Mac & Cheese

This is so yummy! I can't really claim it as my own though. I did make a few variations from the original. My inspiration came from Chef Brad and this meal he made during one of his classes during Education Week at BYU.

Mac & Cheese

2-4 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove minced

1/3 cup spelt flour

1 cup vegetable or chicken stock

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 to 1 cup cooked Quinoa (optional)

2 lbs Pinwheel Pasta

2-3 cups Mexican Cheese Shredded

salt

pepper

Cook pasta as directed on the package. Saute Onion and Garlic in a large skillet or Wok. Whisk in spelt flour, creating a paste. Add more butter if it is too dry. Let it simmer for a minute or so. Whisk in vegetable or chicken stock until well blended, as it thickens add milk, salt and pepper to taste. Add more milk if you'd like the sauce thinner. Add quinoa and pasta. sprinkle cheese on top and cover. Let simmer on low for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

*The original called for half n half instead of milk and vegetable broth and a little more quinoa. I liked using regular milk because I just didn't have the creamier stuff in my fridge and I like the flavor of the broth.

Oatmeal Bars

Okay, so I love, love, love cookies! Actually I love anything that has even a remote amount of sugar in it. I'm not kidding you at all. I would eat sugar for every meal if my body would let me but unfortunately, I'm still trying to achieve that "perfect" size and it will never be achieved by eating this way. So, here I am trying to make my sweets a little more rational. I'm big on taking a recipe and substituting anything I can that will make it more healthy. I often do go too far to where the food I'm trying to make more healthy tastes nothing like the real thing. I'm trying to learn that balance! I love Oatmeal Raisin Cookies or Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I thought I'd try substituting in some of those grains that are so packed with nutrition and see if anyone would notice. To my great surprise no one noticed and the family ate the whole pan! Wahoo! Here's the recipe. I wish I had a picture to go with it, but they were eaten too fast, hehe.

Oatmeal Bars

3/4 cup Canola Oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 Xagave Syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup 9 grain cereal, cooked
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Cream oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients, except baking powder and mix well. Add baking powder last and stir ingredients only a few times until baking powder is mixed in. Spread batter in a 10 x 15-inch lightly sprayed baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Check the center to make sure it has baked through. It will be lightly browned on top.

Red Quinoa & Lentil Meatloaf

Okay, don't let the title of this dish scare you! Read on people...

Red Quinoa & Lentil Meatloaf

1 onion diced

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup cooked lentils (I used red lentils)

2 carrots cooked carrots

2 eggs

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 cup Red Quinoa, cooked

1 cup chili sauce or tomato sauce

1-2 teaspoons Redmond Salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1-2 tablespoons basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

Saute Onion in butter. Set aside and let cool. Puree lentils and carrots and eggs in a blender. Mix together all ingredients with hands, making sure all ingredients are room temperature and not too hot. Spray an 8x8 baking dish. Spread ketchup or tomato sauce on top. Cook at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes in order for it to set.

Just a few tips: Cooking Quinoa: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup Quinoa, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Let cool and store in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in your freezer for 1 month or more.

Cooking Lentils: Place 1 to 2 cups of lentils, cover lentils with water, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT ADD SALT, it take much longer to cook with salt added, same with tomatoes! If you need to add more water, you may do so. For this dish, I drained the water and put the lentils in baggies in my refrigerator.

My family loved this and I was shocked! The dish was a little crumbly because I didn't let it cool and set but other than that it was yummy! Let me know how yours turns out ;)

Salmon Clam Chowder

This is the stuff! My husband loves this soup...so I'm posting it in his behalf ;)

3-4 tablespoons butter
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
1/3 to 1/2 cup spelt, barley, brown rice flour (equal parts of each) or just whole wheat flour
3 cups chicken, vegetable broth
3 large potatoes (red or yellow are my favorite)
2-3 cups half and half
1-2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons basil (dried) or fresh
2 small cans skinnless, boneless salmon with juice
1 can diced clams with juice
1/3 to 1/2 cup white bean flour

Saute onion, garlic, peppers and celery in butter for 2 to 3 minutes, add flour and whisk until it's a thick paste. Slowly add broth, whisk in until blended. Add potatoes. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are soft. Add half and half, spices, salmon and clams and whisk in white bean flour. You do not need to worry about clumping the white bean powder will help the soup thicken. Do not add the white bean powder if your soup is already thick. I like to add this last as it does not clump up like flour and I'm not a fan of cornstarch. Besides, this is a great way to use your beans and it makes the meal much more healthy! You can't taste it at all, I promise! Let the soup simmer on medium low for 10 to 15 minutes. This fully cooks the bean powder and lets the true flavor of the soup develop. This is the most important part! Be careful that your soup doesn't come to a full boil after you've added the half and half. Keep the heat below medium.

(if for any reason your soup is too thick, add water, broth or milk)

Enjoy!!!

Mighty Tasty...Good News!

