Pine Nut Agrodolce with Quinoa & Zucchini

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

3 Tbs white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 cup fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbs olive oil

1 lb baby zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

1) Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.

2) To make sauce: Bring vinegar and 1 Tbs water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and set aside.

3) Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pine nuts, and toast 3 minutes, or until just golden. Transfer nuts to blender, along with vinegar mixture, mint, parsley, garlic, cayenne pepper and 2 Tbs water; blend until smooth. Set aside.

4) Heat oil in skillet, then add zucchini and saute 5 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Transfer to large bowl, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

5) Toss zucchini with 4 Tbs sauce, add quinoa and stir to combine. Serve warm or cold, with extra sauce on the side.

Review: It's been far too long, but I'm back to blogging! I recently endured another big move and am starting over in a new state. Admittedly, I haven't been cooking much for the past three years. My husband dramatically changed his diet and I couldn't cook for him. It wasn't as much fun just cooking for myself, and I had a huge commute that left me with little time to cook! I've eaten too much prepared foods for the past few years. So, I have a local job now that has a 15 minute commute. This means I promise to cook healthy foods for myself and occasionally make foods that my husband can enjoy with me. Tonight felt really good as I broke in the new kitchen (though some of my kitchen stuff still needs to be unpacked!). Even better, I got to use home grown garlic that I harvested before I left my garden. I wish I had baby zucchini from my own garden, but Trader Joe's (45 minutes away now!!!) helped me out. This was an amazing, yummy dish. The sauce is essentially a chutney and I was eating it with a spoon!! This was pretty good served warm, but I bet it will be even better tomorrow after the flavors have had a chance to meld. 

Adapted from:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/pine-nut-agrodolce-with-quinoa-and-zucchini/

Beer Sorbet

18oz dark beer, flat
5 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) In a medium bowl, mix the beer and sugar. Stir until the sugar has fully dissolved. Add the vanilla extract and stir until blended.
2) Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine. Once the mixture is mostly frozen (no visible liquid), transfer the sorbet into a freezable container. Press plastic wrap onto the top of the sorbet, pushing out any air bubbles. Place the lid on the container (keeping plastic wrap intact) and freeze at least 8 hours.

Review: I made this mostly for giggles, as the idea seemed silly. Mike suggested using one of his home brews. It was a great idea, as the dark beer had heavy overtones of chocolate once it was frozen. It didn't stay frozen for long, once it was scooped up and served. It's not something that will be frozen hard. It earned good reviews from the family.

Black Rice Pudding

1 cup black rice
1 14oz can coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

1) Rinse rice and soak in water overnight.
2) Drain rice and rinse again. Add to sauce pan with coconut milk, water and salt.
3) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 50 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4) Reduce heat to low for an additional 10 minutes, or until the pudding has thickened.
5) Remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla and blueberries. Serve warm or chilled.

Review: I bought a bag of black rice at Trader Joe's, without any clue what to do with it! The website offered no suggestions, but the mobile app suggested rice pudding because black rice is a little sweet. I then stumbled upon a great vegan recipe, though it dramatically underestimated how long it takes to cook!! This was a labor of love, for sure. It can be made in a variety of ways. If dried fruit is desirable, add it in at the beginning so it cooks for the entire length of time. Fresh fruit, frozen fruit and nuts should be added at the end. This wasn't very sweet, and had a bit of a nutty flavor. We'll see if the rest of the family likes it tomorrow!

Gluten Free Banana, Coffee & Chocolate Scones

2 1/2 cups gluten free flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
3 Tbs King Arthur Flour cake enhancer (optional)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs espresso powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut milk (the kind in the can, not the carton)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
2 overripe bananas, peeled & mashed
1 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 400F.
2) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, cake enhancer, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
3) In a large liquid measuring cup, add the coconut milk and honey (should come up to 3/4 cup line). Add the egg and mix together.
4) Pour liquid mixture into bowl with dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Add bananas and again mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips. The batter should be moist and without dry clumps.
5) Place batter into scone pan and bake for 22-24 minutes, until browned and internal temperature of 210F.

Review: These are amazing! Crispy on the outside, a little spongey on the inside. The banana, coffee and chocolate flavors are each well represented.

