Quinoa with Southern Greens, Eggs, and Carrot-Corriander Vinaigrette

This is one of those recipes that started with an idea and snowballed from there. I was reading Shauna Ahern’s post on Gluten Free Girl and the Chef about what salad meant during her childhood vs. what it means now, and was struck with the regional and generational similarities between her childhood idea of salad and mine. For her in California in the 70s, salad meant iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, croutons and Ranch dressing. For me in Ohio in the 80s, salad meant much the same – iceburg, crappy tomatoes, maybe some cucumber if you’re lucky, definitely some cheese, probably bacon bits, always croutons, and a big heaping helping of French or Catalina dressing.

Now, for the both of us (and it seems the nation as a whole, by and large), salad means much, much more. I eat some variation on a salad at least once a week for dinner and usually twice or more for lunch, and not even generally a lettuce-based variety.

I was also looking for a great quinoa main for the week and the vinaigrette sounded like an interesting new take on familiar ingredients. I stuck mainly to her ingredient suggestions for the ‘salad’ itself, subbing and adding as my pantry allowed. The vinaigrette I didn’t monkey with – over the years I have come to trust her vision regarding taste building (especially with sauces). I’m thinking about possible additions, but nothing is really resonating – I might add some smoke next time through cumin or chili powder because I’m on a smoke kick; but the vinaigrette is great without that note.

_DS33191s

Quinoa with Southern Greens & Eggs

1 c. quinoa
2 c. chicken, turkey or vegetable broth
3 c. mixed Southern greens (collards, turnip greens, mustard greens)
1/4 c. pine nuts
4 eggs
1/2 avocado
1/4 c. or so Carrot-Coriander Vinaigrette (see below)
Salt & pepper to taste

Rinse the quinoa and add to a medium pot with the stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and curlicues open up.

Add your eggs to a small to medium pot and cover with water (cover + 1 inch). Put over high heat and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute, cover, and turn off the heat. Let sit 8 minutes. When the eggs are cool enough to deal with, peel and cut into quarters.

Wash, de-stem and chop your greens roughly. Bring a large pot of water about half full up to a boil. Add a palm of salt and the greens. Boil 5 minutes and drain.

In a small dry pan, toast the pine nuts until browned.

As your ingredients are ready (minus the eggs), add to a large bowl. When everything is there (minus the eggs and avocado), toss to combine. Chop the avocado and add to the bowl, along with the vinaigrette. Toss and taste for seasoning. Add more salt or dressing as needed. Spoon into a bowl and top with egg quarters.

Carrot-Coriander Vinaigrette

2 tsp. coriander seeds
2 c. carrot juice
1 medium shallot
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
3/4 c. olive oil
2 Tbsp. cilantro
Salt & pepper to taste

For instructions, see the original post from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef

Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette, Shaved Fennel & Mache

I missed quinoa during my paleo excursion. I missed whole grains in general, to tell the truth. But, I feel like I learned another tool for my eating healthy and right arsenal – one that will help keep me mindful about not eating starch for starch’s sake and about nutrient quality/quantity in my dishes.

I first served this dish with the seared scallops called for in the original recipe, and man were they good. Then I ate the leftovers as-is with a bit more fennel for bulk, and that was great too. This dish is a winner all around.

_DS33163w

Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette, Shaved Fennel & Mache

Adapted from Seared Scallops on Black Quinoa with Pomegranate Gastrique by Sprouted Kitchen

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 c. vegetable broth
1 bulb fennel
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. chives
1 c. pomegranate arils
4 oz. mache
2 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
3/4 c. vegetable broth

Rinse your quinoa and put into a medium saucepan with the 1 1/2 c. vegetable broth. Bring up to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to a simmer, and let simmer 18 minutes or until the broth has absorbed and each little grain has opened to a curlicue.

While the quinoa is working, tackle your vinaigrette and the rest of the salad. In a small saucepan, bring the pomegranate molasses and remaining vegetable broth to a boil. Let go until reduced by half or so, about 6-8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Slice your fennel paper thin (I used a mandoline). Add to a large bowl with the mache, olive oil, pomegranate arils, and chives (which you have chopped or thinly sliced). Hit with salt and pepper.

When the quinoa is done, add to the bowl. Toss to combine and dress with the vinaigrette.

Serves 2 for dinner + 2 for lunch.

Lemon & Chive Flecked Broccoli Soup

This is a great little soup – chock full of vegetables with enough backbone to be satisfying on its own as a dinner bowl.

