Quinoa Salad

I was trying to get a quick lunch at a supermarket the other day and I decided to get some quinoa salad in addition to my bread and brie.  I haven't had it in a while, and what I really liked about it is that it was minty.  I don't usually use mint in food, but suddenly this seemed like a great idea.  So, I decided to add mint in my next quinoa salad.  Quinoa has some great nutritional benefits, but in all honesty it is plain and tasteless.  I made a different kind of quinoa salad a couple of years ago, and described some of the nutritional features.  You won't lure hungry customers into your restaurant with quinoa salad for sure, but it makes a great healthy side to a good meal.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 medium size tomato
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• 2 green onions, chopped
• radish, chopped
• 4-6 stalks of parsley, chopped
• 10 mint leaves, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional ingredients: bell or banana peppers, dried cranberries

In a small to medium cooking put combine quinoa and water.  Bring to boil, then turn the hear down and continue to cook covered for 15 minutes.  Check on it occasionally.  The water should be completely absorbed when finished.  

While quinoa is cooking, chop up the veggies.  I like to cut them into small pieces so that it would mix well and I can get many different flavors in one bite, but you can cut them however you like.  

When chopping parsley, I use the leaves only and discard the stems.  Stems are OK to use as well, just a little more crunchy.  

Combines all the chopped veggies and herbs in a dish large enough to accommodate your quinoa in addition to veggies and herbs.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper and mix.  

When quinoa is done cooking, let it cook for a while.  You can mix it with a spoon to allow it to cool faster. When quinoa has cooled down to room temperature, add it to the bowl and mix well.  

Serve cold as a side dis, appetizer or a salad.  

 

Twisted Pizza Sticks

These pizza sticks are the best thing since sliced bread!

Pizza sticks make great party food, especially for kids parties. You can make these in large quantities and serve them to your guests as snacks or appetizers. Or just instead of bread- add a twist to the regular sliced bread.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp flax seeds (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

pan or oil

1 Tbsp butter

1tsp coarse salt

Parmesan cheese

garlic powder

dried oregano

Start with my favorite pizza dough recipe. Split the dough in 6 parts and roll them out into sticks like on the picture below. Preheat the over to 450F at this point.

Wrap them around skewers for grilling kebabs. Oil the pan and place pizza stick skewers on it.

Melt butter in a separate dish.

Use a brush to spread it over the pizza sticks.

They should look shiny like this.

Sprinkle salt, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese and oregano on top.

Bake at 450F for about 15 minutes.

Serve with marinara dip on the side (maybe not such a great idea if you are making those for kids party).

Potstickers

INGREDIENTS:

Dough for potstickers

1lb ground pork

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 small bok choy, chopped

1 carrot

2 tbsp minced ginger

cilantro

green onions

hot chili sauce

salt

oil

Sauce:

soy sauce

vinegar

Cut up garlic, carrot, bok choy and sauté in oil. Add meat and stir until completely cooked. Ad salt and chili paste. Turn off the stove burner and then add chopped green onions and cilantro.

Place about 1 spoon of filling per dumpling. Use water to seal the edges. Press with fingers and set aside. Repeat this process for each dumpling. This is a tedious job as you have to make them one by one, and it takes a while. It is a good idea to have a "dumpling party" and have your friends over to make a large batch. It will go fasted with more people, and it will also give you an opportunity to bond and tell each other how your day went. Then you can freeze them uncooked and use them later.

Fry in hot oil on both sides.

You can also try a healthier option and steam then or cook them in water.

Serve with the sauce you prepared by mixing soy sauce and vinegar in equal proportions.

Turkish Spread

INGREDIENTS:

1 eggplant, medium size

3-4 garlic cloves

1 lemon

1 cup yogurt

1-2 Tbsp mayo

1 Tsp ketchup

1 Tsp dijon mustard

1 Tsp olive oil

salt, pepper taste

black olives to decorate

3 cups water

Peel eggplant and cut it into 1/2 in squares. Chop garlic into large pieces. Squeeze lemon into water. Boil the water and cook the eggplant and garlic. Drain the water and discard it. Press with spoon to force all water out. Mash the eggplant and garlic together.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Put in a nice serving dish and decorate with black olives. You can also decorate with other colorful herbs or veggies, such as cherry tomatoes and chives.

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Dried Pepper Spread

INGREDIENTS:

10 dried red peppers

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

150g finely ground walnuts

1/3 cup oil

salt to taste

2 Tbsp oil to spread over the top

1 radish to decorate

Cook dried red peppers until they become soft (about 30 minutes). Discard all the seeds. Use a sharp knife to scrape all the meat from the skin. Discard the skins. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Once in a serving dish, spread more oil over to top to create a shine surface.

Decorate with a radish. You can use a grater to cut a radish into a thin strip all around, then form it into a flower.

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Smoked Salmon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

85g purpose flour

1 Tbsp butter, softened

1 green onion, chopped

100g smoked salmon

120g cream cheese

chopped chives and/or parsley

salt to taste

First make the crapes. Mix egg, milk, flour, button, salt and green onion. Allow it to rest for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. The dough will be denser than for regular crapes. Make 4 thick crapes. If you have chives and parsley, shop it and mix in with cream cheese. Spread cream cheese over crapes. Cover with smacked salmon. Roll. Cut off the ends. Wrap each roll into the foil and levee in the refrigerator over night. Take out before serving and cut into 6 peaces each.

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Portobello Mushrooms with Blue Cheese and Ham

I went to Lake Tahoe last weekend with a couple of friends for my 33^rd Birthday. Fresh mountain air and the beach are just about the most relaxing things I can think of. Often with a large group of people there are different ideas of what activities we should do, especially with all the choices given at Tahoe, but after a fun day outdoors, everyone is united in the same feeling- hunger. Renting a house rather than staying at a hotel makes this an extra fun activity as well. BBQ party on the patio and sitting around a fire pit are just a perfect ending to a great day.