Adapted from:
http://ninjawoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/gf-sf-banana-muffins-with-carob-chips.html

Warm Lentil & Potato Salad

1 lb fingerling potatoes
1 shallot, diced
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp capers, chopped
2 Tbs cornichons, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 17.6 oz package of cooked lentils

1) Place potatoes in a large pot. Fill with water, ensuring at least an inch of water above the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 5-10 minutes, until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
2) Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix shallots and red wine vinegar. Set aside for five minutes.
3) Add to the large bowl: garlic, dijon mustard, dash of salt, few grinds of black pepper and olive oil. Whisk until well blended. Add capers, cornichons, lentils and parsley.
4) Once the potatoes are done, drain and chop them into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to large bowl and mix well. Serve warm.

Review: The original recipe called for cooking lentils with thyme, bay leaf and a shallot in the water. I much prefer to use the precooked lentils found in the produce section of Trader Joe's. It shaves time off of recipes and it's one less pot to clean! This recipe was not like typical potato salads. I found it to be more of a main dish and less of a side dish. It was spicy and had a bit of 'heat' to it. I loooooooove capers and cornichons, which only added to my pleasure. This was wonderfully tasty and fairly easy to make. It will definitely be made again!

Adapted from:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/01/warm-lentil-and-potato-salad/

Avocado Sorbet

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 pinch salt
1 vanilla bean, split
4 ripe Hass avocados
1/2 cup lime juice

1) Bring sugar, water and salt to a boil in a saucepan; cook 1 minute, or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and scrape seeds from vanilla bean into syrup (don't worry if they stick together), then add vanilla bean to syrup. Cool; remove vanilla bean from syrup, and reserve for another use.
2) Blend avocados 3 minutes in blender or food processor until very smooth. Add half of lime juice and blend until combined. Add remaining lime juice and then vanilla syrup; blend until smooth.
3) Chill, then churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to 1-quart sized container and freeze at least 8 hours.

Review: I was too cheap/lazy to use real vanilla beans and substituted a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. It worked well. I did have difficulties in blending the avocados, which is no easy feat in a blender. Stick with using a food processor and it'll be much easier. As you can see from the picture, it doesn't look very appealing in color or texture. However, it is quite delightful. It has the creaminess of avocados, cut with a hint of sweet. I can't even taste the lime, which is likely just there to prevent the whole thing from turning brown. Unfortunately, I made this two days before my tonsillectomy and was told the day of surgery to avoid citrus juices. As I type this on 1/23/2014, I still haven't been cleared to eat this. I'm glad I sampled it while it was in the ice cream machine and can't wait to this weekend when I'll be in the clear to eat as much as I want!!

Adapted from:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/avocado-sorbet/

Hibiscus-Blackberry Popsicles

1 hibiscus tea bag
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup blackberry juice

1) In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup water until just bubbling (not a full boil). Remove from heat and add hibiscus tea bag. Steep for five minutes.
2) Remove tea bag and mix in sugar. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved.
3) Pour in blackberry juice and stir to mix.
4) Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 8 hours.

Review: In preparation of getting my tonsils out (1/8/2014), I planned to make popsicles and sorbets ahead of time. I found a wonderful recipe for a hibiscus-blackberry sorbet. However, the instructions stated the blackberries needed to be pureed in a food processor, but without chopping the seeds. HOW?! The seeds and pulp would later be strained off, but I couldn't figure out how to prevent cutting up the seeds. So, instead I decided to tweak the recipe idea and come up with a popsicle recipe. The hibiscus tea I used was from Republic of Tea, but it seems a lot of recipes call for Red Zinger. I don't like using Red Zinger because I read stuff about Celestial Seasoning's use of pesticides, but also it has a lot of added flavors. Republic of Tea's hibiscus tea has fewer ingredients. It also has Stevia in it, so I think I could get away with making this without sugar. For the blackberry juice, I used Trader Joe's Blackberry Crush. It has other juices, but still has a strong blackberry flavor (and is totally affordable). The end result was a flowery, berry flavor. It's amazing.

Adapted from:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/blackberry-hibiscus-sorbet/