Baked Quinoa-Crusted Chicken Fingers

The other day I reopened the cookbook, The Food of Latin America: Gran Cocina Latina by Marciel E. Presilla.  I perused the vast index to find something to make for dinner. I found the recipe for quinoa-crusted chicken fingers that I’ve had at Cucharamama a few times & have loved. They’re a great twist on the basic chicken finger.

First, you marinate the chicken so that it’s sure to be juicy & flavorful - if you wanted to stop right there you probably could & have a really nice grilled chicken dish. Then, you “bread” it with cooked quinoa instead of breadcrumbs - genius!  At Cucharmama they deep fry theirs (& that’s what the recipe in the book says to do) but I baked them. They were still crunchy & tasty especially with my simple go-to honey mustard dipping sauce that I jazzed up with some paprika.

I know I’ll be making these again. There were no leftovers.

Wholefoods California Quinoa Salad

This weekend Chris & I stopped at Wholefoods for lunch. I got a small container of what Wholefoods called California Quinoa Salad.  It was just what I wanted, light but satisfying & most importantly not greasy making it the perfect salad during a heat wave. Upon finishing my tasty choice, I peeled the sticker from the container -like any rational gal that blogs about food- & stowed it safely in my purse so I could recreate it when I got home.

I made a huge batch (my recipe is very generous) that I plan on eating for lunch for several days.  The best part is there's no mayo in the salad so even if you don't have a fridge nearby it's great for summer lunch or a picnic outside.

Omegas for Dinner

Everyone is trying to eat healthfully & clean for the start of the new year. I try to find the balance between whole foods & yumminess (like here). I will now introduce exhibit a: omegas for dinner: zesty salmon served with cranberry, walnut, basil & spinach quinoa. This dinner is not only full of color & flavors but omegas too. So we can all rest easy knowing we did our part after eating a healthy dinner. Oh & did I mention it's a pretty quick fix too? Well it is, read on for the full recipe.

If you're vegetarian or just don't 'do' fish, make the quinoa it's tasty all on it's own & makes a great lunch or simple supper.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Quinoa

Ask anyone at my office where I'm going for lunch & they'll usually say one of three places. The first would most likely be Pret A Manger.  I love Pret because they offer fresh food that's satisfying but doesn't make me feel stuffed to the brim after I eat it.  They also offer a lot of organic ingredients which is important to me.  One of my favorite go-to Pret items (besides coffee) is the quinoa pot they have available during breakfast. I could eat it at any time of day - I think it would make a great breakfast, lunch or dinner.  On that note I recreated it for brunch this past weekend.

What's your favorite versatile meal that works for breakfast, lunch or dinner?

Heirloom Tomato Quinoa Salad

Warm spring/summer nights make me want to eat healthfully. For dinner last night I served up this salmon with this quick filling quinoa salad.  Quinoa is so versatile you can literally add anything to it & it tastes good & will fill you up (read: Chris wasn't reaching for snacks after dinner). Last night I took advantage of some tasty heirloom tomatoes & other fresh spring veggies to jazz up my quinoa.

Click through for more pics & my quick recipe!

Quick Quinoa Salad

I'm semi-obsessed with the food network show Five Ingredient Fix and quinoa (keen-wah).  When I saw this recipe in action on the show I knew I had to make it immediately.  My favorite part is that you can make it with just five ingredients: quinoa, cucumber, cilantro, pine nuts* & lemon infused olive oil.

Make it yourself here!

tip 1: Quinoa is a super grain because it's not really a grain it's actually a seed [read: same texture as say a couscous - rice hybrid but it's packed with protein - win!!!]


tip 2: If you have chicken or veggie stock you can cook the quinoa in that rather than water - I know that makes 6 ingredients but I think it's worth it!

*I didn't have pine nuts so I used some raw cashews I had in the freezer (yes that's where you can store them so they don't go bad!).  I rough chopped them and toasted them up just the same.

Better Home Cooking Basics: #25 For More Flavorful Quinoa Use Chicken or Veggie Stock Instead of Water

Recently I've been getting questions from friends & family on how to make better tasting quinoa. I honestly don't mind the taste of plain quinoa but if you're looking to bump up the flavor a bit try using chicken or veggie stock instead of water (using the same amount) & prepare it how you would regularly.

Get more of my better home cooking basics here.

Blackened Fish + Green Bean Quinoa

After a super decadent Fourth of July bbq at  Brian & Dulcie's house [read: there was lobster... enough said] I felt it was fitting to post about a decadent, yet simple way to make fish.  Make it blackened.  Basically you take a filet of fish dip in melted butter, coat it in spices & cook it on each side until it's cooked through & is white & flakey.  I went off this recipe using pollock & served green beans mixed with quinoa, fresh mint & basil for a simple yet filling meal.

