Quinoa Medley with Black Beans and Corn

Yoo-hoo.. My 100th post.. this is really exciting. To be honest, a year ago, I didn’t have a clue that I would have my own blog. I was googling for a recipe and thankfully found Indira’s Mahanandi. I was so hooked onto her pictures and detailed recipe instructions that I used to visit her blog almost every day.

After a little research on blogging, I realized I can have my own blog for free. It took me almost 2 months to actually shake off my nerves and start my blog and after that, as they say, rest is history. My blog is like my little diary where I jot down the hits and misses occurring in my hideout (my kitchen).

I have to thank my husband for the encouragement and also for his willingness to be the Guinea pig (mishaps have occurred in the past year and lessons have been learnt.. so I thank him for his patience and sometimes courage too). My mom is a great contributor to my blog; she has a new recipe up her sleeve every time I talk to her. My MIL is another great resource and support. I have to thank all the friends I made in the past year (blogging might just be the fastest way to make tons of friends from all around the world) for their constant support via messages and email.

To sum it all up, in the past year, I think I have cooked dishes that I have never cooked before; bought and used ingredients that I never thought can be used; got to know so many wonderful people and cooks from all around the world that I have never imagined could happen so fast.

Thank you Haripriya of Sweet and Spice for tagging me to this three things Meme.

Three things I love:

1. My family
2. Kids, innocence
3. Good Healthy Food

Three Things I hate:
1. Back Stabbing
2. Hypocrisy
3. People being inconsiderate towards others

Three People Who make me Laugh:
1. My Husband
2. Paresh Rawal’s comedy
3. Telugu director Jandhyala’s movies

Three things that Scare me:
1. Horror Movies
2. Sudden ringing of the phone in a quite room
3. Cop car behind me in traffic

Three things I don’t understand:
1. Why some people enjoy hurting others (physically and mentally)
2. Reason for traffic jams in New Jersey
3. Software and electronic mumbo jumbo

Three things on my Desk
1. Desktop
2. Camera
3. Post-its with phone numbers, address and my mom’s recipes

Three things I’m doing right now:
1. Thinking about tonight’s dinner
2. Thinking about my annual review next week
3. Typing

Three things I want to do before I die:
1. Travel around the world
2. Help others as much as I can
3. Never do anything that I have to regret about

Three things I can do:
1. Cook
2. Embroider/ Crafts (been a while I’ve done these)
3. Shopping

Three things you should listen to:
1. Your heart
2. Your well wishers
3. Soothing melodious music

Three things you should never listen to:
1. People bad mouthing others
2. People who praise themself
3. Co-worker talking to their ex-spouse or ex-girlfriend/ boyfriend

Three things I would like to learn:
1. To be more assertive
2. More about human evolution and history
3. To make Sushi rolls (veggie of course)

Three Favorite foods:
1. All eggplant/ brinjal dishes
2. All egg dishes
3. Any veggie dish that is delicious and different (from what I cook)

Three beverages I drink a lot:
1. Water
2. Bournvita
3. Pepsi

Three Favorite book/TV show I read/Watched as a Kid:
1. Enid Blyton series
2. Telugu children’s magazines; Chandamama, Balamithra, Bommarillu & Balajyothi
3. Byomkesh Bakshi – Indian Sherlock Holmes on DD.

Three people I'd like to Tag:
1. Sangeeta of Ghar ka Khana
2. Roopa of Kitchen Aromas
3. Nav of Memories and Meals

Quinoa Medley with Black Beans and Corn

As a part of my eating healthy resolution, I have started cooking more with whole grains (brown basmati rice, whole-wheat pasta etc). I learnt about Quinoa from one of my cookbooks and I bought some a while ago. When I saw this recipe in the recent edition of ‘Vegetarian Times’, I just had to try it. The recipe is super simple to make and it takes fewer than 30 minutes to make which is perfect for a quick weekday dinner.

Here is some useful information about Quinoa. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a “grain” native to Central America and was once called “gold of the Incas”, as the Incas recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors. Quinoa is high in protein and the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Not only is quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, but quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein, quinoa features a host of other health-building nutrients. Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorous, this "grain" may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Ingredients:
Quinoa – 1 ¼ cups, rinsed
Black beans – 1 5 oz. can, rinsed and drained
Frozen corn – 1 cup
Chunky Salsa (home made or store bought) – ½ cup, divided
Chili powder – 1tsp
Cilantro - 1/4 cup chopped
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Salt and Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Bring 2cups of water to boil in a saucepan. Stir in quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add beans, corn and 1/4 cup salsa and chili powder; season with salt and pepper.Return to a boil. Cover and cook 2 to 5 minutes more, or until quinoa is tender.
• Stir in cilantro, oil and remaining salsa. Serve.

This is our dinner for today with stuffed zucchini.

Stuffed Zucchini with Sage

Meeta made her monthly mingle more interesting by making “Take Two” as the theme for this month. She wants us to make a dish with Zucchini and Sage.