We didn’t have a large group this time, so our BBQ was not as elaborate as it can get. Still, I wanted to share one recipe with you that we made there and was really good.

• Ingredients:
• Portobello mushrooms
• Crumbled blue cheese
• Ham, chopped
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350F. Wash the mushrooms, set them upside down on aluminum foil and salt them. Fill the caps with cheese and cover with ham. Sprinkle olive oil on top. Bake for about 15 minutes. Then sprinkle parmesan before serving.

Flatbread Pizza with Artichoke Hearts

Here is a simple idea for easy to make party food- flat bread pizza! It is very night, not loaded with cheese and sauce. It looks pretty- everyone will ask you how you made it.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp flax seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

Toppings:

1/8 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves

t tsp oregano

salt 1 tsp salt

3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

5 slices of ham

5 baby portobello mushrooms

5-6 pieces marinated artichoke hearts

1-2 tomatoes, sliced

grated Parmesan cheese

Roll out the pizza dough and place it on the parchment paper, or in the pregreased pan.

Mix oil, garlic, salt and oregano in a cut and allow it to infuse for some times. I usually prepare this while the dough is getting ready. Spread it over the dough as a base layer. You can also use butter instead of olive oil.

At this point, preheat the oven on 450F.

Then place all the toppings in order.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Then you can brush more olive oil on the crust and sprinkle some Parmesan over the top.

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Fried Green Tomatoes

It's December in California, and I still have some green tomatoes in my garden. They have a hard time turning red as the days are shorter and the weather is cooler. These are not going to be a salad quality tomatoes. But there is still a chance for them to be a part of a delicious meal.

Ingredients:

4-5 green tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

2 tbsp milk

1/2 cup corn meal

4 tbsp olive oil

Cut the tomatoes into about 1/2 inch slices. Cut the ends off, so that both sides are flat. Salt these slices on both sides and allow them to rest for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, set up your flour, egg and milk batter, and corn meal dipping bowls.

Dip the tomato slices into the flour first, coating it completely on both sides, then in eggs, and at the end in corm meal.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the battered tomato slices on both sides until golden brown.

Serve with fresh bread. Fried green tomatoes are also really good with cheese.

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Grilled Veggies

Grilled veggies make a great side dish for grilled meat. Take advantage of the summer time to consume these healthy nutritious foods.

Both eggplant and zucchinis are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and very good source of dietary fiber, which makes them a great addition to your diet.

Eggplant contains over eighty different nutrients, so you can't go wrong with an eggplant diet. In addition, it contains numerous vitamins and minerals. Eggplant also contains phytonutrients, antioxidants which can help prevent damage from free radicals and protection from certain types of cancer. One of the photonutrients that helps to make up eggplant nutrition is nasunin, a powerful antioxidant found in the skin of the eggplant. Nasunin helps to protect the lipids which are found in the membranes of brain cells.

There is a wide verity of zucchinis available, but they are not all equally nutritious. The darker the zucchini, the more nutritious it is. Zucchinis are rich in folate, potassium, vitamin A and C. Most of the nutritions are in the skin, so don't peel it, just wash them well.

Ingredients:

• eggplants
• zucchinis
• oregano, thyme, rosemary
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Slice up the eggplants and zucchinis. Salt the veggies first, then sprinkle some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and herbs.

Grill on both sides until soft. This should take a couple of minutes per side.

Grilled veggies are good as a side dish with meat, or you can make appetizer sandwiches with them. You can also use grilled veggies as an eatable decoration on the serving plate.

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Fire Roasted Salsa

Salsa- the great party snack food. Why not make your own? It's easy. Fire roasted salsa has a great flavor, and it makes a nice appetizer while you are waiting for your meat to grill.

Again, I got the veggies at the local Mexican produce store, Country Farm Produce on Wolfe and Old San Francisco in Sunnyvale. I go there because they are a good variety of peppers, tomatoes and other veggies. And it's cheap- you can get a couple of bags full of veggies all for less than $10, while at a supermarket it will cost you 2-3 times as much.

Ingredients:

10 roma tomatoes

1 medium size red onion

2-3 garlic cloves

2 jalapeños

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp oregano leaves

1/2 bunch cilantro

juice of 2 limes

Cut the tomatoes and jalapeños lengthwise. Peel the onion and cut in half.

Place the tomatoes, onions and jalapeños on the grill.

When the start blistering and the skin starts to peel off of the tomatoes, they are done.

Blend them together with the rest of the ingredients. It will not all fit in the blender, so you may have to blend it in several stages and mix all together in a bowl.

Serve with fresh corn chips.

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Stuffed with Cheese Rolled with Bacon

Rule of thumb- you want the dish you are cooking to turn out really well, just add bacon. It's a sure thing! I always keep some bacon in my freezer, you never know when you might need it.

Peppers and cheese go really well together. Peppers, cheese and bacon combination is even better.

I went to my favorite Mexican produce store and got a mix of peppers- jalapeños, poblanos, banana peppers, bell peppers etc. You can use any peppers you'd like.

Ingredients:

Peppers

feta cheese

cream cheese

bacon

Wash the peppers.

Then core them.

Stuff with your favorite cheese. I chose feta and cream cheese.

Wrap them in bacon. One bacon strip per pepper should be sufficient. Maybe two for the bigger ones.

Grill them until bacon is fully cooked and peppers start blistering. Grill them on both sides. Turn them over carefully, making sure they don't unwrap.

Serve as an appetizer or a side dish next to grilled meat.

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