Cucumber Caprese Quinoa Shells

I would be lying if I said I haven't been eyeballing caprese recipes lately. To be honest, I have never tried a caprese salad. But I don't understand why... I love all of the basic ingredients!

Lucky for me, my coworker brought me a big bag of homegrown basil today. I searched through the last few recipes I starred, compared to what was in my kitchen and came up with this: a random, combination of these two recipes.

• Cucumber Avocado Caprese Salad
• Orzo Caprese Salad

I loved the idea of adding cucumbers to the caprese salad (since cucumber + tomato = legen... wait for it... dary! legendary!) and I liked the idea of the salad mixed with the orzo (or more specifically, any sort of grain... I was thinking quinoa, cous cous, brown rice... something along those lines to stretch the flavor and make it more filling). So I mixed and matched and made some changes based on what I had on hand, but I really want to try the originals someday!!

Cucumber Caprese Quinoa Pasta

Ingredients (my version):

• 1.5 cups uncooked quinoa pasta shells
• 3 cucumbers 
• 10.5 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup fresh basil (firmly packed)
• 1 cup mozarella (the little balls)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• garlic, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water and mix with a small amount of olive oil to prevent from sticking. Set aside.
2. Follow the directions from this site (excluding avocados because sadly I didn't have them on hand).
3. Eat. A lot.

Yum!

Disclaimer: I am not attempting to call this a recipe, or take any credit for it. I just wanted to share with you the goodness that was my dinner :) 

Stuffed Artichokes

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to posting this.
I had never cooked artichokes before, and this was a wild shot in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty, pretty, pretty good.

.........

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Ingredients

• 2 artichokes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground fennel
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onions til soft. Stir in the thyme, fennel, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stir often and cook until the breadcrumbs start to brown. 

3. While the breadcrumbs are cooking (or after if you aren't the best at multitasking), prep the artichokes. Rinse them and pull off the outer layer of the leaves. Chop off the top and bottom of the artichoke... the bottom so that it will sit flat and the top inch or so to get rid of the sharp pointy thingies. Take some scissors and snip off any remaining pointys.

4. The original recipe has some crazy instructions here on removing the choke from the center of the artichoke... I didn't do this. I couldn't spread the leaves enough to get to the center... so I cooked it as a whole and just didn't eat the center... taadaaa! Lazy person instructions. 

5. Take the stuffing and start stuffin'! Starting from the outside in, gently pull back a leaf and put some stuffing inbetween the layers. Continue doing this to each leaf as far in as you can. My artichokes didn't want to let me into the middle too much... but such is life. 

6. Line a baking dish with foil (for easy clean up... read: lazy), place artichokes upright in said dish. Pour broth into the dish, about an inch or so high. Cook for 60 minutes.

7. Enjoy! 

Healthy Curly Fries

before you read the title/ingredients below and decide it sounds "gross", 

take a sneak peek at the end product 

Mmmmm... so delish!

ok, so now for the secret ingredient

this was another experiment with yet another random vegetable 

that arrived in my weekly box o' organic goodies...

....

turnips!! 

they don't look yummy yet, but they will, just wait

to be honest, i don't think i have ever had turnips before this

and i had no idea what they would taste like 

or how to cook them 

and they sounded gross to me at first 

i mean, just say the word aloud.... turnips... tuuurnippss (see?)

but i feel bad wasting food, and i already had them in my fridge 

so i started trying to brainstorm how i would cook em

then my handy dandy veggie spiralizer arrived on my doorstep

and i just had to use it on something

oh the possibilities! 

soooo spiral somethings?

curly somethings? turnip somethings?

curly fries? turnip fries? 

sure, lets go with all of the above

OVEN BAKED TURNIP FRIES

Ingredients

• 3 turnips
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp onion salt 
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• parsley (to make it look pretty at the end)

 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray (makes for easy clean up - i use organic olive oil spray).

2. Wash and peel the turnips. Cut into fry-size sticks (the thinner you cut them, the crispier they will be - so you choose between steak fries or shoestring fries). If you are lucky enough to own a spiralizer... spiralize those bad boys.

seriously, i love this thing
wheeeeee!

