Parsnip Quinoa with Enoki

Quinoa is a versatile material for absorbing flavor and the texture is also flexible enough to replace a risotto as a main course. This was a variation that invoked cooking chopped vegetables with the quinoa-- adding more flavor and textural elements at the very end. It went beautifully with a lemon-ume plum treated broccoli and a quick anything goes miso soup! Here's the plan:

Parsnip Enoki Quinoa

1.5 c white quinoa

4 c water 

2 small sweet parsnips chopped small

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1 poblano pepper finely chopped & set aside

1 package Enoki mushrooms (chopped & set aside)

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped or 1 tsp dry

.5 tsp white pepper or to taste (black pepper is on too but you will see it...)

.5-1 tsp sea salt

Put quinoa, parsnips, onion, garlic, salt & water in a good sized saucepan. Bring to boil uncovered and then turn way down to simmer with lid on for about 15-20 minutes.

Check on the absorption if water but don't stir. When water is all absorbed add the chopped poblano, white pepper, chopped enoki and stir in until the green flecks of pepper for the whole thing. Cover and let sit while you get everything else organized, and serve!

Lemon-Ume Plum Broccoli

Large bunch broccoli 

Half a lemon

Tsp ume plum vinegar

2 tsp Braggs liquid amino

5 cloves minced garlic 

2 tsp mirin

Steam the broccoli in medium sized branch pieces until just tender.

Put the lemon juice and garlic together and microwave 1-2 minutes or sauté just long enough to heat and soften the garlic.

Add all the other seasonings/sauces to lemon garlic and mix in with broccoli in a large bowl. 

Add seasoned tofu or mushrooms! 

Spicy Tempeh Quinoa & Apple Potato Salad

It is no longer as common as it once was that my little family gang has dinner together. It was our tradition the entire time the boys were in school, living with us, that we tried to settle at the table once a day for what has now become officially "Family Dinner." It was an important time to look each other in the eye, hear the tones of voice, check in with the states of mind and relationship. With the prospect of having a long day myself, my husband's first day back at school meetings, and my now 20-something sons assembling for dinner, I knew I had to figure things out before heading over to teach my evening class. This combination of garlicky quinoa with pieces of spicy tempeh really hit the mark for a main dish and was easy to put together ahead of time. I also made an apple-onion-potato salad in advance and put sliced fresh cukes in the fridge to absorb a tarragon-vinegar treatment. Dinner was completed by quickly chopping and assembling a room temperature tomato-peach-avocado-basil-balsamic vinegar salad and providing brilliant green on the table by quickly steaming garden fresh haricot verts and squeezing on fresh lemon juice with a splash ume plum vinegar.   Not surprisingly, there were no leftovers, though the spicy tempeh quinoa and the potato salad would have made a lovely lunch the next day.

Spicy Tempeh Quinoa

2 cups red quinoa
5-6 large garlic cloves
5-6 mushrooms (cremini, white, whatever)
1 slab of tempeh (I used flax tempeh but any will do)
1 cup frozen petite peas
3-4 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
1-2 tsp Sriracha chili sauce

1. Cut the tempeh into 2 long halves, then into small rectangles. Put these in a shallow wide soup bowl and drizzle with 2 tsp Bragg's and the Sriracha.  Put in the fridge and let sit for at least an hour.
2. Meanwhile, dry roast the quinoa for about 5-10 minutes in a large flat pan, shifting the grains now and then to avoid any uneven heating. Add about 2 cups of water and chopped garlic. Cut the mushrooms into quarters and throw them into the quinoa as well. Cover the pan and let the quinoa cook for about 10-15 minutes, adding at least 1 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino to the quinoa.
3. As the quinoa is cooked, fluff it up, throw in the peas and add the spicy Tempeh. Stir this gently and serve!

Apple-Onion-Potato Salad

4-5 small potatoes (white and red)
half a Vidalia onion, or 1 medium sweet onion
1 large Honeycrisp apple (or whatever you like)
1/3 cup Tahini
1 Tblsp Tamari
3 Tblsp water
1 tsp agave syrup
1tsp finely grated carrot
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
1-2 tsp stone ground mustard
1-2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

Cut the small potatoes into bite-sized pieces -- about 4-6 per potato -- and boil for about 10-15 minutes until just softening.  Pour out into a colander. Chop up about half a Vidalia or sweet onion into little pieces though not minced.  Peel, core and chop one large Honeycrisp apple into small pieces.  In a cup or bowl, pour 1/3 cup tahini, add 1 Tablespoon tamari, 3 Tablespoons water, 1 tsp agave syrup, 1 tsp finely grated carrot, 1/4 tsp grated ginger, 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard and 1-2 tsp stone ground mustard. You can also add 1-2 tsp cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well and pour over the chopped vegetables and apple and mix gently. Chill and serve!