Vegetarian, gluten-free and paleo-ish. While Parmesan cheese is not paleo, if you buy good quality from grass-fed milk, a hand full + a rind in a big pot of soup is not going to kill you.

_DS33125w

Lemon & Chive Flecked Broccoli Soup

Adapted from Broccoli Soup with Lemon Chive Cream from Orangette

Soup:

1 big bunch broccoli
1 yellow onion
2 leeks
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive or coconut oil
5 c. Turkey stock (or chicken or vegetable – whatever light stock you have on hand)
1 Parmesan rind (about 2 inches square – omit if strict paleo or vegan)
Kosher salt to taste

Make the soup. Slice your leeks (white and green parts only) into thin discs and rinse to clean, making sure to separate the rings to get into all the places grit likes to hide. Halve and slice your onion thin.

In a heavy-bottomed stock pot or dutch oven, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. When the fat is warm, add the leeks and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent (about 10 minutes).

While that is working, dice the garlic and chop the broccoli (stems included).

When the onion is translucent and the leeks are nice and soft, add the garlic and cook a minute or two more (until you start to smell the garlic). Add the broccoli, stock, Parmesan rind and a big pinch of salt and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook partially covered about 20 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.

While your soup is working, get your lemon and chive cream ready to go.

Cream:

The top layer of thick cream from 1 can of full-fat coconut milk that has been chilled + a little extra coconut milk for added body
2 scallions (white and pale green parts only)
Chives
1/2 a lemon
Grated Parmesan
Big pinch salt

Slice the scallions into thin rounds. Snip or mince chives until you have a big hand full. Zest and juice the lemon.

In a medium bowl, combine the coconut cream with the scallions, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a big hand full of grated parmesan cheese. Add a big pinch of salt and taste. If it needs more, zap it again. You’re going for light, bright and acidic but not overly bracing. If you need a little more body or things are looking not creamy enough, add coconut milk a little at a time (tasting as you go) until it looks just right.

Back to the soup.

When your soup is done, remove the Parmesan rind and either whiz with an immersion blender or buzz in a regular blender until mostly smooth. I left a few chunks here and there for added interest but a velvety smooth soup would be just as nice. Don’t forget to remove the Parmesan rind, especially if you’re going the immersion blender route. I forgot, and while my Vitamix disappeared it just fine, Parmesan rind is still not good eats.

Top with the lemon & chive cream and serve. Serves 2 for dinner with 1-2 lunches.

Tangy Chipotle Slaw with Pecans

This slaw makes the best of winter with the sort of tangy, smoky, spicy kick usually reserved for brightening up a summer fete. I served this slaw piled on top of these paleo tortilla crepe things, with some leftover flank steak and seared broccoli stalks. Yum.

If you’re southern, you can be forgiven for wanting to toss a handful of golden raisins into the mix. Eating my bulked up version (I added the broccoli florets and pecans) for salad the next day, I could almost smell the warm grass and smoked pig.

Paleo (with aioli), gluten-free and vegetarian (ish – contains eggs – sub for vegan mayo if going that route).

_DS33111w

Tangy Chipotle Slaw with Pecans

2 carrots, shredded
1/2 head Savoy cabbage, ribboned
1 Fuji apple, julienned
2 crowns broccoli, separated into bite-sized florets
1 cap organic apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. pecans, chopped or halved
1/2 c. aioli (if you have to sub mayo, at least use one made with olive oil)
2 tsp. adobo sauce (the sauce in a can of chipotle)
6 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. organic apple cider vinegar
2 big pinches salt

Toss the first 5 ingredients together while you are making the dressing and toasting your nuts.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl, thinning out with a splash of water if you need it.

Pour over the slaw and toss to combine. When the nuts are nice and toasted, throw them in as well.

Serves some to a bunch – If you’re eating this on top of a burger or taco, it goes a long way. Big lunch bowlfuls will get you 2.

Breakfast of Champions: Green Smoothie

It seems like the whole (healthy eating) world has jumped on the smoothie bandwagon. Internet fisticuffs have broken out over the relative merits of blending vs. juicing. Crazy eyed evangelists for both warring factions spout suspicious claims from the rooftops. Pinterest orgy groups have formed.

So, what am I doing? Adding to the noise by posting a smoothie recipe. I can’t help it; this recipe is good. Like really good. And I can’t find any fault with the health content.

