Southwestern Quinoa With Black Beans & Toasted Pecans

1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbs plus 1 tsp olive oil, divided
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs), divided
1 1/2 cups red quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 avocado, sliced
2 Tbs, plus 1 tsp orange juice, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15.5oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

1) Combine salt, cumin, coriander and cinnamon in small bowl.
2) Heat 2 Tbs oil in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1/2 cup green onions, cover and cook 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in cumin mixture, then quinoa. Add 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 18 to 20 minutes, or until spiral-like germ is visible. Remove from heat, and fluff. Place folded paper towel over quinoa, cover pot with lid and let stand 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl.
3) Place avocado slices on plate, and drizzle with 1 tsp orange juice and 1 tsp oil. Season with salt, if desired.
4) Heat remaining 1 Tbs oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds. Stir in remaining 2 Tbs orange juice, then black beans. Cover and cook 2 minutes, or until warmed through. Stir bean mixture into quinoa. Stir in pecans. Serve garnished with avocado, remaining 2 Tbs green onions and pecans.

Review: Oh, I got lazy with this one. I found a stray box of quinoa in the cabinet. I reviewed my collected recipes and settled on this, even though I had ordinary quinoa and not the red stuff. I also didn't have scallions. And, I didn't realize my pecans were supposed to be toasted (seriously, it's in the title, but I'm used to the first step of a recipe saying "toast the nuts"). Despite my issues, this was an incredibly delicious recipe! It had a slightly fragrant taste due to the cinnamon and coriander, but in a perfectly balanced way. It was still savory and VERY filling. It was also pretty easy to make, with lots of protein!

Adapted from:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/southwestern-quinoa-with-black-beans-and-toasted-pecans/

Fresh Berry Tart With Toasted Nut Crust

Crust
1/4 cup each almonds, pecans and hazelnuts
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 large egg yolk

Filling
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbs light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp grated orange zest
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 Tbs orange juice

1) To make crust: Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9-inch tart pan with cooking spray. Spread nuts on baking sheet, and toast in oven 12 to 15 minutes, or until browned.
2) Pulse nuts, flour, sugar and salt in food processor until nuts are ground to powder. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolk, and pulse until moist clumps form. Press dough into bottom and sides of prepared pan, about 1/4-inch thick, and pierce with fork. Freeze 30 minutes.
3) Adjust oven temperature to 400F. Bake crust 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden. Cool.
4) To make filling: Whisk together sour cream, yogurt, brown sugar, vanilla and orange zest in a small bowl. Toss berries with orange juice in separate bowl.
5) Spread filling mixture into the crust with a spatula. Spoon berries over top, a little at a time, until sour cream mixture is evenly covered. Refrigerate 30 to 60 minutes before serving.

Review: I made this the day before Memorial Day, to ensure it had enough time in the refrigerator to set. It looked very patriotic! Unfortunately, I only had dark brown sugar and used that. It still tasted great. The tart was a huge hit, in which nearly everyone asked for the recipe! I've been told to make it again next year. The filling had a taste similar to the white dip that comes with fruit trays. This version is probably a healthier version of that dip, but super easy to make. 

Adapted from:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/fresh-berry-tart-with-toasted-nut-crust/

Swiss Chard Skillet With Egg, Onion & Tomato

1 1/4 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 large bunches Swiss chard
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 large eggs

1) In a small bowl, toss cherry tomatoes with vinegar. Set aside.
2) Remove chard leaves from stems. Chop leaves, place in a large bowl of cool water, and swirl to rinse. Transfer to a colander, allowing a bit of water to remain on leaves. Rinse, dry and thinly slice stems.
3) In a large skillet, over medium heat, saute chard stems and onion in olive oil until softened, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add chard leaves, salt and pepper. Turn heat to high and toss with tongs until leaves wilt.
4) Using the back of a spoon, make four indents, or "nests," in chard. Crack 1 egg into each nest. Cover the skillet, reduce heat slightly and cook until yolks are medium-set, about 4 minutes.
5) Add cherry tomatoes and vinegar to skillet, then serve.

Review: Once again, I attempted a recipe designed to meet Mike's diet standards. However, I forgot he isn't eating tomatoes. So, my serving had LOTS of tomatoes!! This was supposed to be a breakfast recipe, but I thought it sounded more savory and better as dinner (though it'd likely be a great brunch dish). Swiss chard is by far my favorite leafy green. It's taste is quite different from the others, but when the stems are added it's even more flavorful. The onion added a little sweetness and more savoriness. The eggs added some "oomph" and the sweet/tangy tomatoes completely balanced the dish. There were no leftovers! I could also make this again without the tomatoes, just adding a bit of red wine vinegar to the final serving, like hot sauce.

