Minty Green Juice

I recently had a DELICIOUS juice at a local organic cafe. 
Even though I LOVED the juice, and have wanted to have another one, I haven't gone back. Why not? Because I didn't want to pay another $10 for a juice! Especially when I have a juicer at home! 
So ... the other day I found a beautiful fresh pineapple and decided this morning  that I would have a go at making a juice that was at least similar! 
It was EVEN MORE DELICIOUS that the one I had bought! 
And it was so easy to make.  If you have a juicer, give it a go! 
I don't really have measurements.   But here's what I did, in the best way I can explain it.
I used two apples.  I think they were pink ladies. I used three huge handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves.  I grabbed a big handful of mint out of our garden and I cut up that pineapple and used part of that as well.  
I'd say I used equal parts pineapple and apple ... but maybe a bit more pineapple if anything.
I put it all through the juicer and that's it! 
A little trick I learned when I did a stint helping out in a cafe ...  put the leafy things between more bulky items (like the apples and pineapple).  It seems to help them as they go through the juicing process.  
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What's your favourite things to run through the juicer? Let me know in the comments!
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Quinoa Black Bean Salad - Combined

When I was planning my menu this week, I knew I wanted to make Quinoa Black Bean Salad.  But I discovered that there were two yummy looking recipes on the blog to choose from.  So I took a little from one and a little from the other - and this is what I got!

mine didn't look exactly like this...but you get the idea

INGREDIENTS

1 cup quinoa, washed and drained
1 ¾ cups water
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 2 fresh limes
1 teaspoon cumin

1 clove garlic, minced
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half (optional - I didn't use any this time because fresh tomatoes are on "baby no like" list since I've been pregnant)
1 red bell pepper (I like it cut small)
1 avocado cut into chunks
5 green onions, finely chopped
Salt (pepper – optional) to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1 Wash and rinse quinoa. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Once hot, add the rinsed quinoa and toast for a minute or two.  Add water, stir once, cover and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes.  Watch it though and turn it off as soon as the liquid is absorbed!

 2 In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cumin, salt, and garlic.

3 Combine cooked quinoa, beans, red pepper, tomatoes, and green onions in a large bowl.

4 Drizzle dressing over salad.  Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.  Can also add cilantro and/or red pepper flakes.


As a note - this is great as a side dish to a meal (one of the boys declared it tasted like guacamole), but also keeps well in the fridge for a healthy, protein packed lunch or snack. 

Breakfast @thebeansblog

 

Breakfast was straight off the vine this morning ...

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Simple Cucumber Salad

My sister made this the other night. I loved it.

I tried my hand at it the other night. A different other night. I loved it, again.

Here's the 'recipe' ...

cucumber

sesame seeds

rice wine vinegar

sesame oil

  

I peeled strips off the whole cucumber to get the striped effect you see in the photo.  You can do that or peel the whole thing or don't peel it at all.  Slice cucumber.  Sprinkle with rice wine vinegar and a few drops of sesame oil.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

That's it. 

Easy. 

Delicious.

Moroccan Quinoa in Cucumber Boats

Preparing for a Moroccan Tapas Night that we hosted at church, I googled something like Moroccan finger food and this recipe immediately caught my eye.   I'm glad it did ... it was delicious!  There are no real measurements on her page so I imagine it's a pretty forgiving recipe.  I did mine pretty much like hers but I couldn't find the Sambhar curry powder she calls for so I made substitutions.  Here's what I did.  You can adjust each element to taste.  I'm not kidding, I tasted after each ingredient I added! Also, I cooked this for 100 people to have one each.  When I make it again, I'll probably 1/2 the amount of filling and just eat whatever is leftover.  This amount filled four long continental cucumbers.

I used ...

4 big continental cucumbers
1 cup quinoa (I used a tri-colored one)
3 cups water
2 preserved lemons
4 or 5 sun dried tomatoes
2 spring onions
1 small jalapeno that I picked out of my garden
a small handful of fresh mint
1/4 of a bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)
handful of pine nuts
olive oil
sea salt
moroccan seasoning
cumin, ground

What I did ...

Cook quinoa.  I did it according to the package instructions which said one part quinoa to three parts water.  Bring to the boil, cover and cook until water is gone.  It took about 20 minutes.

In the meantime ... finely dice the preserved lemons and sun dried tomatoes.  Chop the spring onions small.  Get rid of the seeds and membrane in the jalapeno and finely dice it.  Chop herbs.

After quinoa is finished and has cooled a little bit,  add all of the above that you've just chopped/diced to it.  Drizzle with olive oil and then season with sea salt, moroccan seasoning and cumin.  (or the Sambhar curry powder if you can get it.  I'd love to try that as it is cinnamon based and I think it would really change the flavor .... ) Season to taste ....

For the cucumber boats ... peel down the outside of the cucumber (as you see in photo above) in long strips.  Cut into 3/4 inch 'slices'.  Scoop out the centre with a melon baller and then fill the hole with quinoa mixture.

Chicken, Mango, Avo Salad with Lime

 

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided it was the winner for dinner one night last week.  However, we had an experience just a couple nights before with an orange juice dressing that overpowered the salad so I decided to not do the dressing.  And I added chicken ... If you want the orange dressing (that looks amazing) then go check out the original recipe.  If you want to try it my way, here's what I did.