Multigrain Millet Veggie Loaf

Every July my husband is invited to go pick chanterelle mushrooms in the woods in preparation for our friend's annual party and the classic cream-of-chanterelle soup he likes to make for that occasion. Usually we can tell by the weather that the call will come soon, but sometimes it is just that the date of the party is approaching and mushrooms must be found.  This year there was a lot of rain, and the mushrooms were plentiful, but some were too soggy and many if not most had already been inhabited by other little organisms that love them too.  Coincidentally, errands had taken us into Woodstock, NY where we had chanced upon The Garden Cafe and a lovely polenta-like "millet veggie loaf." When I saw the small quantity of beautiful mushrooms that would not keep well, I thought they would add a golden color to a millet loaf. Then I discovered I only had about a half cup of millet. For one more day I kept the mushrooms in the fridge and sought out millet from the nearby town grocery stores and even a large grocery in Cobbleskill. No go. So multi-grain the loaf became. It was delicious!! One of our new favorites.

Multi-grain Millet Quinoa Veggie Loaf  
(6 reasonable, 4 huge servings)

GRAINS
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup red quinoa (pretty, but pale would do too)
1/3 cup red lentils
1/4 cup corn meal
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp tumeric
approximately 4 cups water

1) Cook this slowly in a pot for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile...

2) Chop & then saute about 15 minutes in a large non-stick saute pan until softening:

VEGGIES

1 medium carrot
1 cup vidalia or other sweet onion
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup fresh corn (cooked & cut from cob)
1/2 a red pepper
2 tsp Bragg's Liquid Amino
1-2 tsp fresh dried thyme or fresh thyme or something else you like

THEN ADD: 1 cup of chanterelles (I know, I know, use what you have -- regular button mushrooms would be lovely too, or chopped shiitakes...)
And saute another 5 minutes.

COMBINE the grains into the saute pan and mix well until the whole thing is one textured beautiful melange. Let cool about 5 minutes and then EITHER mold into a loaf shape in the same pan if it can go in the oven, OR dump this onto parchment paper on a baking sheet or wide baking pan, and gently push in from all sides until this is about 1.5 inches deep (or thick)... loaf- like! You can store it in this format until about 20 minutes before you need to serve it.

FINALLY: Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Let stand a couple minutes and then cut and serve with any sauce you like -- marinara, or plum/mushroom sauce or spicy onions and peppers  or grilled tempeh ... oh my, it's good with so many other flavors!

By accident we had some leftover poblano-tomatillo-plum sauce and I added chopped portobellos and chopped red onion to that.

ADDENDUM: It just happened that I created a quick successful little sauce the last time I made this. It added moisture and a nice touch - tahini (1/4 c) plus tamari (1.5 TBLSP) plus a little honey (1+tsp) and water (to the consistency you want) ... yum.

Millet Quinoa Veggie Loaf Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (305g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 206 10% Total Fat 2g 4% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 198mg 8% Total Carbohydrate 39g 13% Dietary Fiber 6g 23% Sugars 4g 0% Protein 8g 17% Vitamin A 7% • Vitamin C 36% Calcium 3% • Iron 15% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Quick Vegan Dinner: Roots, Grains, Asparagus

This was a meal prepared in advance for a cool supper on a hot day. I steamed the root veggies ahead of time and cooked the quinoa til nearly done, leaving it in the pan with the lid on for the afternoon! The key to this combination was that each dish had a distinct texture, flavor and sauce. I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos in cooking the quinoa with garlic, splashed just a bit of Ume Plum Vinegar on the asparagus, and made a quick peanut sauce for the roots. It was fast, fun, filling, easy and tasty.

ROOT VEGGIES for 2-3 people

a handful of baby carrots, you could use chopped regular ones
two parsnips cut in diagonal slabs
3 golden beets cooked in quarters
a good sized "japanese" sweet potato - or white yam in chunks

Peanut Sauce:
1/4 cup natural peanut butter (ground peanuts with salt or without salt -- not sweetened)
2 Tablespoons Tamari
3 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons black vinegar or red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
(if you like sweet, you can add tsp mirin)

QUINOA - Red & White!
1 cup EACH red & white quinoa
4 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 medium onion chopped fine
3.5 cups water
3 teaspoons-1 tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Amino (this is salty)

ASPARAGUS with GRAPE TOMATOES

a good handful of fresh asparagus, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
about 12-15 grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise
1-2 tsp Ume Plum Vinegar (splash on before taking out of pan)

1) Scrub, peel, cut and organize your vegetables. Steam the roots in a pot with a steamer insert and you can use the cooking water to make the quinoa (a nice subtle flavor sharing). The key is to get the chunks about the same relative to the soft or hardness of the root -- so that a hard root that would need longer cooking needs to be a smaller chunk relative to a soft root that cooks faster ... parsnips and carrots cook fast relative to beets and sweet potatoes. You can add other roots!
2) Cook the quinoa with the garlic and onion and the Bragg's until it's nearly done, then turn off and leave covered til you need it. I used it at room temperature.
3) Last thing is to cook the asparagus in a little water, covered. Cut up the tomatoes while the asparagus cooks. Stir it a couple times to be sure it cooks evenly. Add the vinegar (or squirt lemon on it if you don't like vinegar) while still in the pan. Add the tomatoes while the asparagus is still warm, stirring into the cooking juices with vinegar.

