"Stoplight" Salad

I have come to agree with the opinion of most of the vegetarian community that there are traditional “salads” and then there are salads. The first is your classic lettuce-tomato-cucumber combo with gobs of dressing. The second is pretty much anything you want it to be. This recipe also goes along with my line of thinking that skinny chicks may not just eat salads, but skinny chicks can definitely eat salad when they want to!


Ingredients
½ cup quinoa
1 cup water
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil non-stick cooking spray
¼ cup frozen edamame
1 zucchini, cut into quarters
½ red bell pepper, sliced
½ yellow bell pepper, sliced (or any other combo of colors)
1 cup spinach
2 tsp lemon juice
¼ cup mango, sliced

Apparatus
Pot
Pan
Knife
Spatula

Process
1)Place water in pot and set to medium-high heat. When water begins to boil, add quinoa and let cook until all water is absorbed.
2)Spray pan with cooking spray and place garlic and edamame in pan. Sauté on medium-high heat for approximately 2 minutes.
3)Add peppers and zucchini to pan, and sauté for 2-3 more minutes, not allowing vegetables to get soft.
4)When quinoa and vegetables have finished cooking, layer ½ cup of spinach in a bowl. Place over that approximately half of the quinoa and then half of the vegetables.
5)Garnish with mango and lemon juice.



A mango- just in case anyone doesn't know what they look like.



The chopped "stoplight" vegetables

*Notes* This recipe creates two large portions of salad. I dislike salad dressings in general, but you can probably add salad dressing if you would like, but would add more fat and sugars to the recipe that does not need to be there. This recipe is loosely based on a recipe from the Fatfree Vegan blog, (Copy and paste this link into your browser: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com)which continues to be a great resource for me to find creative new recipes.

Middle Eastern Ratatouille

I never really thought cinnamon would work in spicy recipe until I tried it….

Middle Eastern Ratatouille

Ingredients
1 cup chickpeas
1 medium eggplant
1 medium onion
4 large cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium zucchini
1 small package grape tomatoes
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 cinnamon stick

1 cup quinoa
1 clove garlic

Apparatus
1 bowl
6 coffee filters
Large plate
2 pots

Process
1) Place chickpeas in a large bowl, cover with water, and let soak for 8 hours.
2) Dice eggplant. Cover plate with coffee filter, and place diced eggplant in a single layer on plate. Microwave on high for 12 minutes.
3) Mince garlic and chop onion.
4) Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil in one of the pots. Add cayenne pepper, paprika, and cumin. Sautee until onions are translucent.
5) Halve grape tomatoes. Dice zucchini.
6) Add tomatoes, zucchini, and chickpeas to pot with garlic and onion. Break cinnamon stick in thirds and add to pot.
7) Add ¼ cup water, cover and let simmer on medium high heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8) Place 2 cups of water in the other pot, and bring to a boil.
9) Add quinoa and minced garlic to pot. Reduce to medium heat, and let cook until all water is absorbed.
10) Remove cinnamon sticks, and serve ratatouille over quinoa.


Cooked quinoa!