Egg and Flax Quinoa with Stir Fried Veggies, Stuffed Peppers and Kale Chips

i swear it seems the nights when i’m either the least motivated, or i’m not expecting very much, end up with the most amazing meals.  this one just so happened to blow my mind just a little bit.  as i handed will his plate i let him know that i very much expected praise for this one (based on looks and execution alone; i hadn’t tasted anything yet.  have i mentioned that will’s first rule of cooking is to never serve anything to anybody that you haven’t made before? :)

i had some veggie stir fry leftover from lunch (made with some leftover rice from the night before....y’all know how i roll).  i had asked will to look through the kitchen while i showered to see what he thought needed to be used.  he found some quinoa.  good.  

i was thinking about peppers, ‘cause i do that these days.  we had done a taste test with our farm share bag, ‘cause some of them sure looked like they could set some things on fire, and discovered that what we thought might be habaneros were actually amazingly sweet mini bells.  i was glad for that ‘cause there are only so many hot peppers a gal (and a guy) can use.  the other two unidentified frying objects were indeed, um, hot.  we’re planning for a chili dinner party tomorrow night ;)

i preheated the oven to 250, and cut the sweet mini bells and the banana peppers in half, removing the seeds and saving them in containers on the side.  we’re on a planting kick, and after we had fresh watermelon seeds sprout a few days ago we just can’t resist.  growing shit is just really, really cool.

i made a “stuffing” from finely grated cheese, a little olive oil, and minced garlic and basil.  this was a rather lazy attempt, but i really couldn’t think of anything else to add to it.  it’s ok, because honestly the pepper is the best part of stuffed peppers (and really, you aren’t going to go wrong with cheese and garlic and basil ;)  i used my fingers to get a good portion into each pepper half and put them uncovered on an aluminum pie pan in the oven.  (my other baking pans are bigger than what i needed.)

next i put the veggie stir fry in a pan on low to heat up and measured out the quinoa, using up the rest of what we had.  it’s a 1:2 water ratio, so it didn’t matter that i didn’t have an even measurement.  i just doubled it for the water.  i put it on to boil, then covered it and let it simmer.  i think it’s a pretty safe bet that quinoa is done cooking when all the water is soaked up.  just keep stirring it every few minutes and keep an eye on the water, ‘cause it will quickly start to burn when it has dried up.

i had finally pulled our kale plants from the garden today, with reverence and respect.  they just weren’t doing well.  the colors looked sickly and withered (and EATEN!) and the aphid kingdom had come to conquer some time ago.  i brought all the plants inside though because i wanted to salvage anything from them that i could.  that was how i could really show my respect.  i got a handful of small leaves, and half leaves.  just enough to make some chips :)  the times i’ve done this before i think i used too much oil and they didn’t crisp up, so i was careful of that.  i realized that the bowl harboring the remnants of my pepper stuffing would be perfect.  i took the back (spine side) of the leaves and rubbed them in the cheesy, garlicky, basily goodness and lay them oil side up on a cookie sheet with a light sprinkling of cracked salt, putting them in the oven next to the peppers.

when the quinoa water had disappeared i put some in a small frying pan with a little butter and cracked a couple eggs in in (as per will’s nonspecific request :)  i then added some ground flaxseed and cracked salt and called for the boy!

a scoop of stir fry went over a scoop of quinoa, and with it two each of the two kinds of stuffed peppers and an elegant pile of kale chips.  it was beautiful, and the kale chips were crunchy enough that i had to take a video of them being consumed.  my eyes were wide and i was a tad speechless.....a lovely meal indeed ;)

egg and flax quinoa with stir fried veggies, stuffed peppers and kale chips

approximate price: $6

Watermelon Gazpacho

we were excited because the all night diner in austin that serves amazing local and organic food had a special tomato menu for the season, and among the delicious splendors on it was a watermelon gazpacho, which, of course, we had to try.  i didn’t ask anything about the recipe, but made a few assumptions.  one being that i would never in a million years make something that incredibly good, and the other that i definitely had enough ingredients on hand and i didn’t think i could mess it up that bad.

we had a fresh watermelon from the farm share (the chicks had yet to be treat-ed with the whole thing! :), as well as a stock of heirloom and roma tomatoes; that’s the start.  i didn’t make a very big batch, as it was a true experiment: a few small tomatoes and maybe 1 1/2 cups of watermelon.

we did check with a few online recipes just to see if there were secret crucial ingredients i wasn’t aware of: there weren’t :)  olive oil, cilantro, cucumber, salt.  that’s all i remember anyway, and that’s what it got.

the tomatoes, melon and olive oil went in the blender, while the cucumber and cilantro went chopped in a bowl.  after contents of the blender were poured, i added another good dose of crushed watermelon chunks.