1 bag of rocket (arugula) 
fresh coriander, a handful (?) or to taste ...
1 ripe mango
1 ripe avocado
1/2 a red onion
1 lime
1 red chilli
1 chicken breast
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

This was super easy.  Have your husband grill the chicken with a bit of salt and pepper, while you prepare the salad.  :) If that isn't an option, then just grill it yourself or throw it in the frying pan with a bit of olive oil and some white wine towards the end.

Thinly slice red onion and red chilli (I removed the seeds and membrane) Put in a small bowl, squeeze the lime into the bowl, add a pinch of salt.  Stir it up and set it aside.  

In a large salad bowl, add rocket (a few big handfuls, depending on how many you are serving) and fresh coriander that you have washed and roughly chopped.  Chop avocado and mango.  Add to rocket.  Pour red onion mixture on top and toss salad gently. 

Chop and add chicken. 

Drizzle lightly with a good olive oil and a nice white wine vinegar, sprinkle gently with a nice rock salt and cracked pepper.

Spinach, Tofu, Avocado Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

 

This is a little Bonnie invention.

 There are no real measurements for the salad part, just add ingredients as they look good.

Baby Spinach Leaves, finely sliced

Cucumber, finely diced

Cilantro (Fresh Coriander Leaves), finely chopped

Snow Pea Sprouts, finely chopped

Toasted cashews, roughly chopped

Spring Onions, finely diced

Avocado, chopped small

Silken tofu, small pieces

Dressing:

2 tablespoons mirin

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon honey

Make the dressing by mixing all ingredients.  I do it in a small mason jar so that I can heat the mixture a bit in the microwave to help the honey mix in.  Also, it's then easy to pop the lid on to save the leftovers.

Make the salad by combining all ingredients as indicated above.  Originally I was going to chop the tofu but when I tipped it out of it's box, it basically crumbled so I just scooped up pieces of the crumble and added it to the salad.

I made a variation for lunch a few days later.  It was yummy.  I didn't have any tofu and I forgot the cashews.  I added finely diced fuji apple and toasted sesame seeds.  Everything else was the same.

Fresh and Delicious Quinoa

I found this delicious looking recipe on pinterest and had to try it. I'm glad I did too ! It's amazingly delicious !  I did almost everything the same ... really, the only things I changed were that I roasted the red bell pepper, how I added the garlic, a few measurements and a bit of the how to assemble.  Here's my version ...

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tbsp coconut oil (but I think any oil would do)
1 & 3/4 cup water
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, chopped into chunks
a punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper
small handful coriander/cilantro, diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste

Roast your red bell pepper, set aside.  Here is a little tutorial on how to roast peppers, if you need it.

Put the coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it’s hot add the rinsed quinoa and toast for a minute or two. Add water, stir once, cover, and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes.  Watch it though and turn it off as soon as the liquid is absorbed ! (I like my glass lid for this !)

Mix the lime juice, oil, cumin, minced garlic and salt. Stir. Set Aside.  This is the dressing.

In a big bowl ~ tomatoes, beans, & onion.  Remove skins from red bell peppers, chop and add to bowl. Chop avocado but don't add it yet.

When the quinoa has finished cooking, remove it from heat and fluff with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then add to the bowl with the other ingredients and stir.  Add dressing.  Stir.  Add avocado and coriander/cilantro, gently stir.

Jamie's Potato Salad

I tried this a while back and loved it. Such a fresh fresh salad. And simple. This is in Jamie's "Jamie at Home" cookbook. I changed it just a little bit ...

Boil a couple of potatoes til just cooked. I was serving four so I imagine I did four potatoes and one for the pot ! I didn't bother peeling them.

Mix the zest of one lemon and 1/2 of it's juice with a splash of vinegar. He suggested red wine but I used cider vinegar ... or maybe I used rice wine vinegar. I can't remember now. It won't matter. Just use a splash of the vinegar of your choice ! Add three splashes of olive oil. Taste it. Need more ? Add it. Add 2 tablespoons capers and salt/pepper to taste.

Pour the dressing onto the potatoes, toss to coat and top with a small bunch of fresh dill or fennel tops ...

Fruit Salad a la Alia

The other night Alia (6) made this fruit salad for dessert. I helped her take the skin off the kiwifruit and I segmented the orange. She did EVERYTHING else on her own ! I was so impressed. I bought the neatest little gadget last time we went strawberry picking that helped her with slicing the strawberries ! I'll do a post on that little beauty soon ... but beware, you are all going to want one !

This fruit salad contains one punnet of strawberries, one orange, two kiwifruits and one banana. There are also red and green apples on the side so we could add whichever one we have a preference for ! Isn't she thoughtful ?? :)

Fruit Salad For Lunches

I remember, years ago, thinking that a friend of mine was brilliant because she made a fruit salad at the beginning of the week and she and her husband ate it all week long. I have finally started doing it from time to time. I'm not sure why I don't do it every week because I love it when I do !

Especially when there is such a wide variety of yummy yummy fruit available !!

I just chop it up when I'm making lunches on Sunday night, store it in a big tupperware and each night when I make lunches, I scoop it into our individual tupperwares for taking. One time I stored it in the individual tupperwares on the Sunday but it took up way too much room in the fridge ...