after a brief holiday hiatus . . . I'm back . . . with Quinoa!

Happy New Year!

Starting the year on the right foot - I am attempting to explore some healthy recipes (I don't want to get ahead of myself - I will still be enjoying my butter-y baked goods and cheesy mashed potatoes). We had a nice crab dinner accompanied by mushroom quinoa.
I bought some model-esque oyster mushrooms, they were so pretty I felt a bit bad cutting them up . . .but I did it anyways. I chopped the mushrooms and chopped up a few cloves of garlic.
I threw the garlic into a large saute pan with a little bit of butter. After a minute add in your mushrooms (try not to crowd the pan, do as I say not as I do) and let them cook. I add salt at the end because I wanted the mushrooms to get that dry, nutty flavor instead of drawing out the liquid.
While the mushrooms were cooking I measured out 1.5 cups of quinoa and put it in a sauce pan with 3 cups chicken stock. Once it was boiling I reduced it to a low simmer, covered it and let it cook away for about 15 minutes (until tender).
To finish the quinoa dish, I chopped some cilantro and tossed the sauteed mushrooms and the cilantro in with the cooked quinoa. Salt to taste.
One of the beautiful dungeness crabbies
To fill the veggie quota I made a little 'salad' of fresh watercress, cumquats and a little salt and nice olive oil (very little).
Et voila, our healthy holiday-y meal.

Cardamom-Infused Quinoa Pudding with Caramelized Apples

I am living with an invalid at the moment so decided to make some flavorful, slightly spice-y food to heal him (and in the hope that he could actually taste it). Being the health nut that I am I figured we should start with dessert first. The weather and the invalid called for comfort food so I decided to make a version of Indian rice pudding - subbing quinoa in as my grain. I used cardamom and cinnamon to flavor the dessert and topped it off with some caramelized apples.
To begin combine 2 cups whole milk (or lower percentages if you are feeling strong-willed), 1/3 cup cream, 2/3 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or a vanilla bean if you have it - I didn't), 1 teaspoon of cardamom pods, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan.
Heat on medium heat until it is almost boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 3/4 cup of quinoa, 1 cup golden raisins, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and stir. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the pudding has thickened and the quinoa is tender, you are all set and can turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
While the pudding is cooking (or after, depends if you are a multi-tasker) take peel and dice one large granny smith apple.
Heat a pan over medium heat and throw in a pat of butter. Toss in the diced apple along with a tablespoonful or two of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Saute until caramelized (I like mine a little crispy, leave them in longer if you like yours tender). Everything is ready! Throw the pudding into a bowl, spoon some apples on top and sprinkle on a little extra cinnamon and eat up.


Next up, part two of my nursing-a-cold-cooking-weekend: Mulligatawny Soup!
For a gorgeous and somewhat Spring-ier quinoa pudding recipe click here to take a peek at Cannelle et Vanille's version.