My DH and I got started on smoothies innocently enough: he’d been listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast (check it out if you haven’t – he’s not a douche like I had feared he would be; he actually has some really great guests and some interesting nutrition “experts”. Plus, he’s really kind of hilarious) and Rogan mentioned how much he really likes his morning green smoothie. And then he had nutritionists on talking about smoothies and although they might argue about how you get the juice in the glass, they couldn’t argue (much) about more vegetables being good for you. Some guests cautioned about fat soluble vs. water soluble vitamins, sugar content, and whether liquid veggies were better than veggies you chew; but the overall consensus was veggies = good and controlling where those veggies come from = even better.

Needless to say, we were intrigued (and visions of a crazy high-powered blender danced in my DH’s head). We started small – 1 blended smoothie from the health store down the road (which we split, because ack! $10!). Both of us absolutely loved it, so we did the (relatively) cost-conscious thing and started buying Naked Juice. But we felt bad about it because of the pasteurization and the sweet taste and we were pretty sure it was really bad for you. So we hemmed and we hawwed and we argued and we justified and finally we sprung for a refurbished Vitamix blender. And now that $7 a day smoothie habit costs around $5 and we are a month in to making back enough dough to break even on the monster that now sits in a place of honor in our kitchen.

My DH is the smoothie mix master in the family – he gets up first, and enjoys the mad scientist aspect of creating mixes. I don’t mind, it gets him to clean the kitchen more often. That, and he’s great at it. 🙂

_DS33074w

Big Green Breakfast Smoothie

Serves 2

1 apple
1 banana
4 stalks kale
1/2 c. fresh spinach
2 stalks celery
Small hand full cilantro
1 tsp. spirulina
1/2 c. orange juice (the healthiest 100% juice you can find)
1 c. coconut water (100% pure – if you can’t find a brand with no additives, use regular water)
1/2 avocado
1 inch ginger

Whiz everything up until smooth. This is a thick shake-like smoothie that fills you up until lunch.

Added bonus for metric nerds: Self Magazine’s site has a really good nutrition calculator. I ran this smoothie through it, and this is what came up for nutritional value:

289 calories, 56 from fat (7g total)
213mg sodium
59g carbohydrates (11g dietary fiber)
6g protein
131% Vitamin A
152% Vitamin C
13% Calcium
13% Iron

How awesome is that?

Full metrics with goodies like nutritional targets, fullness factor, glycemic load, inflammation factor, nutrient balance, protein quality, calories, carbs, vitamins, fats, minerals, sterols & other substance breakouts here. *nerd squee*

Ginger Curry Carrot Soup

This simple carrot soup comes together in no time at all and makes for a hearty, healthy weeknight meal. Paleo friendly, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free.

_DS33032w

Ginger Curry Carrot Soup

Based on Simple Ginger Carrot Soup by Paleomg

1 1/2 lb. bag carrots, chopped
4 c. vegetable broth
1/4 c. coconut milk
1 yellow onion
3 inches ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 palm full curry
2 tsp. garam masala
Salt & white pepper to taste
Drizzle grapeseed or walnut oil (optional)
Toasted pecans for garnish (optional)

Halve and slice the onion thin, mince the garlic and peel & mince the ginger. Heat a large pot over medium and add the coconut oil. Add the onion, garlic & ginger and cook until the onions are translucent. You don’t want to burn them, so stir frequently as you are chopping the carrots into large-ish chunks and gathering your other ingredients. I let my onions go until they were just beginning to brown at the edges, and they were terrific.

When your aromatics are where you want them and the carrots are ready, add carrots along with stock and coconut milk. Stir and add the curry and garam masala with some salt and white pepper. Simmer 20 minutes or until the carrots are soft.

Once the carrots are soft, blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Alternately, you can use a food processor or blender.

Return to the pot and taste for seasoning. Add more if needed. Simmer an additional 10 minutes or until your desired thickness is reached.

Drizzle with a little oil and top with toasted pecans if desired.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Gluten-free Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Chard and Brown Butter Sauce

Yay, gluten-free and paleo friendly gnocchi! I was so excited to find this recipe using almond flour on the interwebs, and it does not disappoint. This is a hearty, filling, and satisfying meal and comes together in just enough time for a (late) weeknight meal. And, as an added bonus, it’s chock full of vegetable goodness.

_DS33028w

Gluten-free Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Chard and Brown Butter Sauce

Based on Baked Rosemary, Almond Flour & Butternut Squash Gnocchi by The Urban Poser

Small butternut squash
3 c. finely ground almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 egg yolk
Big pinch salt
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp. fresh basil
2-4 cloves garlic
1 bunch chard
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side up on a cookie sheet and roast 45 minutes or until softened. When the squash has been working for 10 minutes or so, toss in 3 cloves garlic still in their paper.

