Pineapple Cashew Quinoa

I mentioned a few posts back that I love quinoa and that I would be posting more recipes using quinoa soon.  Well, here you go!  It is safe to say that I am now obsessed with quinoa and am constantly looking for new recipes.  I love how nutritious it is!

What is also perfect (sort of) is that Tim is back on second shift so I can do whatever I want for weeknight dinners.  This means chick food galore!  I can eat vegetarian meals, have a bowl of cereal, just eat hummus and veggies, or any other random thing at all.  Tim would not go for this quinoa meal alone {if at all?}; he would probably at least need shrimp or salmon to go alongside.  But this was just fine for me.

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup water

1 cup canned pineapple juice

1 tsp low sodium soy sauce

3/4 cup cashews, toasted

2 tsp sesame oil

1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 or 2 carrots, chopped small

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup frozen peas

1 can pineapple chunks {with juice reserved}

s & p – optional {I skipped adding salt because the cashews were salted}

Bring the water, tsp of soy sauce, and cup of reserved pineapple juice to a boil.  Add the quinoa, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, toast the cashews in a dry skillet.  Then remove and set aside.  Add the sesame oil to the skillet, add the carrots, bell pepper, onion, and garlic.  Cook until crisp-tender.  Add the peas, then the pineapple chunks and heat through.  Then add the cashews and cooked quinoa.  Stir to combine.  Taste and add more soy sauce and/or salt and pepper.

Serve and enjoy!

I added sirracha to my serving and it was fantastic.

Other possible add-ins:

garbanzo beans

black beans

broccoli

edamame

fresh herbs

Cinnamon Honey Butter

I found this recipe on Pinterest (my new addiction!) and it claims to be a copy cat of the Texas Roadhouse butter.  I don’t really know about that, but it is really good!  Serve it on biscuits, rolls, toast, waffles, pancakes, or my favorite – baked sweet potatoes.  Get creative.  We even put in on baked acorn squash and it was fab!

Cinnamon Honey Butter
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer until combined and as fluffy as desired. You can add more powdered sugar if necessary. I used the beater blade in my mixer, but the whisk may have been a better choice.

Store in the fridge.  I keep mine in a smallish-sized mason canning jar.

Busted Computer

Just wanted to drop you all a line to say that my home computer bit the dust about a week ago and that’s my excuse for not posting recently. I have at least two recipes ready to post, but I need to add the pictures. I’m trying to decide if I want to share Tim’s computer until mine is fixed or what. But for now I have to admit I’m enjoying this little break. The weather has been too nice recently to be cooped up inside on a computer anyway! I will be back next week with at least one interesting post though. 🙂

A Few Changes

Just wanted to point out a few changes to the ol’ bliggity blog.

The first one is pretty obvious, but a few weeks ago I changed the background.  I just thought it was time for something a little more colorful.  What do you think?

I have also added some “pages” or tabs at the top {under “easy as pie” but above the recipes}.

One page is my wishlist for kitchen related tools/items that I want.  I just like making lists and I’ll never lose this one.  And perhaps the husband will buy me a few things? lol

The other is my bookshelf and that’s where I have put down all the books that I want to read. Again, I love lists.  🙂  I’m sure I’ll add many more over time, but if there are any other avid readers out there who want to discuss books, leave a comment under that section and we can have a “virtual book club”.

I believe that’s all for now, but I am working on few other new additions, so look for them here in a few weeks or months.

Thanks for reading!

Menu 7-5-10

Tonight: I’m trying to convince the hubs to go out to eat.  I have a buy one, get one free coupon for Logan’s Roadhouse that expires today.  I deserve to go out to eat today since I had to work! Pretty sure most workplaces consider today the holiday, but not mine. Hate.
Tuesday: cornbread pizza
Wednesday: chicken tortilla soup {can’t wait for this!}
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: homemade sausage pizza
Saturday: grill burgers
Sunday: grill steaks

Menu 6-1-10

I don’t know why I struggle with meal planning so much!  I need to get back in the swing of planning and cooking meals and I find that I do better when I post menus here.  It holds me accountable!

tonight:   grilled turkey burgers with leftover homemade mac and cheese from last night

tomorrow:  chicken enchiladas

Thursday:  bbq beef cups

Friday:  homemade pepperoni pizza

Saturday:  steaks cooked on the grill and baked potatoes

Sunday:  grilled brats and homemade baked beans

Also, the lettuce is ready in our garden, so we’ll be having side salads with every meal too.