To be honest, I have never cooked with sage and was always under the impression that it is used only in poultry dishes (Food TV knowledge). I learnt from my research on sage that it is slightly bitter in flavor and highly aromatic and it enhances meats and poultry and is delicious if used discreetly with beans, cheese, lentils and in stuffings. Even after all this research, I wasn’t sure how I was going to make a dish with zucchini AND sage (thought about making soup.. but I wasn’t sure if it has to be tomato base or roux base).

Finally I decided on making stuffed zucchini (inspired by this recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini site). To be on the safe side I stuffed only one zucchini, in case this didn’t turn out too good, I can still make my soup with the back up zucchini. Luckily I didnt have to use my back up.

Ingredients:
Zucchini – 1, cut lengthwise and halved
Quinoa* – ½ cup cooked
Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Red bell pepper – 1 small, finely chopped
Sage – 1tbsp (fresh or ½ tbsp dry)
Cheddar cheese/ Pepper Jack cheese – ¼ cup
Salt and Pepper – to taste

Tomato-Sage Sauce:
Tomato paste – 3 tbsp
Onion – 1 small chopped
Sage – 1tsp
Garlic – 1 clove
Salt and Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.
• Gently scoop out the flesh of the zucchini with a spoon and roughly chop the flesh. Lightly season hulled zucchini with salt and pepper.
• Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a pan; add the onions, red pepper, zucchini and sage. Cook till the veggies soften for about 10 minutes.
• Add cooked quinoa, salt and pepper; cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• In the mean time make the tomato-sage sauce; heat 1tsp olive oil in a sauce pan, add the onions, crushed garlic & sage and sauté till light brown. Add the tomato paste, 1cup of water, salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes on low flame. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Mound the quinoa-sage mixture in zucchini quarters and sprinkle with cheese evenly.
• Spread 2 tbsp of tomato sauce evenly in a baking pan, arrange the zucchini in a single layer, cover with foil and bake oven for about 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender and the cheese melted.
• Serve warm with more sauce on the top.
  

So, the good news is I didn’t have to make soup with my other zucchini, but the bad news is I wish I stuffed the other one too.. LOL..
As far as sage is concerned, it has a strong flavor that reminded me of biting into raw turmeric, but it complemented my dish without overpowering it.
Ok then.. let me send this dish to Meeta and I’m dying to see what all of you guys have created with Zucchini AND Sage.

*Quinoa ((pronounced "keen-wa") is a super grain, unlike other grains, quinoa is a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids. It is a excellent source of calcium, potassium and zinc as well as iron, magnesium and B vitamins.

It has a mild, slightly bitter taste and firm texture. Grains quadruple in size after cooking and become translucent with an unusual white outer ring.

Note: You can substitute quinoa with brown rice.

Split Pea and Barley Soup

I had this Split pea and Barley soup in a restaurant when I visited California few months ago. It was really creamy and delicious. I looked for the recipe online finally found the one that I thought is going to work. It was raining and chilly here yesterday and hot soup with crispy pita bread at the end of the day was perfect.
I find soups to be very hearty and filling. We are so used to eating rice everyday that eating soup is like eating nothing. But after looking at the amount of empty carbs rice is filling us with, I prefer making these nutrition filled recipes once in a while.

Ingredients:



Green Split Peas - 1 1/2 cups
Barley - 1/2 cup
Celery Stalks- 2
Carrots - 2
Onion - 1 small
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Bay leaf - 2
Dried basil - 1/2 tsp
Dried thyme - 1/2 tsp
Cayenne pepper - 2 tsp (or per taste)
Olive oil - 2tsp
Low-sodium Vegetable stock - 2 16oz. cans
Water - 2 cups
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Method:
• Sort and rinse the peas. Add 3-4 cups of cold water and soak them overnight.
• In a big soup pot, heat oil on medium. Add diced onion, carrots, celery and garlic.
• Let the vegetables sweat out for 5-6 minutes.
• Add bay leaf, vegetable stock, water and the soaked split peas to the veggies. Also add dried basil, thyme, cayenne pepper and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer till peas are tender to touch.
• Meanwhile sort and rinse barley. In a medium pot, add 3 cups of water and barley and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 25-30minutes or until barley is tender. Drain barley and keep aside.
• If you like your soup chunky, you can add barley to the cooked peas at this stage and simmer for another 10 minutes.
• I like my soup smooth and also I wanted to get the same texture of the soup I had before. So I used an immersion blender to make a smooth soup. You can blend it in batches in regular blender.
• Add cooked barley to the peas and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add lemon juice and mix well.
• Adjust salt and pepper to your taste. Remove the bay leaf before serving.



We had our creamy split pea soup with crispy pita bread. This soup freezes and reheats well.

Notes:
• Pre soaking split peas reduces the cooking time to more than half. You can use split peas without soaking too; you will have to simmer longer.
• Dried peas contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber is believed to reduce LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels; and insoluble fiber helps to speed up the passage of food through the intestinal system and improves regularity. Like other legumes, they're also an excellent source of folate (folic acid) and thiamin, another B vitamin. Dried peas also supply some manganese, potassium, and iron.
• Barley on the other hand is high in carbohydrates, fiber and antioxidants; is a source of protein, calcium and phosphorus and B vitamins; and is low-fat and cholesterol-free.