2 cups chopped broccoli, cut into small pieces

1  cup purple cabbage, sliced thinly than diced

1 carrot, finely grated

1/2 cup dried cranberries *** this is also good with currants

1/2 – 1 cup of toasted sunflower seeds *

DRESSING

 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 olive oil

1 small shallot, finely chopped

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Method

 1 .Combine the shopped broccoli, purple cabbage, grated carrot  and dried cranberries together in a medium size bowl

2. In an ungreased skillet, gently toast the sunflower seeds. shake the skillet often to make sure they toast evenly. Cool slightly then add to the broccoli mixture.

3. Mix the dressing ingredients together. I like to mix my salad dressings in a jar and shake to combine.

This dressing recipe makes more than you need for this amount of salad so use any amount to suit your taste.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Pilaf with Dried Fruits ( first posted in January 2017)

I am having company for dinner tonight.. & could not decide what to make as a  side dish with the chicken… so I decided to look through my own blog for a recipe that I might have forgotten about! & I found this! I love it..

Continue reading “Quinoa Pilaf with Dried Fruits ( first posted in January 2017)”

Miso Vegetable Bowl ( first posted Jan/17)

YUM!!!
My daughter Jacki made this bowl for me one time when I was visiting her in Toronto. She saw the original recipe in Goop..Gwyneth Paltrow’s newsletter, but has adapted the recipe to make it her own. Jacki was happy to share this recipe with you!
It is beyond delicious, healthy, & vegetarian but you can add any protein you might like, chicken breast, salmon or  asian inspired beef strips. I would make a teriyaki salmon or chicken to go with this as the flavour of the teriyaki will compliment the miso dressing.
I served it with home-made green onion cakes that you can see in the bowl!
This recipe makes 2 servings
Ingredients 
For the Salad:
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 small head of broccoli, cut into small florets
4 tbsp olive oil (divided )
2 cups of kale, removed from stalk and sliced thinly or you could use spinach if kale isn’t your thing!
2 tbsp sesame seeds
salt and pepper
Miso Dressing:
2 tbsp white miso paste
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp tahini
1 tabs oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 inch of fresh ginger minced
salt and pepper
Cooked rice, quinoa or rice noodles to serve with the vegetables and dressing.
Directions
1 Make the dressing. Mix all of the ingredients together in a jar and shake (with the lid on!!) until well combined. (I always make my salad dressings in a jam jar)
2. Preheat oven to 375.
Line a being sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil.  Put the cubed sweet potato onto the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil and toss with your hands or a large spoon to make sure that the salt and pepper and oil are well distributed among the cubes of sweet potato.
Roast for approx. 20 minutes.
3. Add the broccoli to the potato on the baking sheet and drizzle with the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil. Using a spatula , toss the broccoli and potatoes together and spread out evenly on the cookie sheet . Put back into the oven and roast for approx 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and starting to brown.
4. Remove the vegetables from the oven and put into a large bowl. Add the sliced kale to the hot vegetables and mix together, this will wilt the kale a bit, which i like.
* Option here is to toss the vegetables with the dressing or you can wait and drizzle it on top of them when serving
5. Put some cooked  rice or rice noodles in a bowl. Top with vegetables . Sprinkle sesame seeds on top!
Note: you can eat this without the rice, quinoa or noodles.

 

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