Serve and eat!

Planning Meals: Beautiful & Bountiful Dinners with Grains & Veggies

I haven't been blogging our food lately, but there have been many delicious meals made with whatever looked good at the co-op and what I had time to fix between teaching and other commitments. The beauty of the plate is one thing that I continue to enjoy immensely about our meals.  The colors and textures definitely influence my meal planning. I think of the plate, the textures, the flavors. Any of these elements can run the show when it comes to planning a meal based on what I have in the house, or what I am buying in order to have in the house.  Weather can influence me too -- is it a "comfort food" day or a cool temperature meal we need to heal the day's energies and seal in the benefits of nurturing ourselves?

So I thought I'd put up a few photos of how things come together, even though I haven't blogged the recipes for these meals. Most of them are very simple sequences of cutting, cooking and putting together... and I'll try to give enough information so that you could give it a go... or let me know that you really want directions and I'll blog 'em out.

As an experimental, temperamental, spontaneous and intuitive cook, I find it amusing that I am now trying to routinize anything about my kitchen activities and write things down, document what works, and imagine that anyone is following along.  The idea of the eat2thrive blog is truly to inspire you to go ahead and explore this marvelous feast of possibilities. If these meal ideas spark something -- light it and go with it! I'd love to know if your results thrilled you and would be happy to put them up on the blog for others if they are replicable.

A blend of vegetables, joined with a flavorful sauce or spice, and served on a plain grain can be a marvelous anchor for a meal. These medleys of flavors can be combinations. Here I combined in a water saute with bits of ginger and garlic:  carrots, onions, olives, Cremini mushrooms, and fennel on plain millet. The  sides are fresh spinach cooked with small bites of tofu and garlic, and a salad of enoki, Asian watermelon radishes, arugula and grape tomatoes treated with a splash of Mirin.









This blend is slivered lacinato (dinosaur) kale sauteed with bits of onion, and then mixed together with the white quinoa that I cooked separately in the gingery water I used to steam the carrots, sweet potatoes, and parsnips that make up the side dish finalized with roasted sunflower seeds and a tablespoon of dried currants. The salad is a simple chopped endive, radicchio, cucumber and quartered red grapes with a splash of pomegranate balsamic vinegar.  The sriracha hot sauce turned the quinoa into a wonderful complement to the sweet of the root veggies and slightly bittersweet crunch of salad.

Here is a stir-fry model (in water of course, not oil), with sugar snap peas, shiitakes and pea shoots thrown in at the end. The binder is tamari with a splash of ume plum vinegar plus water. Plain long-grain brown basmati rice was the base under it, and then the fun started with the sliced steamed zucchini cooked with fresh cilantro, a little salt and lemon! This added a flavor bite to the salty familiarity of the stir fry.

 Here the rice is the border keeper to separate the veggie medley of sauteed snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and garlic with a light peanut sauce, and the pressed, soaked, and then broiled tofu slabs ... soaked in ginger/tamari/tomatillo/sesame seed. I'm still working on how to get that crispness without oil... and this was a pretty good outcome, broiled on tin foil, and reserving a little of the sauce to continue putting a little moisture on as the tofu began crisping.

Here the rice is transformed into Asian rice noodles, soaked in boiling hot water, and then rinsed. The black eyed peas were cooked with garlic, salt, pepper and lemon, and snuggled up to steamed fresh spinach with a dash of seaweed gomasio. I wanted a distinctly different texture/shape and went for the fresh green beans, steamed plain and served with a squeeze of lemon.  Using the noodles changes the nature of the meal and makes today's dinner vastly different from the rice-based meal of yesterday or tomorrow.

Another way to totally change the rice experience is to play with special heirloom rice grains now available in so many places. This black rice is packed with nutrition, stays a beautiful deep color and has a nutty marvelous flavor. So all I did was add bits of chopped mushroom and garlic to the rice as it cooked, served it with plain steamed broccoli, a leafy salad with scallions, pea shoots and sliced strawberries treated with tarragon vinegar, and then I experimented with the side dish.  This one was a delicious surprise of black grapes, jicama, fresh tomatillo chopped up like tomatoes, bits of scallion and a splash of mirin.





Pasta! I use brown rice pasta to avoid gluten, and because it can be served either soft or al dente.  This variation was served at room temperature on the first hot day... partly because I had no time to cook dinner at dinner time, and made this in its parts before heading out to teach an evening yoga class. Steamed Brussels sprouts were rinsed in cool water and quartered, then mixed together with quartered grape tomatoes, sliced parsnip, bits of green and black olives, and two beautiful fresh scallions chopped. The glue was a red miso sauce -- a heaping tablespoon of red miso mixed with about 1 cup of hot water, a splash of balsamic vinegar and stirred well. I poured this over the whole thing, cooked noodles and all, and let it sit out until I got home later. Simple salad - radicchio, chopped romaine, last of the endive and a little pomegranate balsamic, salt and garlic.



Another quick meal using brown rice pasta and a side salad! This one was garlic sauteed chard with bits of sun dried tomatoes, stirred into the brown rice spirals, and then a quick steam of fresh asparagus spears to cut and toss on top. Beautiful and tasty! Boston lettuce with cucumber, red pepper, bits of chopped celery and tarragon vinegar with garlic to dress it up.

None of these meals were planned ahead more than the day-of. The most important aspect of all these meals was having beautiful fresh ingredients on hand, and a stock of grains/pasta to put in place to round things out.

Desserts are usually sharing a cut up apple, perhaps a perfect pear, a naval orange ... or when the mood strikes, a little container of soy yogurt with granola and fresh strawberries!

Give it a try -- play around with these ideas ... and let me know if you find something marvelous to share or want a more detailed instruction about how to make any of these.  One thing is for sure you will be eating well!

Butternut Squash, Quinoa, Kale Stew

 A friend of ours is coming home from the hospital and I started thinking about feeding that family while they are regrouping. Looking around my kitchen, I saw the butternut squash that I had bought but had not yet used. It's time had come.  But what to do with it that would offer solid protein, many micronutrients and other nutrition to help them get through the night. The weather prediction is for a snow storm and I wouldn't mind a little heat in the kitchen.  A stew could offer complexity of flavors but simplicity in its preparation. This is what happened!

Butternut Squash, Quinoa, Kale Stew

1 medium large Butternut Squash straight part cut into chunks (about 3 cups worth)
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1 cup quinoa
6-10 cloves of garlic, smashed and rough chopped
10 medium mushrooms cut in quarters
10-12 lacinato kale leaves - stripped from stems and torn
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed and rough chopped (peelings are okay)
1 large parsnip, peeled quartered and chopped thickly
1 can black beans

 1. Wash, peel, chop everything into the size pieces you like best. Strip the kale leaves off the stem, tearing it into strips or pieces - use lacinato if you can find it.
2. Start with a little water, 1-1/2 cup, in the bottom of a good casserole pot - cast iron enamelware is great for this. Begin on top of the stove with onions, garlic and celery in the water until they begin to soften.

3.  Add the quinoa  and stir it in for a minute, then add salt, pepper,  squash, potato, mushrooms, parsnips and all the other vegetables with the rest of the water, at least 2.5 cups, tucking the kale leaves down into the mix so it gets into the water. Save out the parsley and black beans to add in a few minutes before serving. If you can stay stay on the stove top, covered, simmering, then you want to stir occasionally. This cooks to nearly ready in 20 minutes. You can turn this off before minutes and let it sit for hours, adding the parsley and black beans and heating for 10 minutes before serving. You can also begin on top of the stove and put it covered in a 350 oven for the 20 minutes, checking it at least once. You will  also want to gauge when the root vegetables are softening, but not losing their shape, and then stir in the parsley and black beans for the last few minutes. Oven could take a little longer.

This keeps well and freezes well. Add any spices or herbs to the onion/celery/garlic stage that you like. Please understand that this can be made with a few red pepper flakes, or a dash of cayenne or curry and be an entirely different story!  For that matter, you can add carrots, pieces of coconut and figs, or tomatoes and green peppers to create many variations. The quinoa could be replaced with farro,  or you can make it without grain in it and serve it like a sauce over any whole grain or a whole grain pasta!
Serves 6-8 as a main dish, but can easily be extended by adding pasta, side dishes like broiled tofu, any salad, or even a light soup.

Butternut Quinoa Kale Stew

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving (475g) figuring on 6 main servings

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	276	14%
Total Fat	2g	3%
Saturated Fat	0g	2%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	274mg	11%
Total Carbohydrate	55g	18%
Dietary Fiber	11g	45%
Sugars	4g	0%
Protein	12g	24%

Vitamin A	29%	•	Vitamin C	86%
Calcium	12%	•	Iron	23%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using data supplied by me.