cauliflower tacos!

cauliflower tacos. sounds crazy, right? they're not. they're delicious.

the recipe is from here. 

Makes: 8 tacos, 4 generous servings of 2 per person, or 8 moderate servings.

Roasted Cauliflower  

• 1 medium head cauliflower, separated into florets
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Crispy Chick Peas  

• 1 15-ounce can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano

Cilantro-Pepita Pesto  

• 2 cups fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/3 cup pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds)
• 1 very small clove garlic, cut in half
• 2 tablespoons chopped jalapeño chiles
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Tortillas  

• 8 gluten-free white corn tortillas, heated as directed on package

Heat oven to 425° F.

Place cauliflower florets in large bowl. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir until evenly coated. Arrange on large cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes; stir. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cauliflower is tender and browned.

Meanwhile, mix crispy chick peas ingredients. Spread on 15x10x1-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes; stir. Bake 10 to 15 minutes longer or until chick peas are slightly browned and crispy.

Meanwhile, in food processor, place all pesto ingredients except oil. Cover; process using quick on-and-off motions. With food processor running, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup oil through feed tube, stopping halfway through to stir mixture with spatula. Remove pesto to small bowl.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon pesto on each tortilla; top with about 1/2 cup roasted cauliflower and 1 tablespoon crispy chick peas. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve with remaining chickpeas.

UPDATE: I generally add a little LESS SALT than called for. We also top these tacos with pico de gallo.

grilled veggie gnocchi

i'm trying to be much better with leftovers. i don't often make enough at one meal to last another, but sometimes i have pieces of a meal left over that get stuck in the fridge. wasting less food is at the top of my kitchen priority list right now. for one, it's expensive to throw away all that yummiess and two, why would we throw away yumminess?!

after our meal the other night of grilled chicken and vegetables, we had a fair amount of veggies left over (by design, this time). i find that leftover grilled vegetables are fabulous. sometimes we put them over pasta, in quesadillas, on sandwiches, on a pizza, on their own - they're very versatile.

i decided to try something new this time.  dave's had this thing for gnocchi recently, so i decided to give it a whirl. i didn't even make my own - this was the easiest dinner ever. i boiled the gnocchi* per the instructions on the package, added just enough roasted vegetable tomato sauce (store-bought!) to coat, and piled veggies on top. we topped everything with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and let me tell you - DELISH!

*the gnocchi we get at one of our grocery stores is gluten-free. the gnocchi that is available at the other two supermarkets is most definitely NOT gluten-free to be sure to check your packaging!

leftovers!

i had some leftover broccoli pesto and fire chili from the double broccoli quinoa i made and i wanted to use it up. i wanted to throw together something quick so i sauteed up a bunch of veggies (onions, peppers, zucchini, snow and sugar snap peas - anything would have worked), boiled some gluten-free pasta, and mixed everything together with some of the pesto. we topped it with fresh mozzarella cheese and fire oil. delish! i also think this would be really good with some grilled chicken on top!

double broccoli quinoa

i've been on the facebook bandwagon for quite some time now. i see its usefulness in reconnecting with old friends and staying in touch with people you might otherwise not. twitter, however, is something that i just really haven't understood. i don't understand why i should care about what someone else can say in 140 characters or less.

i've been reading up on what successful etsy shop owners do, however, and twitter is one of them. so, i signed up. i've been tweeting and i figured i better follow some other tweeters. i started following allrecipes. then the food network. then i figured i should follow the gluten-free girl, too. and then i started following a few other people who were featured often on any of those tweet feeds. and so it began. i've discovered some great new (to me) food bloggers.

one such blogger is from 101Cookbooks. i'm really loving this blog - everyone should definitely check it out. i made my first recipe from here last night and it was GREAT. it's a quinoa and broccoli dish with a broccoli pesto - hence the "double broccoli" part of the name. yum.

first up, the ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches of salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream (this is really optional)

some optional toppings:
fresh chopped basil
fire oil*
chopped avocado
crumbed feta or goat cheese


next up, prepare the quinoa. rinse the quinoa in a mesh strainer. add it to a saucepan with your broth. bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes, covered. the quinoa should be fluffed. (it's a lot like making rice.) set aside the cooked quinoa covered to retain the heat.

up next, the broccoli. put a few inches of water into a large bot and bring it to a simmer. add the broccoli and cover. cook for just about two minutes. we want the broccoli to still have a bit of a crunch to it, but not taste raw. strain the cooked broccoli and run under cool water briefly to stop the cooking.