the one thing the internet said that i didn’t do was add some sort of vinegar or lemon juice.  i’m not sure why i didn’t, but will actually commented that lemon juice would give it that last nudge into SUPER delicious.  next time :)

watermelon gazpacho

approximate price: $3 

potatocorntofublackbeanchard stir fry with mint carrot soup

i did it!  i made soup in my blender!  i probably should not be quite so excited about this, but sometimes things like “make soup in my blender” show up repeatedly on those to-do lists that accumulate and weigh down my poor soul (though not really poor at all, seeing as how i have SOUP! :)  the very act of making it was a big step.

we have carrots.  my goodness do we have carrots.  we get plenty from our farm share and they tend to last longer than the other goodies so i tend to keep them for the end, and often we get more before i’ve used them.  we ALSO have pulled up a few of our own from outside!  (which i hold onto while the chicks feed happily on the feathery green tops :)

we also had mint leftover from a vietnamese breakfast earlier this week, as well as some growing out on the porch.  i always think i should (and will) know what to do with mint, but i continue to find myself passing over it out of sheer lack of confidence.

carrots and mint go together.....i swear i’ve read that...  i couldn’t actually remember the label of all those delicious carrot soups....is it just ginger....i swear there’s something about mint in there....

regardless!  i was determined.  i sliced up about 8 carrots (not wanting to blow the whole bit if i happened to, um, mess something up :) and boiled them in water for about ten minutes.

while that was happening i chopped up half of an onion and put it in a saucepan with some water instead of butter, to get it to soften up instead of blacken.

when i decided they both were soft enough to blend, in they went to the blender (with about a half cup of the water i cooked the carrots in) and then i got to decide what else went in the blender with them.  i went with a drizzling of Bragg’s (why not?), a large (minced) clove of garlic, a handful of chopped mint, salt, and some yogurt.  the only kind of yogurt that graces our kitchen is most often the greek gods’ honey variety.  i went with it.

it was still warm when will got home, so that’s how we ate it, garnished with a bit of fresh mint from our back porch pot.  i let him guess for a while what the spice was, and i don’t actually blame him for not getting it right away.  the mint had a particularly spicy bite to it.  

we both agreed it might be better chilled, but that it was a very good soup debut!  i mused that, just like his songs, anything i make in the kitchen will never be quite the same twice.

mint carrot soup

approximate price: $2

mostly what i had to work with for this one was leftover blue rosemary potatoes.  and not very many of them i might add!  it was towards the end of our farm share cycle and pickings were a little slim for the next couple days.  i am never discouraged.

since i was making mint carrot soup at the same time, and actually stole some of the onion i was heating up for that.  i foraged in the freezer and found some corn (which excited me as i had just come in from fertilizing our soon-to-be corn plot! :)  there was also some tofu to be had....and some black beans in the pantry.  and guess what we also still have growing incredulously in the yard?  i swear we’re breaking some sort of cosmic chard rules here, but until the wrath falls, we will continue to obliviously enjoy the heck out of it! (and so will our chicks :)

really everything just went onto The Big Pan here.  i did start with the tofu, as some of the other things had already been cooked previously, and it’s best if it gets to soak up some heat and flavor on its own first (i think :)  

i gave that a few minutes, then put the potato leftovers in, followed closely by the corn and beans.  the only thing i saved ‘til the end was the chard.  i picked three good sized leaves, cutting them once lengthwise and then into half inch or so strips.  chard makes everything just a little happier (have i mentioned those chicks yet?? :)

i did put a little bit of water into the pan, maybe a quarter cup, just so the chard would have some liquid to soak up, and i covered the pan on low heat while i went outside to hang out with my chickens....assuring will it was ok for a few minutes :)  

potatocorntofublackbeanchard stir fry?

it was a good meal, teamed up with the soup :)

approximate price $5

chard pesto and spinach salad

WOAHHHHHHHH super cool!  we got a blender recently, to accommodate our delivery of tomatillos, which neither of us had any clue what to do with.  turns out you make salsa with them, and to do that properly you need a blender.  i was a little skeptical, as i couldn’t actually think of much else i would do with a blender......little did i know!  :)

our chard crop continues to be gargantuan and amazing, and i’m always on the lookout for yummy (easy :) things to do with it.  i had leftover noodles from a night i cooked a whole bag and then only used half with dinner, and i needed a sauce to put on them.

sauce.....chard.....blender.....

i boiled 6 or seven chard leaves for a few minutes (long enough that i would serve them at that consistency) and put them with a little of the water in the blender.  not a lot of water, i just kind of didn’t drain them very thoroughly.  then i chopped up a good handful of basil and a couple cloves of garlic and blended them for no more than ten seconds (i didn’t have to!) before they turned into a beautiful bright green sauce!  

voila!  i had put the noodles in my big frying pan with a little butter and bragg’s to get them warming up and poured the sauce straight in.  ohhhhhhh it was gorgeous and smelled soooooooo good!

