Quinoa and Black Beans

Curt is always on the lookout for new, healthy foods.  He has been watching a fusion grain cooking show on BYUtv and learned about Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa).  It's a grain I would compare to brown rice, but much more nutritious.  He found it at Whole Foods.  

I was surprised how delicious this recipe was and my kids gobbled it up.  This recipe is great as a vegan meal or as a side dish.  It's a perfect replacement for beans and rice.  Next time, I'm going to serve it in a tortilla with chicken and salsa...yum!

 Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup green pepper
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Crockpot Applesauce

A friend recently requested this recipe,in her words "the very best applesauce I have ever tasted" and I can't believe I didn't post this before, it is so easy and good! I got apples on sale last year for like .49/lb, I bought like 30 lbs, seriously, and made jars and jars of applesauce! (My friend Angel Gladden gave me the recipe).

Crockpot Applesauce

7 lbs Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (an apple-peeler-corer really helps here!)

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

(1/2 tsp cinnamon - add at end)

Toss in crockpot, cook on high 4 hours, mash up with a potato masher, add cinnamon, Enjoy!

Cranberry Relish

2-3 c. cranberries

1 orange (including rind)

1 c. sugar

grind in a food processor

Yummy with turkey and we liked it with ham too.

Cornbread and Honey Butter

Ok, whenever I have made cornbread, it's always been the Marie Callendar's mix...which I always thought was good, until now. I don't think I am ever going back to it. And the Honey Butter...wow! I got this recipe off of the mykitchencafe blog and it's super easy. So here it is...

Ingredients:
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. oil
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk. Stir until just mixed, batter will be runny. Pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish and cook for 35-40 min.

Honey Butter
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. marshmallow fluff

Whip all ingredients together with an electric mixer and serve at room temperature. Can also be refrigerated and softened. This does make a lot, so think about halving it if you don't need very much.

Emily's Wet Burrito Meal

My sister Emily loved mexican food. She was a server at a mexican restaurant for several years and was always very picky about her mexican food; she considered herself an expert (we loved to tease her about that!). This is the recipe for her famous wet burrito meal. Don't make the mistake of calling these enchiladas, Emily would have corrected you! And you MUST make this as a meal, the burritos are only good in COMBINATION with the beans and corn. This is a great vegetarian dish also, and I just love it with homemade guacamole and chips on the side!

Wet Burritos
16oz. sour cream
1/4 c. chopped green onion
8 + oz. Monterrey Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
12 + oz. Colby, shredded
2 t. cumin
1 pkg. Enchilada powder
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 c. water
1 pkg. burrito size tortillas

Mix 1st five ingredients (set aside additional cheese for topping). Spoon in tortilla, roll up, place seam side down in greased pan. Set aside. For sauce, bring last three ingredients to boil, let simmer for 10 min. Taste, and add Tobasco, more tomato sauce, salt, etc. Pour over burritos. Bake 20 min @ 350. Top with more cheese and bake an additional 5 min, till cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Black Beans

2 cans black beans
1/2 large red onion
1 green bell pepper
1 T minced garlic
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Tobasco
1 T cumin
(topping: chopped sweet Vidalia onions)

Blend all but the beans in a blender until very smooth, add to beans and cook 8 hours on low in crockpot. Top with chopped sweet Vidalia onions.

Fiesta Corn

Fresh corn
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
salt, pepper, butter, and Tobasco to taste

QUICK SUMMER SLAW

1 16-ounce package coleslaw

1 bunch green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds

1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1/2 cup olive oil

3 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, balsamic, or raspberry vinegar (your choice)

1 package chicken-flavored ramen noodles

Toss coleslaw, green onions, sunflower seeds and almonds together in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, vinegar, and the seasoning packet from the noodles until well blended.  Pour over slaw.  Just before serving, stir in dry, crushed ramen noodles.  Serves 4-6