Recipes Archives - Page 59 of 113

Chopped grilled vegetable salad recipe

Sometimes, a little freshening up is in order. I put this chopped grilled vegetable salad on my weekly dinner planner and when I pulled the image for it, I cringed a little. The photo did not do it justice at all. This salad is one of my absolute favorites and one that I posted almost 5 years ago. In all fairness to me, I didn’t even know how to use a camera when I started this blog, and although I am still no photography expert, I think my images have improved since 2011. So I thought I would pull this post from the archives and give it a facelift, especially on the eve of Memorial Day weekend when you might be inclined to make a fantastic, crowd-pleasing salad such as this one.

Zesty Potato Skewers Recipe

I am obsessing over these zingy little skewers! I have been teaching them all month in my classes and I always look forward to the end of every lesson when I can snag a stick of hot potatoes. Someone asked me once, “what is it about food on a stick that people love?” I think they’re just fun and easy and skewers feel like a party is happening. The potato party is made by the tasty Dijon-based marinade that coats each little spud. Potatoes on their own can be a tad bland, but add Dijon, garlic, crushed red pepper and lemon juice and you’ve tons of flavor. I know you’re going to love these.

Quinoa with Toasted Coconut and Lime recipe

Where was quinoa 10 years ago? Not on most people’s radar, that’s for sure. I taught a recipe with quinoa in a cooking class 8 years ago and everyone was skeptical. They were sold on it’s health benefits (high in protein, low in fat, full of antioxidants), but not the flavor. Nutty? Soapy?

“I can’t get into quinoa. I’ve tried. We even cooked it with chicken stock. Not into it,” I remember someone saying. We’ve come a long way with quinoa. When you see it sold in Costco and Target, you know it has gone mainstream. I hope many of you have embraced quinoa and figured out ways to enjoy it. I always used to tell people who are new to quinoa to take their favorite orzo or couscous recipes and swap quinoa. This would be a major nutritional upgrade and I think a more interesting flavor.

But I’m the first to admit I don’t love plain quinoa eaten out of a bowl with no seasonings, no add-ins. Rice, yes. But quinoa has a unique flavor that needs a little support. The texture is so fantastic though. Bouncy, springy, light! I love it. I make a big batch every other week and stir-fry it a la Italian Fried Rice, or stir in some almond milk and fruit for a sweet breakfast, sprinkle it into pancake batter and add it to salads for a bouncy boost of protein.

I try to teach a great quinoa recipe at least two or three times each year. This is one I shared in my classes many years ago and it’s one of the simpler quinoa recipes I’ve taught. It’s always nice to have those back-pocket recipes that are healthy, tasty and don’t use too many ingredients or that you can adapt easily.

I could eat this quinoa with toasted coconut and grilled scallions on its own for lunch or with a piece of roasted salmon or chicken on top. It is perfection with the Thai Steak Salad, which I have also adapted with salmon and chicken. Mr. Picky, who definitely prefers pasta over quinoa, will eat this with extra toasted coconut and a couple of crushed tortilla chips. Whatever it takes is my motto! For those of you with more sophisticated palates, check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe for some additional suggestions. I highly recommend something spicy!

Quinoa with Toasted Coconut and Lime

Pamela

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Servings -6

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa rinsed*
1 ¾ cups water
pinch of sea salt plus ¾ teaspoon
1 bunch scallions
3 Tablespoons unrefined cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling onions
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice if you love lime, add some zest, too!
3 Tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
optional: half a jalapeño seeded and grilled with the green onions, finely chopped

Instructions

Preheat a grill over medium heat.
Bring quinoa, water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Turn heat off and allow to sit, covered for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
Drizzle some oil on the green onions coating them lightly. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Grill for a minute on each side or until lightly charred and tender. Coarsely chop and set aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, toast the coconut flakes, stirring constantly, until golden. They will crisp up off the heat. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, cilantro and salt. Add to cooked quinoa with green onions and toasted coconut. Toss to combine and taste for seasoning. Feel free to add an extra squeeze of lime, if desired.