a little fresh basil garnish and salad on the side.....

chard pesto and spinach salad

approximate price: $4

blue potatoes with fennel

stuff to use:

fennel!

oh my goodness, so much fennel!  the farm that delivers produce to us is abundant with it, and is happy to share the wealth :)  the good thing i’ve discovered (in my very short fennel relationship) is that you can manage to use way more of it in a meal than you think you can ever get away with, because the flavor can be pretty mellow if it’s cooked down, and the “leaves” can be chopped down pretty fine, so you don’t notice them as much.  i mean, i’m not gonna let it go bad!  sometimes a girl just has to use a lot of fennel :)

so we also got two kinds of potatoes, one of which i believe was yukon gold, and the other was blue.  if it has a name other than “blue potato” i don’t know it, but i think that will do!  this was will’s official blue potato introduction, so that was a little exciting for me.  fennel and potatoes: seemed like a good place to start dinner :)

i put the usual yellow onion on to start browning with a little butter, as well as some water to boil the potatoes in.  i used both kinds, leaving the small ones whole (or cutting them in half) and the bigger ones in quarters.  i’ve found that doing some of the cutting afterwards keeps the skins on a little better (but se la vie :)  

i chopped up the fennel stalks and bulbs (about 1/4 inch thick, maybe a little more....?) and tossed them in soon after the onions.  (i still don’t have a good grasp on how quickly fennel cooks, but i figure if it’s “harder” than onions it would take a comparable amount of time!)  i also chopped up a Rather Large pile of the leaves, but saved them for a bit later on.

i put some bragg’s in with the onion and fennel, along with some garlic (of course ;) but not much else.  when the potatoes were cooked i chopped any that were bigger than bite size down, adding a little cracked salt and olive oil (sometimes i use olive oil just ‘cause i don’t want to say that i put butter in EVERYTHING!  it’s possible that i did and i’m just not telling you..... :)    

for lack of any better idea i just dumped the potatoes in with the onions and fennel, as well as the Rather Large Pile of fennel leaves and let it stew together while stirring for a few minutes.

blue potatoes with fennel

it was gorgeous!  the blue potatoes and delicate grass green sprinkles....gorgeous :)

approximate price: $7

Photo Gallery!

so i've been away for a little while!  my sweetie and i went on a european holiday for three weeks, and the question of "how was your trip??" has been quite difficult to answer (as it often can be :)  the truth is, for me at least, that being in countries where english is not the primary language, i often felt very vulnerable and a little scared.  out of my comfort zone, i suppose!  just because i didn't want to accidentally be rude or anything like that, but it was an amazing and humbling experience.

and one thing we definitely enjoyed was THE FOOD!  :)

it's different over there....there is a relationship with food that is far less prevalent in the states.  food is celebrated, enjoyed, eaten slowly.....people are proud of their food, and i dare say we didn't find a bad restaurant (or street vendor!).  in many places it was a bit more costly, but it's FOOD!  it's what we nourish and replenish our bodies with.  it's worth it!

i may have some exquisite meal stories on the way.... but for now i've added a PHOTO GALLERY and stocked it full of some of our favorite (delicious!) european memories.

bon appetit :)

pork chop and fennel stir fry over quinoa

second rendition of leftovers for lunch today!  :)

i admit i was excited and a little scared to get back in the kitchen after three weeks of not lifting a finger and having amazing meals made for us in europe, but it was really no trouble slipping back into it (except worrying just a bit that whatever i was making for will was not very good in comparison! :)

we recently signed up for a local organic produce delivery service, and got our first box a few days ago.  i wanted one that DIDN’T give you a choice on what you got so i could be surprised and hopefully push my boundaries just a little!  

i ALSO got a wonderful cookbook from my sweetie that is more along the lines of ingredients and ideas than about recipes.  the ones included are a bit more loosely structured....with a kind of “here’s what you do with the base ingredient and then add whatever else you want” approach, which DOESN’T get me in a panic!  :)

so in our first produce box we got a couple heads of fennel with everything still attached, and i was faced with something i have never, ever cooked with before.  perfect!  i looked  it up in my handy dandy new book and found that, among other things, you can slice up the heads and saute them.  again, perfect!

i put some quinoa on to cook (about 20 minutes, i’ve found, in a 1:2 water ratio) and put on some fresh spring onions (also from our produce box :) to start browning with some butter while i sliced up the fennel heads.

we also had some leftover pork chops from dinner with the folks (one of which i used on a pizza at my birthday party the night before ;) so i sliced one up and tossed it in with the onions and fennel.  

i stirred occasionally ‘til the quinoa was done, putting in some fresh garlic towards the end.  i mixed a little olive oil and salt in with the quinoa, which i put first on the plate and put the stir fry on top with a little fresh fennel “leaf” garnish.

pork chop and fennel stir fry over quinoa

approximate price: $5