 3. In a large ziploc bag, combine cheese and seasoning. Add turnips and shake to coat (you may dance while shaking if you want, i've found it adds to the flavor as well as the experience).

4. Place turnips on baking sheet and back for 15-20 minutes (or until turnips are tender and golden).

 

before the cookin'

 after!

 5. Enjoy!

taa daaa!

if any of you are curious about what turnips taste like, because i know i was

i found them to taste similar to radishes (when raw) 

and kinda like a potato-onion hybrid (when cooked) 

they have a slight sweet flavor (like cooked onion)

but the overall dish was tasty

and apparently turnips are one of "The 150 Most Healthiest Foods on Earth"

win-win, eh?

have you ever tried turnips? how do you like to cook turnips?

Paul McCartney's Ob-La-Di Enchiladas

looking for a delicious and satisfying recipe for meatless mondays?

well look no further!

i've made this recipe a few times now

and it's always met with rave reviews!

(not to mention it's perfectly named)

rather than making individual enchiladas

i layered the ingredients like a casserole:

one layer tortillas

one layer tofu, spinach, and mushrooms

repeat

worth noting: i used two bunches of spinach

and two packs of mushrooms...

...and NO cornstarch (i've never had any complaints)

this recipe is also dairy-free making it a perfect choice for the vegan and plant-based crowd

enjoy!

(originally posted at House of Glass)

Banana Ice Cream

Ok... so it's not really banana ice cream.
My sister calls it banana nice cream.
I call it fanana fice fream.
You see, I have a habit of putting an 'f' in front of a word if its fake/faux...  
I've been known to eat fushi, wear fackets and play fribbage

Anywho, regardless of what you call it. 

This faux fanana fice fream is felicious! 

BANANA NICE  CREAM

Ingredients:

• Frozen bananas 
• A splash of almond milk (or liquid of your choosing, I use unsweetened original flavor almond milk)
• Vanilla extract (optional)
• Toppings (optional)
• Thats it! Simple, eh?

This dish does take a little bit of forethought... mainly you have to freeze the bananas ahead of time. I find this not to be a problem as I always have bananas on my counter, insisting on turning brown. When the bananas start to go to the "dark side", cut them up into slices, throw them into a ziploc bag and throw that bag into the freezer. 

Disclaimer: Since this "recipe" is super simple, I will elaborate un poco for your reading entertainment. 

Step 1: Gather ingredients: Open your freezer, grab and remove banana bag. Open your fridge, grab and remove liquid. Open your pantry/cupboard, grab and remove vanilla extract and/or toppings. Place on counter. 

Look, ma! I did it!

Step 2: Place ingredients in blender or food processor (all except the toppings, of course). The almond milk (or other liquid) is just to help in the blending process. I usually add a splash (descriptive, right?) and then after blending some have to add a splash more. Start off with a few tbsp and then add more if needed. 

I forgot to take a pic at this stage. Essentially, it would look like this. 

Please use your imagination to transport this blender into my kitchen. 

Then make the blender red. 

K, thanks!

Step 3:  Press the button that makes it work. Since I don't know what device you are using, I can't give you exact directions here. I personally use the "crush ice" button a few times, then maybe a little time on "blend", maybe some time on "puree" ... basically, do work on that banana until it resembles soft serve ice cream.

Step 4: Spoon fanana fice fream into a bowl. Top with toppings if desired (please note: it tastes wonderful with out toppings, we just decided we wanted to be fatties and splurge this time around). Add spoon.

The final product

His: a spoon full of brown sugar

Hers: Sixlets and gummy bears 

I love how gummy bears get hard in ice cream... yuummmmm

Step 5: Enjoy!

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Let me start off by saying that colored cauliflower might be my new favorite vegetable. 

Its just. so. fun.

Yes, it really looks like this. 

In my box of magic this past week, I was lucky enough to get a purple cauliflower. 

Can we say stoked!?? 

I kept trying to find an awesome cauliflower recipe that would be fun to prep and that my veggie-phobic friends would actually eat. 

Then I was shopping and found a mini muffin pan on sale. 

So it was decided my cauliflower would be in mini muffin form. 

