More quinoa please!

I love me some quinoa! It seems ridiculous to me that I only discovered it a couple of years ago. After all, the Incas and the Aztecs knew about it ages ago. I'm a slouch. Very embarrassing. Anyway, I am always on the lookout for new recipes highlighting quinoa, and this one fell into my inbox last week, just begging me to try it. It also coincided with a post from a friend of mine saying that she had just bought quinoa for the first time, and that it had "better be good" because it was more expensive than rice. Well, Heather, this recipe is for you. Trust me - it is way better than rice :-)

One Pan Mexican Quinoa
adapted from damndelicious.net
Serves 8

2 TBSP olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeños, finely chopped
2 cups quinoa (I used red, but it doesn't matter)
4 cups vegetable broth
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
2 cups corn kernels (I used frozen, straight from the freezer)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 avocados, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
juice of 2 limes
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and jalapeño and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute by which time it should be really fragrant, but not browning.
2. Add quinoa, broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin. Stir together, and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the quinoa is cooked (this took about 25 minutes).
3. Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro and check seasoning before serving.

It's roasting in here!

Oh, I do love me some word play. Roasting. Get it? Because it's cold outside, and we have the heating on? But also because I'm cooking a roast? Yep, high class humor is just one additional service I gladly provide! Ha!

Ok, so all puns aside, this recipe is the kind of roast dinner I CAN get on the table, even on a weeknight. Usually, the combination of the number of dishes in a traditional roast dinner, the different cooking methods, times etc, fills me with dread. How on earth do you get everything on the table, cooked (and still hot), at the same time? Well, in my family, you go round to my Mum's or my sister's and eat there, as they seem to manage this culinary juggling act superbly well.

However, THIS roast is done in the slow cooker (yay!), and the two sides I cooked to go with it were easy peasy AND fit with our current healthy-eating quest. The first of the sides was simply boiled green beans, tossed with some lemon zest and juice once they are cooked. (Yes, youngest son will still eat (almost) any veggie if you toss it with lemon juice. And won't, if you don't. Go figure.) The second side dish was a riff on mashed potatoes, but using cauliflower and just a touch of butter and cheese to make it extra creamy and tasty. I've never even thought to mash a cauliflower before, but Gina Homolka, author of the fabulous Skinnytaste Cookbook claimed it is "just as tasty" as mashed potatoes, a claim that seemed ripe for testing. I have to say, I kind of agree. It doesn't taste LIKE mashed potato, and although it has a creamy texture, doesn't FEEL same either. But it was completely delicious nonetheless, and will definitely be served around these parts again. Since we were not having a whole raft of other sides, I increased the quantity of this recipe, but otherwise, stayed true to the original.

As for the roast itself, the Skinnytaste website was the source for that one. The recipe immediately caught my eye, because it had the words crock pot in it (you know how much I love my slow cooker), and also because it is cooked with balsamic vinegar. Where one son covets lemon juice on everything, the other is addicted to balsamic vinegar, and is often to be found raiding the kitchen. There he gets out a plate, on to which he pours a sizable puddle of balsamic vinegar, which he then mops up with whatever bread he can get his hands on. So the combination of balsamic and crock pot was made in heaven for this household. And again, this recipe was delicious, and will be revisited again. If you haven't yet checked out Skinnytaste, online, or in her new book, I highly recommend that you do.  If you could smell my kitchen, when this roast was cooking, then you'd already be at Barnes and Noble by now....

Crock Pot Balsamic Pot Roast
Serves 4

2lb boneless pork roast (I used boneless pork loin)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup chicken/vegetable broth/stock
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP honey

1. Trim the pork of visible fat, and season with the salt and garlic powder. Spray the stoneware in the slow cooker with oil spray and place the meat inside.
2. Mix together the broth and vinegar, and pour over the meat.
3. Drizzle the honey over the top of the meat.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or 4 hours on high).
5. Once it is cooked, remove the meat from the crockpot and slice it. Put the slices back into the liquid and toss to coat before serving.
6. Serve with extra sauce spooned over the pork if so desired.



Cheesy Cauliflower "Mash"
Serves 5

2 heads of cauliflower cut into florets (should give you about 11 cups of florets)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1 1/2 TBSP butter
salt and black pepper to taste
1 1/2 TBSP finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add cauliflower and garlic and cook until cauliflower is soft (about 15-20 minutes). Don't undercook it as you might if you were simply serving boiled cauliflower, or it won't 'mash' properly.
2. Drain the cauliflower and return to the pan. Add the buttermilk, butter, salt and pepper to taste. Blend the mixture together using an immersion blender until smooth.
3. Stir in the chives and the cheese and serve hot.

Nicely spicy

We may be on a bit of a health-kick in this house, but I refuse to let that impact how tasty our food is. True, I'm trying to limit the carbs and things like cheese (I miss you Gorgonzola my darling, but I will be back once my waistline is under control, I promise), but there are other ways of adding flavor and filling tummies. Last night, we looked east for influence, and went Asian-inspired. The main dish was a slow-cooker hit which was completely delicious, and apparently has only 424 calories per serving, even with a sensible portion of noodles (thanks Food Network Magazine!). I did a couple of tweaks, but really only by adding a bit more ginger to the mix. and switching the suggested rice noodles to soba buckwheat for some more fibre. I don't think that will have drastically affected the calorie count.

