Harvest Quinoa Salad

As you know, I love mixing quinoa with a variety of things.  Below is one of my favorite blends.  It is the perfect mix of sweet and salty, and can be eaten as a full meal of just a side.

Servings: 4
Size: 1/4 of salad
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:
1 cup uncooked quiona
2 cups vegetable stock
2 T. apple cider
1/3 c. craisins
1/3 c. sliced almonds
1/3 c. chopped celery
1/3 c. light feta
1 apply sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Add quinoa, veggie sotck and apple cider to rice cooker.  Turn rice cooker on and cook until rice cooker says quinoa is done!  Put cooked quinoa in a bowl and mix in craisins, almonds, celery, feta and salt and pepper to taste.  Eat and enjoy hot OR cold.

Tip:
Cook your quinoa in a rice cooker, adding just a tad more liquid than suggested (usually when cooking quinoa it is a 1:2 quinoa:liquid ratio.  I love how it comes out using the rice cooker, my quinoa normally turns out soggy when cooking on the stove!

XOXO Katie

Southwest Chopped Salad

This salad is full of flavors and bright colors!  I love all the colors throughout; it definitely reminds me of summer.  I found the original recipe on Pinterest and I adapted it slightly by adding in some avocado.  The recipe calls for a homemade cilantro-lime dressing found here.  It sounded DELICIOUS, but I had to opt for a store-bought dressing for a few reasons. 

1. I’m moving soon and have already packed up my blender. 

2. Although the recipe says to make the dressing in either a blender or food processor, I really think it would work best in a food processor and unfortunately I don’t have one.  Hopefully sometime soon I will have this kitchen tool since it’s on my wedding registry :)

Servings: 6

Size:   1/6 of the salad

Points Plus: 5pp
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:

Large head of romaine lettuce

1 large orange bell pepper

5 green onions

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz. can of corn, drained

1 medium avocado, diced

Directions:

Wash and finely chop the romaine, bell pepper and green onions.  Wash and quarter the cherry tomatoes.  Open the cans of black beans and corn, drain and rinse. Dice the avocado.  Add all ingredients into a large bowl, stir to combine.  Toss salad with your desired dressing and enjoy!

Tip:

Don’t underestimate the size of the bowl you need to mix up this salad!  There are lots of veggies in this recipe and you will want a bowl big enough that you can really fully mix all the ingredients in.  Also, a little tip for really brining out the flavor or your avocado. Sprinkle some salt on top of your salad with fresh avocado - the salt will really heighten the taste of the avocado - yum!

XOXO Megan

Snobby Joes?

Have you ever heard of Snobby Joes? Sloppy Joes more snooty relative?  I saw a friend post this cooking concept on Facebook and had to try.  When making Snobby Joes you sub the meat for lentils.  Now, I don't think these taste like Sloppy Joes, but they do resemble the texture and look.  This recipe is ridiculously low in points plus (pp), and because of that, you could put it on any bread of your choosing to make a tasty meal.  The pp below only include the Snobby Joe part, so remember to add extra points for your choice of bread and toppings (in this case I topped with 2 T. reduced fat cheddar for an extra 1 pp, and light bread for 1pp per slice)

In case you don't know a lot about lentils, they are extremely filling which is why I made the serving size 1/2 cup (or enough for two open faced Snobby Joes).  Also, if you haven't seen this clip from Billy Madison, I suggest you watch it immediately.

Servings: 10

Size: 1/2 cup

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked lentils, rinsed

4 cups water

1 T. olive oil

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. chili powder

2 t. oregano

1 t. Kosher salt

2 cup tomato sauce*

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 T. maple syrup

1 T. yellow mustard

Directions:

Place uncooked lentils and water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer 20 minutes.  Drain and put back into pan.

Preheat oil in medium saucepan sautee onion and pepper about 8 minutes.  Add minced garlic during last minute of sautee. Add veggie mixture to lentils.

Add chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato sauce and tomato paste to lentils and veggies.  Cook on low for about 10 minutes. Add maple syrup and mustard and heat through. 

Turn off heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes.

Tip:

How many times have you opened a can of tomato paste just to toss the leftovers?  I mean, I don't think a recipe exists that calls for a whole can of tomato paste (ok maybe some chillis but you catch my drift). Have you ever seen THIS! It's tubed tomato paste, with a little cap that you can put on to SAVE the paste for it's next use.  I personally think the tubed paste is of higher quality than the can and tastes better. Check it out the next time you are grocery shopping.

*CONFESSION: After making this recipe, writing this post, cleaning up the kitchen and looking back I realized that I accidentally used marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce! Everything above is with tomato sauce, and I think they would taste more like Sloppy Joes if you did.  Try it out and let us know what you think!

Graudation Cupckaes

My brother graduated last weekend from St. Olaf and to help with the celebration my mom made these adorable graduation cupcakes.  She and I made a few prototypes to the get the cap and tassel just right, but by the end we had perfected it.  They were delicious too!

