Pasta and Quinoa Meals

Thanksgiving week was of course a short week, and I only really made dinner once that week, but it was a creative one.

I started with a bunch of canned goods to make a tomato sauce.  If you notice one can is dented, this is because I dropped it.  Never a good idea to buy dented cans, but a different story when you drop them at home.

 

To my canned goods, I added fresh mushrooms.

I like fusili pasta, and these were bought at the local grocer.  I liked them because they were thinner than the kind we usually buy, and they were tricolored.

I cooked my mushrooms first, then I added the artichokes, tomatoes and tomato sauce, plus some black olives I cut in half.  I had also put some garlic in here, and I finished the flavoring off with red pepper flakes and chili powder.

I love colors with my food, so I think the multicolored pasta is always a nice way to go, but it does depend on what you are serving it with.

In this dish, it goes really well.  It was so good and made for delicious leftovers.

My other cooking adventure for the week was Thanksgiving Day.  We went to a friends house, and I decided to prepare my quinoa dish again.  This time, I half and halved the quinoa, regular and red, so I had these nice colors.

 

It ended up tasting great and looking very fitting for Thanksgiving.

QUESTIONS:  What is your favorite kind of pasta? Pasta sauce?  Have you ever tried red quinoa?

Thanksgiving Quinoa

I am skipping the Thursday Thoughts today because the only thought I have right now is a day off and spending time with my husband and some friends.  I hope you are all going to do the same too.

I will share with you my new signature Thanksgiving dish, which will make it’s way on my table every Thanksgiving from here on out.

Here is what I started with.

 

I made 2 cups of quinoa in 4 cups of liquid.  since I was making a sweet dish, I used 2 cups water and 2 cups apple juice, in place of all water.  A big thank you to my sister, Rachel, for that suggestion.  As I brought that to a boil I added 1/3 cup (and a tad more) of dried cranberries and a 1/3 cup (and a tad more) of dried cranberries.  I put them in early on so they would plump up nicely and add to my dish.  Since it was a double batch of quinoa (2 cups dry), it took a little longer than the anticipated 15 minutes, it was more like 20.

At this point I mixed everything up, brought the dried fruit to the top and distributed it, then I added 1/2 cup cashews and mixed it all up again.  Because the dish was hot the cashews will soften but will not be mush because they were only added at the end.  Then I packaged mine up to take to a Thanksgiving party.

It was amazing and I am so impressed that I came up with this dish all on my own.  This is truly a Thanksgiving worthy dish.

QUESTIONS:  What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  What is your signature Thanksgiving dish?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Quinoa Concoction

I work from home for part of my day.  Sometimes I just get an urge to cook something, even though it is technically the middle of my work day.  I guess that is the benefit to a flexible schedule.  Since I am not usually one to get an urge to cook something, I went with it.  I knew I had some food set to expire/go bad, so I started there.

Actually, the only thing not ready to go bad was this quinoa.  I was planning on tofu and veggies, but I wanted a grain to go with it.  What better grain than quinoa.  If you are looking for something that packs a nutrition punch from the grain family, make this your pick. 

First things first, I had to prep my tofu.

I marinated this in balsamic vinegar and a little green olive mustard.

 

I really love my Lock and Lock containers.  I know there are many brands around now, but I have been using these for years.  I put my lid on and lock in place, then I am ready to toss my tofu and coat it with my marinade.

Looking good so far!

Next up were the veggies.

I also have some red pepper underneath all of these other veggies.

 

I sautéed them in a little olive oil and then later added some balsamic.

Once all of this was taken care of, I started on my quinoa. 

  

It only takes 10-15 minutes to cook.

I baked my tofu in the oven, so here it is finished and ready to go.

  

Time to mix it all together.

I enjoyed this dish hot, but it will also be delicious served as a cold quinoa salad.

I had tons left over, so Ryan and I ate some as leftovers.  He liked it too!

QUESTIONS:  What is your favorite grain?  Have you ever tried quinoa? What is your favorite way to prepare quinoa?

Happy Memorial Day!!!  I hope everyone has a great day off and enjoys some time with family and friends.