For sides, I wanted to bump up our veggie consumption, but keep close to the Asian flavors in the entree, so I found two great recipes, which fit the bill. Bear in the mind that the carrots were a tad spicy for one of my kids, so if you are worried about that, reduce the amount of ginger in the marinade/sauce. All in all a successful trip to the Orient (or thereabouts - I make no claims to authenticity), which will be repeated around here for sure.

Soy Citrus Chicken
Serves 6
Adapted from Food Network Magazine

1 1/2 oranges, halved and thinly sliced
5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat and halved
1 1/2 TBSP all purpose (plain) flour
1 tsp lemon zest
salt and pepper
3/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and finely grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
9 oz soba buckwheat noodles
2 bunches of watercress, tough stems removed and coarsely chopped (gave about 3 cups chopped)

1. Spray slow cooker stoneware with oil spray, and lay the orange slices overlapping across the base.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, lemon zest, 1/4 tsp salt and a few grinds of pepper. Toss the chicken breast pieces in the flour mixture until coated, then lay them in a single layer over the orange slices. Sprinkle any remaining flour mixture over the top.
3. In a small bowl, combine the chili sauce, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Pour over the chicken.
4. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 7 hours.
5. Uncover slow cooker and gently stir, breaking up the chicken into large pieces. Let stand for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile cook the noodles according to directions. When cooked and drained, toss with the chopped watercress.
7. Serve chicken on bed of noodles.

Roasted Lemon Broccolini
Serves 6
Adapted from williams-sonoma.com

18 oz broccolini, coarsely chopped
1/2 large lemon, seeds removed, chopped into 1/4" pieces (do not peel first)
1/4 tsp salt
few grinds of black pepper
2 TBSP olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Heat 1 1/2 TBSP olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add broccolini and lemon and sauté for a couple of minutes until broccolini starts to darken slightly in color.
3. Transfer contents of pan to a shallow baking tin. Drizzle over remaining 1/2 TBSP olive oil, and sprinkle over salt and pepper. Toss to combine, then bake for 15 minutes, stirring once.

Asian-style Roasted Carrots
Serves 6
Adapted from Fortheloveofcooking.net

9 carrots (can be any color), peeled and cut into sticks (1/2" across max)
4 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
4 1/2 TBSP rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp minced fresh ginger root

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in a large ziploc bag. Add carrots and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Tip contents of bag into a shallow baking pan, coated in oil spray.
4. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes until tender.

Souper Soup

So, it's that time of year again - painful memories of excess over the holiday season are all too raw, and if there are brief moments when you forget, you only have to sense the irritating tightening of the button on your (formerly) favorite jeans, to know that you didn't get away with it unscathed. Sigh.

So in the Farrar house, we mark this time of year with a bit of a purge, involving some nice healthy cooking. And thankfully with Christmas having just made its annual appearance, I have some brand new cookbooks to explore! Nothing makes me happier than reading new cookbooks, and cooking new recipes from them is kind of my idea of heaven.

In line with our current purge mindset, I chose a recipe that seemed low calorie (only 192 per serving) but yet satisfying, so as not to be met with cries of "We'll STARVE" by the other members of my needy family. This one fit the bill perfectly. The recipe comes from my new book Celebrity Chefs, and hails from that doyenne of Italian cuisine, Lidia Bastianich. And before you grimace, yes, I know that 'doyenne' is a French word, but I have no idea what the Italian equivalent is - diva? Whatever, she is, as we say in these climes, a powerhouse. On that we can agree.

My only tweaks were to add a little more parmesan (because, hey, its parmesan, and a purge can only go so far), and to change the rice selection to brown, and since that's healthy, it kind of cancels out the cheese :-) Oh, and I chopped up the spinach, because there is nothing worse than trying to eat soup with long strands of spinach leaves hanging off your spoon! And to fend off starvation, I served it with some bread.

Imagine the aroma as this lot cooks :-)

Lentil and Rice Super Soup
Serves 6 (very comfortably!)

1/2 lb carrots, sliced
3/4 lb onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes in juice
1/2lb green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 lb green beans, cut into 1" lengths
32oz chicken/vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 lb zucchini/courgette, sliced and halved into half moons
6oz baby spinach leaves, chopped
1 cup cooked lentils, drained (can use canned for speed)
1 cup cooked brown rice
3 TBSP grated parmesan

1. Coat a large stockpot with cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, sauté carrots, onions, celery and garlic together for 8 minutes, or until starting to soften.
2. Add tomatoes, cabbage, green beans, broth, 2 cups water, salt and pepper. Stir together and bring to the boil.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Increase heat to high and stir in zucchini and spinach and return soup to the boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.
6. Add lentils and rice and heat through. Add parmesan and check seasoning before serving.

Love me some lunchbox leftovers!