Notes

This can also be made with rice, but cooking times and water ratios must be adjusted.
This is a basic recipe to which I sometimes add avocado or grilled chopped jalapeño or mango. Sometimes I add mint along with the cilantro if I have it.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Leftover Smoothie Popsicles

This is not so much a recipe as an idea which I LOVE! My kids make a lot of smoothies for both breakfast and after school snacks. And even though they can all blend up a tasty and nutritious smoothie on their own, Mr. Picky is the master. My older daughter has offered him cash on multiple occasions to make her an acai bowl or his famous Pina Colada smoothie. Sometimes his eyes are bigger than his stomach, he makes a bit too much and we end up with some leftovers. Usually the leftovers aren’t enough to make a whole portion for the next day, so one day I started pouring the leftover smoothies into popsicle molds and freezing them. I think you know where this story is headed.

Really Crunchy Chickpea Trail Mix Recipe

Snacks are tough. My kids come home from school very hungry and they can eat a lot. I want to offer them something nutritious obviously, but I don’t have a ton of time to make homemade snacks every day. Some of my default snacks are hummus with veggies or whole grain crackers, rice cakes with nut butter, quesadillas, yogurt with granola, almond flour muffins, apples and bananas with nut butter, and smoothies. Stovetop popcorn and granola bars are common, too. If I left my son to his own devices, I’m sure he would polish off a pint of ice cream or a bag of tortilla chips, but he has homework to focus on and soccer practice or religious school, so he needs better fuel than that.

I’ve been intrigued by the appearance of “chickpea croutons” on dozens of salads I have seen all over Pinterest. The cooked chickpeas are roasted until crunchy, sometimes seasoned with spices, and are a more nutritious alternative to croutons, which are basically small greasy bites of white toast. I must have a little crunch in my salad, but I prefer the idea of chickpeas over croutons. However, with all due respect to those who posted those crunchy chickpea recipes, most of them don’t work. Either the chickpeas do not ever become crunchy or they only stay crunchy for a few hours and then they become soft, like real chickpeas. My son actually likes chickpeas and he likes trailmix, so I had an idea to make crunchy chickpeas and mix them with nuts + dried fruit + dark chocolate = crunchy chickpea trailmix, a perfect snack. Except I tried at least a dozen recipes and the chickpeas always eventually became soggy, until one time I roasted them in the oven for a little while and then turned the oven off but left the chickpeas in there. In this way, they wouldn’t burn, but they would continue to dry out. Ta da! Winner! This is the whole key to truly crisp-like-a-cracker chickpeas.

We are not nut-free in our house, nor do my kids go to nut-free schools, but I know there are a lot of families out there who contend with this challenge. This trail mix is easy to make nut-free since the chickpeas make a great sub for nuts, and they are both high in protein which is something I always look for in a good snack. And believe me, I am not trying to replace nuts. Nuts are super good for you with exceptionally healthful fats, protein and fiber, BUT they are also high in calories and I have been known to overeat nuts without realizing it and it is possible to eat too much of a nutritious food if you are trying to maintain a healthy weight. Like I said in my last post, I would be really skinny if nut butter didn’t exist! The nice thing about trail mix is that you can make it with whatever you have and to your liking. I love a good balance of sweet and salty, soft and crunchy, with a touch of dark chocolate for fun. Trail mix is my go-to snack for traveling since it keeps really well, although in the summer I usually omit the chocolate so there’s no risk of melting.

Every time I teach any recipe, someone asks me, “Does Mr. Picky like this?” 90% of the recipes I teach, he does like/tolerate. He ate almost an entire pan of crunchy chickpeas in one sitting. We all loved these and I haven’t even begun to experiment with savory seasonings. As long as you have the method down pat, you should definitely play around with different spices, like garlic powder + smoked paprika, cumin + cinnamon + cayenne, just to name a couple. I think these would be amazing on salads, or on soups or on top of creamy dips like hummus, or as a “bar snack,” to serve with cocktails. These would even make a great hostess gift, especially if you’ve already given everyone you know homemade granola too many times. 😉 I can’t wait to hear if you try this recipe. Or just let me know about your experience roasting chickpeas until now!