Quinoa For Breakfast

Most people have a pretty well defined idea as to what constitute Breakfast food. I never really thought of quinoa as such until a trip to Utah earlier this year. We stop at the Love Muffin Cafe in Moab, UT, after cycling into town from our campsite and I was Hungry. There is was, on the chalk board menu, and it sounded perfect.

The funny thing is I started noticing it other place after that... maybe my mind had shifted somehow and it had been there all along -I just never saw it. Ever have that happened to you?

It was great! A nice bowl of quinoa, chopped fruits and dried raisins served with soy milk on the side. No milk for me so I poured a little water in for moisture and it hit the spot.

Zucchini Avocado Soup

With all the zucchini coming out of the garden this year, finding new ways to eat it has been an interesting exploration. I've got about 3 recipes coming up with said zucchini, all a success. Yeah!

This first one is a cold Zucchini Avocado Soup.

What you'll need for the soup:

• 1 C Water
• 1 med Zucchini (about 3 C chopped, peeled)
• 1 stalk Celery
• 2 crushed Garlic cloves
• 1 Avocado
• 1 tsp dried Dill (or fresh if available)
• sea salt, cayenne to taste

Potato Salad

Spanish explorers brought the potato to Europe in the 16th century, where they quickly became integrated into the various local cuisines. European settlers then in turn introduced the potato to America, where it once again was adapted to local ingredients and dishes.

The first mention of potato salad in a book was in 1597 by John Gerrard who said, among other things: "However they be dressed, they comfort, nourish and strengthen the body."

Fruit Cereal

Now and then I like to take a break from the Green Smoothie in the morning... not all that often, I admit, still, one must vary sometimes, right?

Yesterday was one of those days so I had a big bowl of Fruit Cereal, a recipe inspired by some of the recipes in Brendan Brazier's The Thrive Diet.

If you are using Chia Seeds, always start with this step:
Place about 1 Tbsp of Chia Seeds in a small bowl and generously cover with water. Let it stand about 5-10 mn. or until it turns into a gel.

Zucchini Hummus

I knew today was going to be a work in the yard kind of day, so I planned for a quick, refreshing lunch and got some zucchinis at the store yesterday. This takes minutes to fix and you'll love it.

Let me point out this Hummus is a no-bean-no-olive oil, wholesome healthy dip, good with any veggies and/or crackers you happen to have on hand. It's nothing fancy and it does the job.

Most recipe call for way too much olive oil if you ask me -not that I count calories, mind you, but I'm pretty sure oil carries quite the punch in that department.

Actually, let's look it up... (be right back)

Bean And Veggie Salad

Spring is here and cooling evening meals are calling.

For anything involving beans, a little planning is required if you soak them overnight -as I prefer to do. When in a hurry, I've opted for the "bring to quick boil and let soak an hour" version mayber once or twice, but somehow the beans don't look the same and I'd just as well soak.

In any case, the time for salads is here! Away Soups! Make room for the cool, refreshing salad, with its visual dance of colors that's sure to make any mouth water on sight... this not excluding the "summer soup" off course, which deserves its own recognition.

Vegan Corn Bread

We're definitively into simple, no-frills meals at my house, and corn bread certainly falls into that category.
Liking the taste but not the content, I experimented with several recipes found online -that is, by altering it according to my own food standards, i.e.  vegan, healthy, and no imitation food.

The first couple tries I used water... yeah, I know, came out a little dry to say the least. ;0

With a little tweaking here and there, the recipe is now up to snuff and worthy of its own card in my recipe box. Yeah!

Getting The Garden Ready

Growing food is something I really want to expand and learn about. Going beyond the typical tomatoes / cucumbers range, I am committed to expanding the food growing aspect of my life to new standards. It can be, after all, an important part of preparing food... and as such, pictures of progress will be occasionally posted under the new category "Gardening."

Now mind you, I am learning all this so if I am doing something in the garden and you know better, do feel free to leave me comments on how it's done. :D

Veggy Tacos

I like to browse other foodie blogs just for the fun of it. Off course I look for the vegetarian types, being generally uninterested in meat of any kind.
This time I found what sounded like a great idea from a blog I follow called Frugal Homesteads, and that is to make Taco "meat" by cooking lentils and brown rice together. Who would have thought?

Chia Power Pudding

When I saw these little chia seed bags at our local food cottage, I could not believe my luck and grabbed one on the spot. In the back of my mind was this very dish: Chia seed pudding (similar to tapioca pudding), which I had been thinking about of late.

The first time I had heard of chia seeds was at one of Dr. Ritamarie's monthly potlucks and it was incredible. It's really as simple as it gets to make, and so well within my range... ha, ha.

Here is a great article on the Living and Raw Food site. It's a bit long and worth your time.

Chia seeds are very versatile and can be added to a number of every day food, like hot or cold cereal, yogurt, jam and jellies. This site recommends a 9:1 as water to seed ratio when soaking. In 30 mn the seeds will have turned into a chia gel that keeps in the refrigerator for a couple weeks. 1 pound of seeds makes 10 pounds of gel...

Vegetable Crackers

Sunday is often times cooking day for me. Not sure why, other than it's an easy going day from the start, being Sunday, and a leisure pace naturally sets in as soon as I get up.
It's also a good time to take a break from all the projects I continually work on the rest of the week.

Today was definitively a cooking day! I made crackers (see below), home-sprouted wheat berry banana cookies and have hummus, celery, carrots, and big green salad ready to go with the crackers for dinner tonight. I love Sundays like this!

Earlier, feeling a bit like something new to play with in the kitchen, I reached for Brendan Brazier's The Thrive Diet for a fun as yet un-tried recipe, and all it took was opening the book and there they were, two words: vegetable crackers. Yep, really, that's all it took. You might wonder what's all the excitement about, but for me -and most people in my household- veggie crackers always sound wonderful.

Little Chocolate Cups

This made a tremendous Valentine's surprise, though you do not need a reason to make them. While savoring, we had fun talking about all the different kinds of filling this would work with, and came up with great ideas. More to come! ;P

I found this recipe on the Making Food And Other Stuff blog -the pictures alone are incredible. Just plug in chocolate in the search box and you should find it.

My results may have a bit of a rough draft look to them (he, he), giving me yet another excuse to try it again. Looks did not affect taste one bit though, let me tell you. :D

I'm going to do 2 things:

1. give you the original recipe
2. tell you what I actually did (remember, I don't follow directions very well... sigh...)

Mystery Photo #1

Welcome to the first of many more to come -whenever inspiration strikes- of Mystery Photos here to tickle your imagination. Let's see how well you know your way around the kitchen.

What could this be?
Care to take a guess? Leave a comment below.

The winner will have their name and blog/site url posted forever on this post!

What is Mystery Photo #1 ?

Come on, take your best shot!  :o


Winner: name
From:  blog / site url

Chocolate Cookies

The truth is, I don't know a whole lot of cookie recipes. In fact, I don't know any... really. I've never been a  cookie type person for one, and not liking sweets all that much (with the exception of dark chocolate off course), I never had the inclination to make cookies per-se -and frankly, I don't care to ingest all that wheat flour and sugar to start with either.

Green Smoothie #2

The great thing about smoothies is that anything goes.
Whatever you have on hand and like as a combination is good. No need for anything fancy or a quick last minute run to the store because you are missing a key ingredient, just go with what you have.

Refer to this previous post for basis of Green Smoothie making.

Creamy Carrot Soup

my little man :-)

Yeah, another soup recipe! It's winter after all, and soups are easy, quick, nutritious, and oh so yummy.

This one comes to me through my sister. She made it over the Christmas holidays when we all got together and everyone absolutely loved it, myself included. So off course I had to add it to my "soup repertoire," and share it with you here.

Apple Ginger Breakfast Medley

Breakfast generally means green smoothie for me (see side links). That's what I prefer and what seems to balance me the best. Every few days though, I feel like something else.

That was the case when I went looking for new ideas in Dr. Ritamarie's Power Breakfast book, and Apple Ginger Breakfast Medley won out.