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

Well, here’s another terrific recipe from the Pioneer Woman! The lemon filling is fabulous!

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

Ingredients

• 1-⅓ cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 stick (1/2 Cup) Butter, Slightly Softened
• 1 cup Brown Sugar (lightly Packed)
• 1 cup Oats
• 1 can (14 Ounce) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• ½ cups Lemon Juice (2 or 3 lemons)
• Zest Of 1 Lemon – I upped it to 2 lemons

Preparation Instructions

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan.

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. Top with the other half of the crumb mixture, but don’t press.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.

Serve cool.

Hand Painted Pottery

A few weeks ago a friend {hi Melissa!} and I went to a pottery shop where you paint your own piece of pottery.  Then they fire it for you and you pick it up about a week later.  It was so much fun! I would definitely suggest this outing for any group of friends looking to do something different or even for a party.  This particular shop has a large party room in the back.  Just allow plenty of time to paint your piece {at least two hours} and have fun!!  You may also need to call ahead to reserve a table, but I don’t think it is required.

They had many different pieces to choose from including:  plates, mugs, platters, spoon rests, and seasonal decorations.  Here’s what I painted:

I taped off the outside in random sized stripes and used brick red, purple, sage green, and speckled off-white paints.  The white stripe is just the bare pottery.  Inside the piece, I used brick red on the sides, and sage green on the bottom with a purple stamp.  The edges aren’t as crisp as I would normally prefer, but it does give it a “hand-made” charm and I’m very happy with it overall.  I think it is pretty and useful!  By the way, all of the pieces are food safe after being fired.

I haven’t had a chance to use it as a serving piece yet, but hope to use it often in the near future.  I definitely think I’ll use it with my Pampered Chef serving pieces that sort of match.  One is shown below:

{Source}

Rather than going by memory as I tried to do, I would suggest that you bring something you own with you if you want to try to match it.  As you can see above, I had a few of the colors correct, but totally forgot about the mustard and orange colors.  I did remember that it had skinny stripes and went with the wider and more random stripes on purpose.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I turn to this recipe often for week night meals after work.  Like most chicken breast recipes, it is nice and easy to prepare for just the quantity needed.  That’s usually just 2 for us, but this time I made three and Tim took the extra one to work.

There are a lot of variations that can be made, such as leaving out the ham, and just use flavored cream cheese, add spinach or basil, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.

Stuffed chicken breasts with ham and cream cheese

Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts, pounded thin

6 pieces of thin deli ham {2 per breast}

about 3 or 4 ounces of cream cheese {laughing cow flavored cream cheese is great}

bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Once the chicken breasts are pounded thin, spread each one with about an ounce of cream cheese, then place 2 pieces of ham on each one.  Roll up the chicken and secure with toothpicks if needed.  Coat with the beaten egg and then the bread crumbs.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking rack over a sheet pan.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until done.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are nice change from our usual chocolate chip cookie.  Like all of our favorite cookies do, they stay so soft!  This time it is due to the pudding mix.  You can easily change the flavors of this by using different flavors of pudding and chocolate chips.  For example, use vanilla pudding and semi-sweet chocolate chips for a traditional cookie.  Or use butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips.  Use your imagination for a unique treat!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

{source: allrecipes.com}

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix {I’ve used a 3.9 oz package before and it works fine.}
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips {I used 1 cup white chips and 1 cup peanut butter chips this time.}
• 1 cup chopped walnuts – optional {I omitted}

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Combine the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Mix the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add the eggs and mix well. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and the chopped nuts. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes.