Toasted Quinoa with Spinach, Blistered Tomatoes, and Walnuts

One of my new favorite things to do to remember vacations, other than take pictures and video, is buying cookbooks.  I try to find older cookbooks written by locals that may have more authentic recipes.  In New Orleans I was on the lookout but most of the cookbooks were from current chefs (yes, we went to Emeril's restaurant NOLA) or were written for tourists.  We were walking in New Orleans when we came upon a sign for a National Park.  I've been to many National Parks but all of them have been in wide open spaces, not in the middle of the city.  We went into the Jean Laffite National Historical Park, which was a small  courtyard and museum.  In the museum I found Talk About Good a cookbook from 1967 written by the Junior League of Lafayette Louisiana.  It is real cajun cooking from the 60s.  I don't know if I will make any of the savory recipes.  I am not a fan of cream, a lot of oil, grease or butter, or cheese and most of the recipes have these.  However, I think I could try to convert the sweet recipes to gluten free so I could use it.  Reading it is just as much fun as cooking for it, so it was a good buy!

One grain that the book definitely does not have in it is quinoa.  In my home, I use wild rice and/or quinoa as much as my go to basmati, jasmine, or long grain rice.   However, I have never toasted it before.  It adds an additional flavor profile.  Yes, this dish also includes blistered tomatoes.  It may seem like blistered tomato overload, but I made this dish around a month ago and it was the inspiration for my previous dish.

Toasted Quinoa with Spinach, Blistered Tomatoes, and Walnuts

Adapted from Fresh, Fast, and Vegetarian 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups quinoa

3 Cups of vegetable broth

2 Tbs olive oil

3 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp coarse salt

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes

1 bag of baby spinach

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup torn basil leaves

Rinse quinoa for 1 minutes in a fine mesh strainer and shake, removing as much water as possible.  Put 1 Tbs of oil into large skillet.  Add the quinoa and stir over medium heat until light brown.  This takes around 10 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Then add 3 cups of vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Cook, covered, over medium low heat until the water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked, approximately 20 min.  

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in small skillet over medium high heat.  Add whole tomatoes and agitate them by shaking skillet back and forth for around 5 minutes.  You will se the tomatoes begin to blister and pick up some color.  Put to the side

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lay walnut pieces on baking sheet and roast for 5 - 10 minutes until they start to brown.  Put to the side.  

Put spinach in the quinoa and cook over medium heat until wilted, around 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes, walnuts, cheese, basil and fluff to combine.  

Blistered Tomatoes with Creamy Polenta

I am reeling from the death of one of my cats.  He got sick over the weekend while I was in New Orleans.   My brother in law took him to the animal hospital, who said it was just his hyperthyroidism, and gave him two shots.  He seemed just fine when we got back home.  He gave us two happy days and then Wed was in so much pain that we had to put him down.  Crookers was a extremely smart cat and was like a puppy in a cat's body.  He was an alley cat when we had gotten him and was called Crookie (or Crookers) because he had a crooked neck from a previous incident.  They estimated that he was 3 years old when we got him but with the symptoms that he had 7 years later we think that he was older when we got him.  I had gone through putting a cat down before, 2 years ago, but this one was very sudden and unexpected.  I miss him a lot and the house is so quiet now.   Little kitty has spent the last two days sleeping all day in my bed and Epona keeps looking for him and hiding under the table.

Crookers the night before he passed.  

I will write more about my New Orleans Trip some other time, but I am glad to be back home where I can be a gluten free vegetarian.  Both seemed almost impossible (vegetarian more than GF) in New Orleans.  My first meal home, especially dealing with the death of Crookers, was easy and comforting.

Blistered Tomatoes with Creamy Polenta

Ingredients
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic minced
5 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup fine ground cornmeal
2 Tbs olive oil
Handful of torn Italian basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the vegetable broth in a pot.  Sprinkle in the cornmeal, whisk constantly.  Lower heat to medium and continue to stir every few minutes until thickened.  This can take 20 - 40 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

While polenta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large pan on high.  Add garlic and stir for 30 minutes.  Add whole tomatoes and agitate them by shaking skillet back an forth for around 5 minutes.  You will see the tomatoes begin to blister and pick up some color.  Turn off heat, mix in torn basil and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on top of polenta and add parmesan cheese.

GF Pasta Puttanesca

It has been a long week since I have been super sick. It started off as a head cold, which I got after taking my cat to the vet.  I knew something was off with my cat Crookers but it turns out that he has some weird eye condition that the vet has no clue about and hyperthyroidism.  It was such a stressful experience that my sinuses filled up right when we went out the door.  Then I worked all week and the cold went to my chest.   Luckily I got antibiotics on Friday, so I should be healthy soon.  Hopefully, because we will be going to New Orleans!

One of my favorite summer dishes, which can be made any time with canned goods, is Pasta Puttanesca.  I have fond memories of being a child and having my dad serve this dish out of a big bowl that looks like a watermelon in the summer.  I picked out all of the olives (and still pick out some every now and then) but always loved it warm or cold.  Back then the noodles were not GF but using GF noodles still works out well in this dish.  

Pasta Puttanesca

Ingredients

1 lb of pasta (can be GF)

3 Tbs of olive oil

6 cloves of garlic chopped

28 oz can of whole plum tomatoes chopped (or you can buy them chopped ahead of time)

1 cup of pitted chopped black olives

8 Tbs of capers

Chopped parsley to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to directions.  Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium.  Add garlic and cook gently until they are almost melted.  Stir in tomatoes with juice, olives and capers.  Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.  Then mix sauce, pasta, and parsley and serve.  

