Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Hi all, this is Emily.  Today was my first time cooking with Quinoa and Dave and I loved it!  I also love that it included a pepper, jalapeno and tomatoes from my garden.  I looked around online for a recipe that sounded good.  Dave loves line and cilantro so I decided to give this one a try.  It has lots of good veggies and the nutritional facts say it has a good amount of protein, fiber, vitamin C and a bunch of other good stuff.

I did end up skipping the adobo seasoning (not sure what it is and Trader Joe's didn't have it) and added a jalapeno for some kick. 

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/southwestern-quinoa-salad/Detail.aspx

Please share your favorite quinoa recipes if you have them!  :)

Spaghetti Sauce

Hi all, my name's Megan, and Em and I used to work together (and drink together and bitch together, etc, etc). She got me started on the South Beach diet, and while we have both moved on to less restrictive plans, I still have some staple recipes from SB that I really enjoy. The one I am sharing is my favorite. It is really versatile, freezes well and is good on just about anything. I was shocked when I had regular jarred spaghetti sauce after having this - it tasted super-sweet and salty, not in a good way. This recipe is also a good use of eggplant, something that I always buy and then struggle to use. I have tweaked it a bit for taste and texture. Feel free to play it fast and loose with the measurements. As you will probably notice, I hate to measure things and prefer to just estimate. Why dirty any more dishes than you absolutely must?

I frequently double or triple this recipe and freeze it in 2-3 portion containers.

1 eggplant, cut lengthwise into slices

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion, chopped

cloves of garlic, minced (calls for 1, I usually use several)

1 can (28 ounces) plum tomatoes

2 tbs tomato paste

2 tbs chopped fresh basil (or use trader joes frozen cubes -both garlic and basil are great to keep on hand - very close to as good as fresh)

Coat eggplant slices with olive oil cooking spray, place on a broiler safe pan, and broil in the oven, flipping once, until both sides are browned. Remove from the oven, let cool, and then chop roughly.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan (I need to get a bigger one so I can make triple or quadruple this recipe). Add onion and garlic, stir frequently and cook until tender (4 or so minutes). Add tomatoes, tomato paste (I usually just use the whole small can - what are you going to do with the leftovers?), and basil. Allow to boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer for a long time. Add eggplant once it has cooled and been chopped. The recipe I have only calls for a total cooking time of 25 or some minutes, but I like to let it cook longer to really combine the ingredients. When you run out of time, let the sauce cool a bit and then process in batches in the blender or food processor until it gets to a sauce-like consistency. I like it a little chunky.

One note of caution, because there are no binders or additives, the sauce does tend to separate, so this doesn't always make the prettiest dishes. However, it is really delicious IMHO.

Freezing and/or Canning

Hi everyone!  I was thinking about trying to freeze or can some things for the first time this year.  My mom cut up and froze peaches which were always very good.  I think I am going to do that, but I am struggling to think of other foods to freeze or can.  Does anyone have any experience in this or have recommendations of things to try?  

Emily

Hi! That Spicy Cabbage sounds yummy!! So with all the meat we have from the cow Andy and I decided we want to make some meals that we freeze and are able to eat whenever. So tomorrow we are devoting the day to cooking. We are going to make two batches of stuffed peppers. We are NOT going to cook them, instead we are going to freeze them and when we want to eat them we will simply take them out of the freezer and then bake them as normal.

Stuffed Peppers (this is actually a super healthy meal, we got it from P90X and Andy added his own style to it)

Green, yellow or red pepper (your choice, I like yellow it adds a little sweetness to it)
pound of ground beef
onion
minced garlic
brown rice
ketchup
Dijon mustard
Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper
cheese- we like sharp cheddar the most

Cook the brown rice (we use the brown rice from Trader Joe's.....thanks Emily. It cooks in the microwave and only takes a couple of minutes and it is delicious and not bad for you)

Cut out the middle of the peppers.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the uncooked ground beef, chopped onion (use as much or little onion as you want), garlic (again to your taste), one serving of brown rice, 3 to 5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce, a few squirts of ketchup, and one squirt of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper (to your taste), one cup of sharp cheddar. We found it best to mix it with your hands....really dive in there :)

Add mix into middle of pepper, fill to the top of the pepper. Top it with just a little bit of cheese. Put peppers on to a cookie sheet.

Bake for 1 hour at 350.

Happy Cooking!

Spicy Stuffed Cabbage

Oh, I'm REALLY digging the blog- you did a wonderful job, Emily.  My name is Kelly and I'm excited to get started....  Anyone mind if I kick this thing off?  No?  OK.

As Emily mentioned, there is a group of us in Dayton that took the plunge and bought a cow.  I'll admit, I was slightly hesitant.. not completely on board... But, I'm already three meals in now and I'm sure it was a good decision.  Tonight I made spicy stuffed cabbage.  I'd show pictures but I wasn't aware that this blog existed until too late.  Its not pretty anyway, but it tastes good. 

Spicy Stuffed Cabbage  
1 green cabbage
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb hot italian sausage
some chopped onion
some chopped green pepper
1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
3/4 c. cooked rice
salt
pepper
1(6oz) can tomato paste
1 (10 oz) can tomato paste

Brown Italian sausage** and combine with ground beef.  Remove 10 outer leaves of cabbage and cook in boiling water 5 to 8 minutes.  Drain and set aside.  Combine next 8 ingredients.  Place equal portions of meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf.  Fold opposite ends over and place rolls, seam side down in lightly greased 13"x9"x2" baking dish.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cabbage rolls.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. 

**Now, I'm not sure about this step....  I think you could get away without cooking it first but I'm afraid to tell you that and then have someone get sick from uncooked pork... but really how could it not be cooked after and hour of cooking? 

Its a little more time consuming than I like but its pretty good if you like spicy things.  To make it healthier take out the sausage and replace with lean ground beef. 

If you try it, let me know what you think. 

Hi Girls,

Well I am very excited about this blog! I am hoping this blog will help me become a more confident and creative cook. I'll be honest my wonderful husband does most of the cooking and I have always just been ok with that but I want to change that! I want to at least be able to contribute some of the time.

Well as Emily stated a few of us went in on a cow, so I am going to share the first two recipes that we used.

Pot Roast in a Croc Pot
-rump roast
-carrots
-celery
-red potatoes
-onion
-minced garlic
-1/2 can beef broth
-water

Basically we put the whole rump roast in the crock pot, cut the red potatoes in fourths, chopped the onion and celery (we left everything in decent size chunks) and added that in the crock pot. Last we added minced garlic to our liking (we love garlic) and added 1/2 can beef broth and 1/2 can water ( we used only a half can of broth to cut down on the sodium) and set it on high for a couple of hours.

We just ate it tonight and loved it!!

The other meal we made using the beef was fajitas, yum!

That's all for now. :)

Here we go!

I am hoping this will be a place where friends can come to discuss food, share what they are preparing in their kitchens, ask questions, and inspire each other to cook creative and wholesome meals. For instance, I know a few of us in Dayton have purchased a share in a cow for the year and will need to share ideas and recipes. I know some friends in Columbus started sharing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year and will be cooking with some different fruits and veggies. I know you are all great cooks and would love to learn from everyone as I work on improving my skills in the kitchen. Please help me! :)