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tbsp milled flax seed 
• 1/8 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 1 tsp pizza seasoning of choice)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• whatever additional pizza toppings you'd like

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. Prep muffin pan for pizzafication (grease the cups, line with lines, whatever. The inspiring recipe says to use silicone or foil liners... I just greased my mini muffin tin with some EVOO and it ended up turning out fine. No sticky mess for me. )

2. Wash cauliflower and break into smallish segments. Steam the cauliflower. 

...before...         and        ...after...

i LOVE the color change! So much purpleyness! (thats a word, right?)

3. Drain out all of the excess water. You may want to try pressing it with a paper towel (I let mine sit in the fridge over night so it kinda drip-dried). 

4. Place cauliflower and flax seed in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse until it reaches a rice like consistency. (Mine was a little more gooey than ricey... perhaps a little too much moisture? After baking it ended up being fine.)

5. Mix cauliflower and other ingredients in a bowl. 

6. Spoon into muffin pan. Press the tops so that its compact and flat on top. 

Aerial view provided by the boyfriend... 

I asked him to take some pics for the blog and he turned into the dang paparazzi

7. Place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes. 

8. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and add your toppings. We used mozzarella, lean ground turkey (seasoned with Italian seasoning, garlic and lotsa lotsa pepper) and some parsley flakes for color. 

9. Place back in the over and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown/bubble. (If you are opting for a topping free version, I'd say about 10 more minutes as well, just keep an eye on them) 

10. Remove from oven. Let them cool a little bit and enjoy! 

The finished product :)  

 I'm still in love with the purpleyness!

Things to note:

• Recipe adapted from here.
• I substituted flax seed + the water from steaming the cauliflower for the egg white, for a slightly healthier kick. Hello, Omega-3!
• I doubled the cauliflower, but not the cheese from the original recipe. Another attempt and making it slightly healthier.
• I personally would not consider this meal as a whole "healthy"... But it's a lot of veggies... and three veggie-phobes said they liked it... and it's yummy.So I'll allow it.
• Very easy to make this meal vegetarian.... I'm not sure about vegan though.  Even though there isn't that much cheese, it does help bind the "dough"... I'm sure someone more creative than me has some thoughts/comments on this.

Mean Green Sandwich Machine!

Food, how I do love it so!

Experimenting in the kitchen is one of my favorite hobbies... but its tax season right now. I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and guess that no one reading this post is a tax accountant (Right? Right? Ok, so maybe it was a lame poke in the light), so I can explain to you what that means to me.

• I am working on average 55-60 hours a week (only two more weeks left!)
• I am too lazy to spend hours cooking extravagant meals when I get home from work
• I am too lazy to wake up early and prep a "real meal" before work

Ergo, I've been eating "easy meals", but trying to stay on the healthy side. Hopefully I spend some time in the kitchen this weekend... but until then, here's a peek into what my meals were like yesterday...


Breakfast

Vega One meal shake with unsweetened Almond Milk and a banana. 

I love that the Vega One powder has three servings of green vegetables in each scoop, along with a boatload of other good-for-you's. It's also vegan, mostly raw and super easy for my lazy butt in the morning. 

Also, I love my yellow blender bottle. Yellow makes me happy :) 

Lunch

Mean Green Sammich Machine: Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain bread, cucumber, avocado, alfafa sprouts, vegenaise, red leaf lettuce, and spinach.

Oooooh I do love me a good sammich! My momma used to make fun of me for it. Said that in order to win my heart, a boy should show up with a sandwich instead of flowers. You may laugh, but my momma is a smart, smart lady.

Dinner

(not pictured.... oops!)

Essentially a repeat of lunch, minus the bread. I went to the gym (running plan, workout day #3... woohoo! Go me!) and when I got home I wasn't hungry at all... but I knew I needed to eat something, so I made some lettuce wraps using essentially the same ingredients as the sammich.


Speaking of the gym... when I was leaving there tonight, there was the most gorgeous sunset! I snapped a quick pic before hopping in the car. Arizona really does have the prettiest sunsets that I have ever seen - and that's a bold statement coming from someone who grew up in So Cal watching the sun set behind the Pacific!

Have a great Friday! :)