Servings:  24

Size:  1 cupcake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

1 box of fudge cake mix

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (set aside 1 Tbsp. for later)

Vanilla frosting

24 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

24 Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares

24 M&Ms

One decorative tassel

Directions:

Prepare the fudge cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Add in the cup of mini chocolate chips into the cupcake batter.  Line a regular muffin tin with paper or tin liners. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.  You want your cupcakes to be on the small side since you will be adding frosting and the graduation cap.  Ideally the cupcakes will just come to the top of the cupcake liner once baked. Bake the cupcakes according to the box, probably about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven.  Since you are making smaller cupcakes you should be able to get 24 cupcakes in total.  While the cupcakes are baking, in a small bowl, melt 1 Tbsp. of mini chocolate chips.  You will use this chocolate as a glue to attach and assemble the graduation cap. 

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost each with a generous amount of frosting per cupcake.  To assemble the graduation cap, first put a small dab of chocolate glue on the top of an upside down mini Reese’s peanut butter cup (the larger surface area should be on the bottom), affix the Ghirardelli square on top.  The chocolate square should also be upside down with the flat, smooth side facing up.  Next, dab a very small amount of chocolate glue to the middle of the Ghirardelli square – attach a few strands of tassel (we found a decorate tassel and cut it apart to make smaller tassels), then add more chocolate to affix a single M&M on top. Serve at your party and hopefully people are impressed with your creativity! 

Warning:  Don’t EAT the tassel! J

Tip:

Creative cupcakes can be a really big hit for any sort of party – graduation, housewarming, holiday/seasonal, etc. We made these graduation cupcakes in St. Olaf colors – gold and black (well chocolate), but you could easily adapt to different school colors.

XOXO Megan

 

Broiled Cod with Chipotle Creme

After a weekend of eating out, eating unhealthy, and eating pretty much whatever we wanted, I decided to take it down a notch and make a light Memorial Day dinner. I have wanted to try making fish tacos forever, and landed on cod, a light flaky white fish.  After some internet research (my fav!) I came up with a good spice mixture and sauce for this Mexican inspired meal. In an effort to lighten things up a little more I opted to skip the tortillas and just serve the fish baked with a side of cilantro lime rice. You could also top with traditional fish taco fixings, red onion, tomato, cabbage, shredded radishes, exc!

Servings: 4

Size: 4oz fish

Points Plus: 4pp

Level of Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredient List: 

1 lb Atlantic cod

1 T. olive oil

1 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1/8 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. paprika

1/4 t. chili powder
1 lime

1/2 c. light sour cream

1-2 t. chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (sauce only)

Cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Turn oven to broil and place oven rack a few inches from the flame. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and lay cod on foil. Pour olive oil over cod and brush to cover evenly. Mix salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and chili powder. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly over fish. I ended up only using about half of the spice mixture, so feel free to do the same depending on how spicy/salty you would like it. Squeese the juice from one lime over fish. Place cod under the broiler and cook until flaky, for me this was about four minutes. While fish is cooking mix sour cream and chipotle pepper sauce.  When fish is cooked remove from oven and top with 2 T. chipotle cream mixture.  Garnish with cilantro.

Tip: 

With summer on it's way you could easily grill this fish outside.  

Donut Kabobs

Looking for something FUN to serve at your next brunch?  Donut kabobs are a perfect little treat.  I served these for Easter brunch this year and they were a hit with my family.  These are great to serve at either a wedding or baby shower too.  Easy entertaining!

Servings:  As many as you need

Size:  One kabob

Points Plus: 3 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: n/a

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

Donut holes

Strawberries

Blackberries

Skewers

Directions:

Wash the strawberries and blackberries.  Slice the strawberries in half.  Assemble each skewer, alternating each fruit type along with the donut holes.  Feel free to use whatever type of donut hole you prefer – glazed, cinnamon sugar or powdered (I prefer glazed, and they are the least messy J).

Tip:

Just like the fruit kabobs I posted about a month ago, these kabobs can easily fit the color scheme of your party, shower or brunch.  Switch out what fruit you use to match the colors or theme of your gathering!

XOXO Megan

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

The combination of shrimp and lemon is so refreshing, and so spring. Even though we are on a very long rain streak here in MN, I would still like to hope spring (and maybe even summer?) is on it's way. I mean it IS Memorial Day and all.  This dish is really simple, pair it with a salad and you have a quick and decadent meal.

Servings: 4
Size: 1/4
Points Plus: 10pp
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredient List:
Kosher Salt (yum!)
Fresh ground pepper
8 oz. whole wheat linguine
1 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
3 T. minced garlic
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 c. fresh parsley
Grated zest of one lemon
1/2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
Pinch of shredded Parmesan

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add a pinch of kosher salt and linguine and boil according to package directions.

In another large pan (dutch oven), melt butter and heat oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Add shrimp, another pinch of salt, and pepper.  Saute until shrimp has just turned pink (about 2 minutes per side). Remove from heat, add parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Toss with  pasta and serve! Add a pinch of parm if you would like.

WARNING: The lemon proportions for this recipe make the lemon flavor pretty strong.  If you would prefer a more subtle lemon flavor cut the juice and zest in half.

Tip: I like to buy deveined shrimp, mainly because the concept of veining shrimp grosses me out. I do however like to peel my own shrimp, I think the kind you have to peep seems fresher than that kind that is already peeled.  Happy Memorial Day!

XOXO - Katie