Quinoa has quite a bit of protein

Sunday, we tried quinoa for the first time with great success as our dinner guests liked it.  It is tasty and so full of protein and fiber.  Here's a 5 star recipe from allcooks for the quinoa salad we served for the vegetarian option in our roast beef Sunday dinner.   Just click on the title for the link where you'll find a photo. 

Quinoa Veggie Salad with Zesty Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 4 cups quinoa
• 4 cups water
•  
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup canola oil
•  
• 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can black olives, chopped

Directions

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape the cooked quinoa into a large bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
2. Place the vinegar, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and mustard into a blender. Drizzle in the oil while blending at high speed until the dressing is thick.
3. Add the cucumbers, bell pepper, red onion, tomato, and olives to the bowl with the quinoa. Pour the dressing overtop and gently fold until evenly mixed.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 215 | Total Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Father's Day included prime rib, strawberry salad, key lime pie

When I was asking some friends for a new salad recipe, K recommended this strawberry salad everyone enjoyed when she served it at Easter, so I took it to Father's Day dinner at B&D's with a similar result.  You add strawberry jam to the dressing and strawberries to the salad.  We love strawberries and I learned to add fruit to a green salad from K! 

I thrill to find my Mother's handwritten menus of dinner parties so I'll include D's menu with the recipe below. This strawberry salad is pictured in the back left corner in the wooden bowl my Mother loved to serve salad in.


D's Father's Day Menu
prime rib w/ horseradish
mashed potatoes w/ gravy
corn
jello salad
green salad

fresh fruit:
cherries, grapes, strawberries
pineapple, honeydew and cantaloupe
Drinks: 
cucumber water
raspberry lemonade
Desserts:
chocolate pie
pineapple pie
*key lime pie

Here's a link to * Paula Deen's key lime pie recipe! Once you get there just scroll down to see the recipe and comments.  D used chopped pecans in the crust and grated white chocolate on top.

Strawberry Salad
Lion House Cookbook


Dressing:
2 T red wine vinegar
3 T sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t salt
1/2 c strawberry jam
Mix and let sit in refrigerator to let flavors blend.


Salad:
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 pkg of spinach
1/2 c red bell pepper chopped
1 purple onion sliced
Mix these vegetable salad ingredients together.  

Then prepare the remaining ingredients but wait to add them 

along with the dressing until right before serving,
so they don't become soft or soggy.
1 c strawberries sliced
1 c cashew pieces
1/3 c bacon pieces
1/2 pkg wonton skins (cut in 1/2 (strips) and fried)

Cowboy Cookies

Our daughter stayed up last night to make these for class.  I decided to make a batch for a group of boys who were coming over after school today. I haven't made these in forever. Now I'll have this recipe handy online as well. My sister-in-law's sister gave me this recipe a few years ago.

Cowboy Cookies
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash salt
2 c flour
2 c oatmeal
2 c chocolate chips
nuts if desired

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder and salt. Stir in flour, oatmeal, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Hubby's Thai Food Tests

Thanks to my thoughtful friend C, I recently visited a Trader Joe's near her and purchased many fun treats for my family.  One item was meal ready green curry thai sauce.  Thanks to my husband, who wanted to make Thai food and loves to experiment in the kitchen, we had a wonderful homemade Thai meal.  He offered us green curry shrimp and/or red chili shrimp over jasmine rice and pad thai noodles.  I know my Mother would have loved tasting this!

  
Green Curry Shrimp
a bottle of Trader Joes green curry sauce, warmed
add in some whole peeled prawns
serve over rice
Note:  Even in our small town we can find Thai Kitchen products and great recipes on the internet, so to make something similar to us with out a Trader Joe's, we can use Thai Kitchen green curry paste and a 14 oz. of coconut cream.  


Red Chili Coconut Shrimp
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
3 T Thai Kitchen roasted red chili paste
2 T Thai Kitchen premium fish sauce
1T  white sugar
Stir ingredients together, simmer on medium low heat for 7 minutes. 
Add 1/2 cup frozen green beans sliced asian style  
1 water chestnut, diced and optional
1/4 cup frozen peas
Continue to simmer for 3 more minutes.  Turn off heat.  Add 7-10 cooked, peeled prawns or 1/2 cup smaller shrimp and serve as soon as warm over white jasmine rice.  


Note: You may use chicken or pork of course, but one of our son's announced 2 weeks ago that he is not vegetarian, but will eat fish -- thus this further exploration in the kitchen. 

Toronto Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package pad thai rice noodles
• 1/4 cup tamarind paste (To substitute for tamarind paste, blend equal parts dried apricots, prunes, dates, plus lemon or lime juice. Use 2 tablespoons of this mixture for every teaspoon of tamarind paste.)
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 limes, juiced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon chili paste (sambal oelek)
•  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 pound firm tofu, drained and cubed
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup coarsely ground peanuts
• 5 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Place the rice noodles in a large bowl, pour in enough very hot tap water to cover, and let them soak for 30 minutes. Drain the noodles, and set aside.
2. Stir together the tamarind paste with boiling water in a bowl until well mixed, and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. Press the paste mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to strain, and discard any fibers or seeds. Combine the strained tamarind paste with the ketchup, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste in a bowl.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Cook and stir the garlic and tofu until the tofu begins to show brown edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the eggs, and scramble for 30 seconds, then add the noodles, tamarind mixture, and bean sprouts. Cook and stir until the noodles are separated, heated through, and covered with sauce, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts and sliced green onions.

Southwestern Chicken and Rice

I just tried this quick, simple recipe and our whole family loved the taste.  The taste of course will depend upon what flavor of salsa and seasoning packet you use.  It's perfect for one of those kid taxing driving nights.  Give it a try!

Southwestern Chicken and Rice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups water
2 cups raw Minute Rice
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Sour cream

Bring chicken, salsa, seasoning mix and water to boil in a large skillet.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Return to boil.
Stir in rice and sprinkle with cheese and cover.
Cook on low heat 5 minutes.  Top with sour cream.