Sunday, March 30, 2014

Quinoa Salad

This recipe is inspired by a quinoa salad I had at Prairie Ink Restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Ingredients:
Salad
  • 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
  • 1/2 c almonds, toasted
  • 1/2 cup carrot, peeled and grated (this is approximately one 6-8" carrot)
  • 2 small tomatoes, chopped
  • 3/4 cup corn
  • 3/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 3/4 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 shallot, finely diced (or 1/4 cup red onion, diced)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 to 4 cups arugula

Dressing
  • 1 or 2 limes, juiced (this is about 5-6 tbsp if you have juicy limes)
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 1 heaping tsp cumin
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp honey (optional)

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package directions. Cool.
2) Toast almonds* 
3) Prepare dressing by whisking ingredients in a small bowl.
4) In a large bowl, combine quinoa, carrots, tomatoes, corn, black beans, chickpeas, shallot and cilantro and mix gently.
5)  Add dressing to salad.  Salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, toss with arugula. Garnish with toasted almonds.

*Throw almonds into a pan, cook on low-medium heat, and stir occasionally until golden brown.  No need for butter or oil.

Notes: 
  • I kept a little reserve dressing and lightly tossed arugula in it before adding to salad.
  • I kept the arugula separate from the main salad until ready to serve because I wanted to eat the salad the next day and was unsure if the arugula would be soggy
  • I used a blend of red, black and white quinoa

This salad was great, I will definitely be making it again!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt

This dessert made with chickpeas looked interesting so I thought I'd try it out. This recipe is from Ambitious Kitchen.

My aunt is staying with me for a few days so we enjoyed these with a cup of tea. These squares were a nice treat!

A few notes:

  • I used slightly less maple syrup (about 1/3 cup)
  • I used mini chocolate chips (total 1/3 cup, I took the 2 tbsp "sprinkle" from this amount)
  • Either natural almond or peanut butter can be used in this recipe - I used PB!
  • I baked for 35 min (instead of 20-25)



Sunday, March 16, 2014

African Peanut Soup

This recipe is from the cookbook The 30-Minute Vegan: Soup's On! but you can find the recipe at Oh My Veggies.

I enjoyed this soup - it was nice and creamy and was extremely filling.  This soup was easy to make and I liked that I didn't have to transfer the contents into a processor to blend.  Although my pictures don't show it, there are lots of sweet potato chunks in it!

A few notes:
  • I used natural peanut butter
  • I omitted the optionaBerbere spice





Friday, March 7, 2014

Sweet Potato Brownies

A brownie made out of sweet potatoes?  This recipe from Gluten-Free-Vegan-Girl looked delicious so I decided to try it!  Glad I did.  This brownie had a lovely, chewy, moist texture. It wasn't overly sweet like "regular" brownies can be.

A few notes:
  • I didn't have sugar-free dark chocolate so I just used dark chocolate chips instead (and slightly reduced the quantity to 1/2 cup).
  • I skipped out on the walnuts
The next time I make these, I will probably try making the coconut whipped cream to go with it (shown to accompany these brownies on the author's site).




Saturday, March 1, 2014

Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Beets

I am trying to experiment with vegetables I don't normally use.  I found this recipe with beets at Taste of Home.  I liked this salad - easy to make and very tasty.  I especially enjoyed the subtle flavour of the beets.

A few notes:
I cooked the beets a little differently than this recipe suggests.  First, I peeled the beets.  Then I chopped them into bite sized pieces. Finally, I steamed the beets on the stove for about 15 minutes.