take a little less than half of the broccoli and put it into your food processor. add the garlic, about 1/2 cup of almonds (i added a bit of toasted pine nuts as well), the parmesan, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a bit of fresh basil if you have it. drizzle in some of the olive oil and cream (if you're adding it) and pulse until your broccoli pesto is smooth.

combine the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets in a big serving dish. you'll end up adding about half of the pesto, but do this slowly. garnish with the rest of the sliced almonds, avocado, fire oil, cheese, or anything else you think would be yummy.  (we did almonds, avocado, fire oil, and crumbled feta.)

ENJOY!


*for the fire oil, heat up 1/2 cup of olive oil in a small pan until it's hot but not smoking. then remove from heat and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes. stir, then set aside and let cool. you store this in the fridge, but it should be room temperature when you use it.

spicy vegetable stir-fry with coconut rice

we've been traveling a lot this year and it's been wonderful. the only real downside (besides being tired, of course) is that while we love eating out, i love healthy food IN, too.

last night i put together a veggie stir fry on coconut rice and it was tasty.

first, the rice:

1 cup uncooked rice, rinsed
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of salt

combine all of these as you would regular rice and simmer, covered. when almost all the liquid has been absorbed, take the pan off the heat and set aside (still covered) until you're ready to eat. the rice will absorb the rest of the liquid.

for the stir-fry:

i really just threw together two pre-packaged stir-fry packs that they sell at our local grocer. i started collecting all my own veggies, but it was MUCH cheaper to buy the pre-packaged stuff so that i got lots of ingredients.

certainly add whatever tickles your fancy. our stir-fry had: peppers, onions, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, edamame soya beans and broccoli. i also chopped up two hot peppers and threw them in (seeds and all).  feel free to leave this out if you'd rather have your stir-fry be kick-free.

i threw the onions, broccoli and peppers in a wok with a small drizzle of sesame oil for three or four minutes and then added the rest for another three or four minutes. in the last minute or so, i added sauce.

for the sauce, i combined just about equal parts low-sodium gluten-free soy sauce (yes, most soy sauce has WHEAT in it!) and thai sweet chili sauce. i added the sauce directly to the stir fry and didn't measure particularly well.


i really liked the way the coconut rice complimented the veggies on this one. someone tweeted about coconut rice yesterday and i wanted to try it. it's something i'll do again and again. hope you enjoy!

spinach and sun-dried tomato pasta

if you ever need to whip something up quick, this is the recipe to use. the flavor to time ratio is working in your favor here. it's all about the sun-dried tomatoes so if you're a sucker for them (like i am) then jot this down:

ingredients:
1 8oz package of uncooked penne pasta (gluten-free if you're into that sort of thing)
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
12 sun-dried tomatoes (the kind that are soaked in oil), drained and chopped
2 T pine nuts
1 T olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinse and torn into bite-sized pieces (or i just used a bag of baby spinach)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

directions:
cook penne according to its instructions and set aside. (make it al dente - don't overcook it!) in a skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the pine nuts and set aside. heat the olive oil with the red pepper flakes and saute the garlic for about a minute, until tender. mix in the spinach and cook until just about wilted. pour in the chicken or vegetable broth and stir in the sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. toss with the cooked pasta. serve with parmesan cheese.

as usual, i found this recipe on allrecipes.com. you can see the original here. (i modified it slightly based on the ingredients i had on hand.)

quinoa with black beans with spinach salad

we wanted to keep it quick and light for dinner on sunday night, so i threw together a salad and some dressing i just recently discovered and made my favorite quinoa dish, quinoa and black beans.

the salad was simple: baby spinach, chopped apples, crumbled blue cheese, chopped walnuts, and avocado. the dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette that is really simple (sortof like a semi-homemade deal):

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
1/3 cup good olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
**i halve the recipe when it's just the two of us

i got the quinoa and black beans recipe on allrecipes, which is one of my favorites. here it is:

one onion, chopped

three cloves garlic, chopped

one teaspoon olive oil

3/4 cup quinoa, washed

1 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn kernels

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic. saute until lightly browned. add the quinoa, stock, cumin, cayenne and salt and pepper. cover and stir occasionally until the quinoa is fully cooked (about 20 minutes). stir in the corn and let warm through, about 5 minutes. mix in black beans.