Vegan Tamale Pie

This is the first year that I have hated winter. Previously I always liked the first two months of cold, November and December--the smell of turning on the heat for the first time, the first snow, the holidays. This year, I was tired of it from the first day of freezing weather that killed the last of my plants who were holding out. No going outside, no botanical gardens, no green... I am over it already. I need it to be March so I can look forward to my daffodils, crocuses, and irises coming out.

Here is a colorful and filling dish to make your winter a little more tolerable. I ran out of cumin and used some of the Jamaican Jerk seasoning that we brought back from our honeymoon instead. I'm not a big fan of cumin so I think Ill use jerk seasoning again when I make this next time but I'll let you know how much cumin to use if you want the traditional taste. I made this for my parent's christmas and it was a big hit as a side dish but could also be a filling main dish. My non vegan family members added sharp cheddar cheese as a topping.

Vegan Tamale Pie

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 bell peppers, seeded and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 15 oz can of pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 15 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups of frozen corn, thawed

4 tablespoons of jerk seasoning (or 2 tablespoons of chili powder, 1 tsp of ground cumin and 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper)

2 tsp of crushed red pepper

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 cup of coarse cornmeal

3 1/2 cups of water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Saute the onion, bell peppers, and garlic until soft. Stir in 1/2 cup of water tomatoes, beans, corn, jerk seasoning and salt to taste. Cover pot and cook for 15 minutes until the vegetables soften. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.

In a saucepan bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the cornmeal and 1/2 tsp of salt and whisk to combine. Return to a boil over medium heat then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until thickened. Add black pepper and more salt to taste and take off of heat.

Spread the cornmeal mixture over the bean mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Sofrito Garbanzo Beans With Sweet Corn Cakes

So my quest to clean out my cabinets and freezer begins. It is hard to have extra ingredients around when you have a small kitchen, well at least in my mind a small kitchen. I have only a small amount of counter space and each of my cabinets are filled till they burst. I spent 4 hours on Veteran's Day rearranging my cabinets, putting food out to donate, and rearranging my counters. I got a little more space and since I like the layout now, I work harder to keep it clean. Today I got a lemon cyprus tree for our two-top table. Lets see if it lasts with Little Kitty rolling around on the top of the table! I just wanted a little holiday cheer and a big tree is not an option (no room in condo and cats would destroy it in seconds.)

So I went through my cabinets and saw my masa (from the tamales that I never made last year), corn meal, and the 2 bags of frozen corn in my freezer. I remembered the sweet corn cakes recipe that I had seen awhile back on Photograzing, so I made them. However, on their own they were pretty bland. Then I saw a can of Sofrito cooking base, a small can of salsa, and garbanzo beans. I made the Sofrito garbanzo beans that I love, put them on top of the corn cakes, and was addicted. Next time I have people over I am making these as an appetizer.

Sweet Corn Cake

Adapted from the Knead for Speed

Ingredients

2 15 oz bags of frozen corn (cooked)

1 cup of masa harina

6 Tbs of cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

7 Tbs butter melted

3/4 cup of honey

6 Tbs of water

4 Tbs of skim milk

Turn oven to 350. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Place the cooked corn in a food processor and pulse until it is about 1/2 pureed (you still want whole kernels to stick out in the mix). In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix butter, honey, corn, water and milk. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Pour into pan, cover with foil, and bake 35 - 45 minutes. The resulting cake will be moist and firm.

Sofrito Garbanzo Beans

Ingredients

1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans

3 tablespoons of sofrito

3 tablespoons of salsa mexicana

1 packet of sazon seasoning

Combine ingredients into a saucepan. Stir and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes uncovered. Cut corn cakes into squares, top with Sofrito Garbanzo Beans

Spicy Quinoa Salad

I hate gastroparesis. If you have it, you know why. I have a relatively mild case, my stomach is completely paralyzed but somehow I do not have the severe symptoms and can eat whole foods. I am grateful for that. But every few months I get a flareup that is debilitating. Monday I had so much pain that I could barely stand up and have had to take the last two days off of work (which for me, a type A personality, brings a whole lot of guilt and stress). One of the worse things is I also cannot eat anything I like. Last May it wasn't too bad because I didn't feel like cooking, but right now I feel like cooking new things and instead can only make plain rice, eggs, and pasta. Maybe I can use a little soy sauce but that is it. I do have a lot of recipes that I haven't posted yet, so I am going to have to go through them and wish I could eat something with flavor.

I saw this recipe as a post on Seriouseats. I was in the middle of reading Barbara Kingsolver's local food book and The Omnivore's Dilemma so I felt a bit guilty buying tomatoes and cucumbers at the beginning of October from the grocery store, but I wanted something healthy and light. I really like Quinoa. It doesn't have a strong taste and it is a great substitute for couscous. I used to make a similar couscous salad (Moroccan Couscous Salad) from Epicurious but couscous has gluten. Oh well.

Spicy Quinoa Salad

From SeriousEats

Ingredients
1 cup of dry quinoa
2 medium cucumbers
2 cups of tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
3 Tbs of olive oil
1 small red onion, minced
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1 tbs red wine vinegar
salt
ground black pepper


Cook the quinoa according to directions on box. While cooking quinoa, mix the cucumber, tomato, olive oil and a pinch of salt together. In a separate bowl combine the onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and vinegar. Let sit while the quinoa is cooking. Combine the sauce and vegetables and toss. Then stir in the quinoa. Add more salt, oil, ground black pepper or lime juice to taste.