Scoop out about 1/2 to 3/4 c. squash and add to a large bowl with the almond flour, egg yolk, salt, herbs and roasted garlic.

Work ingredients until they are well mixed together and form into a ball. Your dough will be a bit sticky, but it should hold together well. If it is too wet, add a little more flour. If too dry, add a little more squash. Coat your ball of dough with olive oil and chill about half an hour.

While your dough is chilling, make the chard. Wash chard and cut into ribbons. Add the olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chard, and sautee until it is wilted down. Kick the heat up to medium high and add the butter. Sautee until the butter starts to brown. Salt & pepper to taste and remove from the heat.

When your dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350. Take pinches of dough and form into grape-sized balls. Place dough grapes onto a cookie sheet, and lightly press with a fork while holding the sides so you have a gnocchi shape. I got about 45 gnocchi out of the batch. Brush the tops of the gnocchi with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Bring your chard back up to temperature and toss with the gnocchi when it gets out of the oven.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Romanesco, Radicchio & Yellow Pepper Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette & Avocado

This hearty warm salad makes a great weeknight meal. It’s light but filling and the warm roasted veg really hits the spot. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free & paleo-friendly.

Romanesco, Radicchio & Yellow Pepper Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette & Avocado

1 head romanesco
1/2 head radicchio
1 yellow pepper
5 scallions
1/4 c. blanched, slivered almonds
Big hand parsley
1 avocado
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Salt & pepper to taste

For the vinaigrette

1 Tbsp. white wine vinaigrette
2 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tsp. honey
3 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Turn your broiler onto high while you separate the romanesco into pretty little florets. Alternately, you can chop the romanesco. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and salt & pepper. Broil 10 minutes, flip and broil an additional 10 minutes until softened and browned.

While your romanesco is going, halve and slice the radicchio; chop the yellow pepper; and slice the scallions. Heat a large pan over medium heat with a Tablespoon of coconut oil and add the veggies, reserving the dark green scallion tops for another use. Sautee until the veggies are browned and softened. If you want a little char on your radicchio, kick the heat up a notch – charred radicchio is fabulous. Salt & pepper to taste.

While that is kicking, toast your almonds in a dry pan. Remove from the heat and chop.

Chop the parsley and scallion tops and set aside.

Make your vinaigrette. Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients together – salt & pepper to taste.

When the romanesco is done, add to the veggies in the pan. Turn off the heat. Chop the avocado and add to the mix, along with the almonds and parsley scallion mixture. Toss to combine and drizzle the vinaigrette over top. Toss again and taste for seasoning.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

So pretty…
Looks like a fractal
Vibrant color on a cold day? Yes, please.

Creamy Squash Ribbon Red Pepper Pasta (Paleo)

This paleo-friendly, gluten-free & vegan pasta is a diabolical way to sneak zucchini and other soft squashes past the squash texture-averse. By cutting the squash in ribbons, the squishy texture disappears and they become more palatable (even for Southerners who grew up hating the gloppiness and squeek of squash casserole). The ribbons also look like pasta; more important than looks alone, your belly is also tricked into thinking it has just consumed a mound of pasta. Yum all around. The creamy sauce helps with this as well and doesn’t taste like coconut – with the nut butter, peppers and other spices, it ends up tasting savory and rich.

I loved this pasta; my squash-averse DH ate it warily, but didn’t have any real complaint about it other than he knew it was squash. I’m sure the presence of a big ol’ slab of London broil on the side did wonders for the pasta’s begrudging acceptance.

20121103-080604.jpg

Creamy Squash Ribbon Red Pepper Pasta

Adapted from Paleo Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Steak and Pasta from PaleOMG

2 zucchini
2 yellow summer squash
1 roasted red pepper
1 bunch spinach
1/4 c. almond butter (to be paleo, use almond butter – I happened to only have peanut on hand, so I used peanut. The original recipe called for a full half cup almond and would be thicker with the full amount. I halved because I was using the wrong nut butter)
1/2 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. golden mustard (or your favorite mustard – I use Golden’s spicy)
1 Tbsp. coconut aminos
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp. chipotle powder
Salt & pepper to taste

First, prep your noodles. I used a wide speed peeler to make long, wide noodles. If you can use a mandoline without slicing off a digit, the julienne setting makes nice matchstick noodles. I prefer less blood in my dinner, so I went the slow route. It didn’t take that long. If you’re not into wide noodles, stack those babies up and slice lengthwise.

Make your creamy sauce. Add the coconut milk, almond butter, spices, garlic, aminos, red pepper and mustard to the bowl of a food processor. Whiz until thoroughly combined. Taste. Add salt and pepper (and any additional amounts of spice) until you’re satisfied.