2013 Highlights

2013 was full of personal highs & lows, as I'm sure it was for most.  I'm grateful for the life lessons it has taught me & look forward to 2014's possibilities! Thanks for reading this year, I appreciate you! Here were the top 5 favorite posts from 2013 (according to you!):
#5 - Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Quinoa
#4 - Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels
#3 - Wholefoods Quinoa Salad
#2 - Easy Butternut Squash
#1 - Halloween Costume Ideas

Roasted Cod with Mushrooms, Leeks, Fennel & Frekkeh

I’m pretty much a creature of habit when it comes to our weekly grocery shopping, but you already knew that because I’ve said that before. So I’ll continue. I usually pick up some fish that’s on sale, fresh veggies & some kind of grain from the whole grain aisle. I recently found frekkeh (pronounced freak-uh) which is really young wheat (sorry not gluten-free) that to me has a texture (when cooked) somewhere between rice & quinoa. I took a stab at making some with some of my regular ingredients in the rotation: cod, veggies & chimichurri sauce.

It turned out to be pretty delicious, plus you can eat it all in a bowl &  it’s a pretty complete meal. We’ll definitely be having more frekkeh in the future.

Have you tried frekkeh? What do you make yours with?

Crab Cakes with Sriracha Mayo

The other night I crafted these crab cakes, or shall I call them crab piles, for a quick dinner.  It's true I should have let them sit in the fridge so they could stay together but who wants to eat at 10pm on a school night?  Not this girl & definitely not the guy she married.  So I carefully flipped my piles in a saute pan & well they still got a nice crispy crust & were tasty enough to serve & eat.

To learn how I (should have) made these crab cakes click through for the recipe!

Simple Rice Pudding

In case you haven’t been watching the news because you live a warm sunny area & have been spending any of your free time outside & at the beach - it’s blizzarding in the northeast… again. Since I hit the grocery store on Sunday, our fridge & pantry were fully stocked & I headed straight home after work as opposed to standing on line to pick up some basics at the super market.

Fortunately, I stock up on basic things on a regular basis. For all those that don’t - this a practice I’ve adapted to in the past few years - so don’t worry if you’re not there yet.  Not too long ago I used the word “pantry” very loosely, as I used a bookshelf to store food in my 500 square foot little Italy apartment (man, that was a great apartment!). Said pantry also housed our silverware & other paper goods. Did I mention that it was actually a “street treasure” that I found on the side of the road & carried home with my sister - yeah I did & it was great.  Now that I’m (ahem) an adult, we have a pantry & it is built into the kitchen & I didn’t have to go out & hunt for it so now I try my best to keep it stocked.

Some easy things to stock up on are rice, quinoa, pastas, canned beans, raisins & other baking needs that don’t need to be refrigerated. I used some of these basics to whip up some rice pudding for dessert last night using this recipe. So grab some basics (milk, eggs, rice, raisins) on your next super market trip & try this recipe next time you are snowed in your house.

Salmon & Melting Cherry Tomatoes

So I like fish & I'm trying to get Chris to like it as much as I do. This recipe from the Barefoot Contessa's Foolproof Cookbook for salmon & melting cherry tomatoes is a keeper. The fish comes out moist & the tomato topping is addictively tangy & sweet.  Even if you don't like fish I would recommend making this tangy tomato topping with some chicken or even add to some plain pasta or quinoa.

Click through for this truly foolproof salmon recipe.

Greek Earth Bowl

It’s that time of year again when the temperature rises & I automatically feel like I should be eating some sort of salad for ever meal, yes even breakfast! This earth bowl (a salad with some hearty grains) is one of those dishes that you could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can eat it (just-cooked farro) hot, room temperature or cold from the fridge. It’s a heartier salad but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. You can use the veggies & other add-ins I did or you can use what you have on hand.


PS: happy birthday (tomorrow!!! - doh!) to one of my favorite Greek goddesses - Stacy! Love you hot latte ;)

Shrimp Lettuce Wraps + Sesame Peanut Ginger Dressing

TACOS. There I said it again. I wanted to make tacos again this week (shocker) but I opted for a lighter twist. I swapped out my go-to corn tortillas for big pieces of butter lettuce. In actuality I made lettuce wraps (like I did here) but I used shrimp. They were just as easy to make & fun to eat as regular tacos except I felt a little bit better about the extra helpings.  I loaded mine with veggies & some sesame peanut ginger dressing. Click through to get the recipe for the tasty shrimp I made for these, plus the dressing! Yep you get two recipes today. You can use them together like I did or just make one or the other (ex: make the dressing to serve with salad all week long or make the shrimp & toss with some quinoa).