Adapted from:
http://recipes.womenshealthmag.com/Recipe/chard-breakfast-skillet-with-egg-onion-and-tomato.aspx

Cauliflower au Gratin

1 head cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
salt and pepper
8oz cream cheese
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar
2 Tbs coconut flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 Tbs butter, melted

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Mist a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place cauliflower in baking dish and toss with bell pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
2) In a blender, blend cream cheese, vegetable broth, onion, garlic and 1/4 cup Parmesan until smooth and creamy. Pour over cauliflower mixture. In a large bowl, stir together Cheddar, coconut flour, parsley and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Spread evenly atop cauliflower mixture. Drizzle with butter.
3) Bake until gratin is brown and bubbling, and cauliflower is tender (50-60 minutes). Let stand ten minutes before serving.

Review: Mike has been working hard on reducing carbs, which means I haven't been able to cook for him. He's tried making cauliflower gratin and it didn't turn out well. I stumbled on this recipe and thought I'd make it for him. The only catch was that it called for 1 1/2 cups of seasoned bread crumbs to make a crumbly top. He suggested using a bit of coconut flour, but not much since a little goes a long way. It didn't do much for making a crumbly top and it smelled a bit like coconut when done. Maybe we'll try almond flour next time. It was a bit soupy, so I would also recommend reducing the broth to only 1/2 cup. It had a great flavor, though and was very savory!!

Adapted from:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cauliflower-au-gratin

Pecan Pesto Shells With Sausage

3/4 lb pasta shells or another short pasta
3 cups fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup pecan halves
2oz grated Parmesan (about 1/2 cup)
Kosher salt and black pepper
6 Tbs olive oil
14oz vegetarian Italian sausage, sliced

1) Cook the pasta according to the package directions, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.
2) Pulse together the parsley, pecans, Parmesan, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a food processor until finely chopped. With the machine running, add 5 tablespoons of the oil and process until smooth.
3) Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned.
4) Add the pesto, sausage and 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water to the pasta and toss to coat (adding more cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce). Sprinkle with additional Parmesan to taste.

Review: This was one of those times where I took a meat-based recipe and made it vegetarian. The recipe talked about breaking down the sausage and I wonder if sausage shrinks. The vegetarian equivalent doesn't shrink and I ended up with a massive amount of food, much of which was sausage.  It's a good thing I thought this was yummy, otherwise I'd be horrified at the amount of food I'd waste. The pecan/parsley pesto was a nice change from typical pesto flavors. It isn't as sharp (likely due more to a lack of garlic), and has a bit of sweetness to it. This balanced well with the flavorful sausage.

Adapted from:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pesto-pasta-sausage

Couscous With Carrots, Spinach & Pistachios

1 cup couscous
2 carrots, grated
3 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup chopped pistachios

1) Cook couscous according to package directions.
2) While the couscous is still warm, fold in the carrots, spinach and pistachios.
3) Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Review: I made this for Easter dinner. I misread the package directions and ended up using the whole box of couscous (about 4 cups). This meant I made enough to feed about 20 people. I fortunately had 11 people at dinner, but I still have enough to feed me all week. This was tasty, without all the flavors in balance. I particularly liked the addition of pistachios, which softened in the moist heat.

Adapted from:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/couscous-carrots-spinach-pistachios

Banana Blueberry Popsicles

2 overripe bananas
6oz blueberries
5.3oz plain greek yogurt
1 Tbs sugar

1) Place all ingredients into blender and blend until uniformly mixed.
2) Pour into popsicle molds. Should make 8 popsicles, using Tovolo molds.
3) Freeze until solid, about 8 hours.

Review: I had two overripe bananas and didn't want to throw them away. I wanted to make banana bread, but the recipes I found called for 3-4 overripe bananas. I didn't want to make cookies (too many dirty dishes while my dishwasher is broken). So, I stumbled upon a Martha Stewart recipe. Of course, it was much more complicated. It also used too many bananas, so I thought I'd just make half a recipe and simplify it. Go figure, it still made so much that it filled both the mold sets I own. It definitely had a strong banana flavor, but it was cut with a vague berry flavor. It's nice when the flavors balance out!

Adapted from:
http://www.marthastewart.com/335598/banana-blueberry-swirl-popsicles