In your largest skillet over medium – medium-high heat, add the squash noodles. A dry pan is fine here; you’re going to be adding the sauce momentarily. Toss the noodles a time or two so each is kissed by heat. Add the spinach and sauce and toss (carefully with tongs or you’ll break all your noodles up and throw the spinach around the room) frequently until it all looks cooked. You’re not cooking the noodles to death and you’re not serving them raw – think al dente with wilted spinach. This process should take 5-8 minutes, depending upon how hot and crowded your pan is.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Restrictive But Delicious – ‘Paleo’ Tortillas

I struggled in naming this recipe. This is a straight-up paleo recipe – restrictive, delicious – but so much more. I’m trying to steer clear of the ‘paleo’ label, but I find much of what I’ve been making lately falling firmly in that category. The hubbs and I are trying something different this fall – gone are the whole grain and lentil-heavy dishes of previous seasons; in are the veg and meat-laden dishes prescribed by the followers of paleo-style diets. We’ve decided to limit our intake of dairy to good-quality butter, to forego glutinous starches, to limit our intake of non-gluten substantive substances like lentils, beans and legumes (except for the occasional quinoa and near-weekly sushi nights). We shall see how this goes long-term, but so far we’re kind of liking it. Finding the right fat-to-everythingelse ratio has been challenging (for the hubbs at least, who was making some kind of crazy-ass bulletproof coffee drink with butter and coconut oil and who seems to need more than a salad & exercise goo as fuel for a long run). I seem to be faring better in the switch – other than not being able to cuddle with chickpeas and lentils lashed with greek yogurt, not a huge change (except for upping my meat intake, which isn’t the easiest thing when meal planning – I love me some vegetarian dishes).

For those of you that enjoy my mostly vegetarian dishes, never fear – I’m not abandoning those at all. I will most likely be posting more side dishes that can easily be bumped up to become vegetarian mains. Like this one. These ‘tortillas’ are really, really good. Tortillas isn’t quite the right term, here – they’re more like a crepe – but whatever the taxonomy, they work just fine as a taco wrapper. They taste a little coconutty, a little spicy, and a lot good. I could easily see this basic blueprint morphing into a sandwich wrapper or a pancake with very little trouble. Come to think of it, these would kick ass in place of a crepe in one of those huge cone-shaped sandwiches. Some grilled veggies, something in place of the hummus I’d naturally gravitate toward, a little balsamic, a little garlic… that sounds like sandwich heaven. Ham and cheese also comes to mind, for the non lactose-averse.

Enough with the daydreaming; I’m making myself hungry. I was first introduced to these tasty babies through PaleOMG’s recipe for Pork Avocado Cream Enchiladas. I’m a sucker for avocado crema. Love, love, love it. I could eat it on anything – and have, actually (as a pasta sauce, burger topper, by the spoonful, in ice cream, etc.). I’m also a huge lover of all things tacos, so this was a no-brainer. The entire dish was fabulous – so fabulous, I made the tortillas again for lunch the next day with the tweaks I’d envisioned the night before and polished off every last bit of the leftovers taco-style in a single sitting. Yum. So without further ado: tortilla-y crepes.

20121027-082256.jpg

Restrictive But Delicious Paleo Tortillas

6 egg whites
3 Tbsp. coconut flour
6-8 Tbsp. coconut milk
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Big pinch salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried, ground chipotle
1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. If your batter is too stiff, add a little more coconut milk or some water until it thins out to the consistency you want – somewhere between what you woud use for a thick pancake and a crepe – not too watery, and you’ll have a huge mess; not too pasty, or you’ll have a hard time spreading into a thin layer and you will end up with a pancake.

In your largest skillet, heat 1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a ladelfull of your batter and circle with your spoon to spread into a thin layer (newspaper thin is ideal).

When you can see the edges are browning and just beginning to turn up on the sides (everything will be smelling really nutty at this point), very carefully reach your thinnest most flexible spatula under and flip. Be gentle; these babies want to tear if they’re not quite ready to go. Brown on side 2; transfer to a plate to await filling. This week was all about shredded pork; next week I’m playing with an eggless version for ground beef tacos.

Serves 2-3, depending upon how hungry you are and how carried away you get with the batter on the first few. I ended up making 3 large tortillas and 1 baby tortilla because I’ve only made pancakes like twice in my life and had zero idea of portion size. If you’re a pancake maker, think silver dollar pancake size servings and you will be fine.