I posted about Mighty Tasty last week and I just discovered that the Mighty Tasty Gluten Free Hot Cereal is sold by Bob's Red Mill. The good news is you can get that pretty much anywhere Bob's Red Mill Products are sold! Go try some...it's so delicious!

Chicken Pot Pie....um Vegetarian Style?!

1 box Rachel Ray Chicken Stock (approx 2-3 cups)

4 carrots diced

3 potatoes cubed

1-2 teaspoon salt

pepper

onion powder

garlic powder

Put in a pot and bring to boil, then turn to medium heat and cook until soft.

3-4 tablespoons butter

1 onion, finely diced

1/3 cup spelt, barley, brown rice flour or just whole wheat or spelt flour

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon dried parsley (add last after all ingredients are combined)

1/2 to 1 cup cooked Quinoa

Melt butter in a large saucepan or wok, add onions and cook 1-2 minutes, then whisk in flour to create a thick paste...add more butter if it is too dry or more flour if it is too wet. Then add 1 cup of milk (rice, soy or any milk will do) and whisk until all ingredients are blended. Once it becomes thick, add the carrot, potato and broth mixture to the thick sauce and mix until thick. Lastly add, the cooked Quinoa.

Biscuit's

1 cup whole wheat flour (or spelt)

1 cup white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons coconut oil (unrefined, expeller pressed)

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon Rumford baking powder (add last)

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil, egg and milk. Stir until well combined. Add baking powder, and stir only until baking powder is mixed (do not over stir).

Pour sauce into a 9x13 inch pan, drop the biscuits by spoon on top of the sauce mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the biscuits begin to turn brown on top.

I served this to my family the other night and as we were eating realized that I did not add chicken! In all my excitement I didn't add it to my veggies....so we had a great vegetarian meal and everyone loved it! We were taking the challenge of living off of our food storage so we were out of lettuce and so we used our sprouts with a super yummy dressing I invented and tomatoes. My kids loved it and to me that spells success! My kids love this dressing on everything now.

Here is the dressing for those interested:

Balsamic Dream

1/2 cup expeller pressed extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup expeller pressed Walnut Oil (I buy mine at Smiths)

2 tablespoons Lemon Zest Omega 3 Flax Oil (Barleans is the brand, found at Dave's Nutrition)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1-2 garlic cloves finely minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon onion powder

1-2 teaspoons minced dried onion

I put this dressing in a shaker. The flax oil binds the ingredients together and does not immediately separate like other vinaigrette's. It will separate over time but not as quickly as other dressings. If you choose to not use the lemon Flax oil, the regular flax oil will work, the flavor might not be something you like, but you can experiment with it. Store in your refrigerator. This should keep for at least a month or more.

Quinoa

I would like to try and "spotlight" one grain a week...give or take depending on how many yummy recipes I can include for each. This week I'd like to introduce you to Quinoa. I had never heard of this grain until about 5 years ago. I'd never really learned what I could do with Quinoa until this last year. Quinoa is such a pretty grain and when cooked is light and fluffy. I just learned during Education Week from Chef Brad that Quinoa also comes in red and black! This is such a powerful grain! It is loaded with all kinds of nutrition. Here is a list of some of those poweful nutrients:

• Complete Protein: This grain provides all of the 9 essential amino acids (I personally thought the only place to find all essential amino acids were in meat, shows how much I know!)
• Magnesium: Helps regulate and maintain healthy blood pressure
  
• Fiber: Keeps the colon functioning properly.
  
• Manganese & Copper: Great minerals that protect agains cancer and disease.
  
• Calcium: To build strong bones and teeth.

Quinoa (pronouced Keenwah) helps regulate blood sugar, is gluten free and can be used in almost anything you cook! Because of the high content of protein it is very beneficial when eaten regularly during pregnancy and can increase your milk supply when nursing. I often make several cups of this and keep in in my refrigerator for up to a week or you can store it in your freezer.

Here are a few ideas for your cooking:

• Breakfast cereal: You can have this alone for breakfast with honey or Agave or you can add it to your oatmeal or any other hot grain cereal you choose for breakfast.
• Shakes: I often add this to my fruit or protein shakes and you can't even tell it's there.
• Salads: This wonderful grain can be added to any salad! I love it in pasta salads and especially in fruit salads or sprinkled over your green salads. It has such a wonderful texture and mild nutty flavor.
• Stir Fry's: Try adding this to your rice or in place of it. It is yummy!
• Soups: I love adding this to any soup or stew I make.
• Meat: I love adding this to my ground turkey or beef to make it go further and more nutritious. It is great in taco's, especially the red Quinoa. I added it to my Spaghetti the other night and the kids loved it!
• Bread: I add the flour or the cooked grain to my homemade bread each week.

To cook Quinoa: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup Quinoa and turn to low. Cook on low for 20 minutes. Pressure cook for 7 minutes.

For more information on other informational websites click here and here