Easy Quinoa & Mixed Grain Salad

I've only recently discovered quinoa (pronounced "KEEN-wah," by the way).  I had heard about quinoa before, but hadn't tried it until a friend served it at a dinner about a year ago.  I was surprised by how much I liked it.  I'd read all about how good quinoa is for you, but frankly I was a little bit intimidated when it came to actually preparing it myself.

If you're a newcomer to quinoa, never fear!  It is so easy to make.  If you can cook rice, you can cook quinoa!

Here is a recipe I've come up with (tweaked from others I've come across), and it's really good.  There is a secret to this dish...It's great hot, but it's AMAZING cold, after sitting for a few hours in the fridge.

Here's what you need and what you do:

Easy Quinoa & Mixed Grain Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups cooked mixed grains (I used a cup of quinoa and a cup of 5-grain mix of Italian farro, barley, brown rice, kamut wheat & oats).
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (I used a yellow pepper)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped herbs (I used cilantro, but you can also use dill, parsley, and/or chives)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from 1 lime (I didn't have a fresh lime on hand, so I used about 2 tablespoons prepared lime juice)
• Coarse salt
• Ground pepper
• Garlic powder (optional)
• Season-all (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Prepare mixed grains according to directions.

In medium bowl, toss 2 cups cooked grains with 1/2 red onion, one bell pepper, and 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs.  Add 1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil and lime juice, and mix.  

Season with coarse salt and ground pepper, to taste.  I also added a few sprinkles of garlic powder and season-all at the end, to give a little extra flavor.

As I mentioned earlier, this dish can be served warm, right after preparing, BUT the magic is in the waiting.  If you refrigerate this for a few hours or overnight, the flavors will blend into unexpected yumminess!  My family likes this hot or cold.  It works either way!

I served this with pork chops and seasoned green beans for this meal, but it also works as an alternative to rice with Mexican food.  Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake

I saw a recipe for Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake here and thought it looked pretty easy and tasty, so I tried it.  This was one of the easiest recipes I've ever made, and the entire family (including my picky daughter) all liked it.  You make it in an 8x8 dish, but it goes all the way to the top, so it's a lot of food!

Here's the recipe:

Easy Chicken Tortilla Bake

3 cups cooked chicken, diced 

1 (16 oz) jar Pace Salsa Verde (I couldn't find Pace and just used another brand)
1 cup sour cream plus additional for topping, if desired (could also use reduced-fat)
5 (6-inch) corn tortillas (I used white corn tortillas)
2 cups shredded cheese  (I used a 2% Mexican blend)
Diced jalapeno peppers, optional (I used canned)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8X8 casserole dish with cooking spray.

Cut or tear tortillas into smaller pieces.

Spread half the chicken on the bottom of the casserole dish, top with half of the salsa verde, then half of the sour cream, half of the tortilla strips, then half of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers. 


Cover dish with aluminum foil and baked in preheated oven for 40 minutes. 


Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes, until bubbly. 


Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Top with jalapeños and/or more sour cream if desired. (I desired.)

I served this with a side of zucchini, yellow squash, and onions, topped with black pepper and a little season salt.

So yummy!

Doubling Frosting

I read here that you can whip up your store-bought frosting and it will double in just a short time.

I was skeptical but just had to try it.

I started with a Creamy Supreme Classic White frosting from Pillsbury.

Here it is in the bowl before I whipped it:

And after:

Not sure it quite DOUBLED, but it did increase in volume.  I did notice at the grocery store that the same size can of frosting for the whipped version weighed less than the non-whipped version, though not half as much.  So that tells me that this is a legit tip, in theory.  My only thought is that it isn't doubled, but it is increased (in my experiment anyway).  Obviously if you're adding air to it, it's going to fill it out.  Good tip!

Pinterest Lesson for Mom - Part 1

Lesson 1 - Getting Your Head Around What Pinterest Is

This is for my mom, who has a Pinterest account but ZERO boards and ZERO posts.

I want you to know how fun it is to pin away, so I'm going to give you a little crash course for beginners. Nothing fancy yet.  Nothing scary.  I just want to explain it to you in my own way.

The first lesson is very simple -- Get your head around how Pinterest works and what it is.  Mom (and several other non-pinners I've spoken with) have said they "don't get Pinterest" and just don't understand what it is.

Imagine the entire internet is a huge stack of magazines, books, photographs, catalogs, brochures, etc.

Now imagine that Pinterest is a big blank wall in your house.  You have a bunch of bulletin boards on the wall for different categories.  (These are, you guessed it, your BOARDS.)  You can name these boards things like "Crafts," "Recipes," "Gifts to Buy My Daughter," etc.

If you see something you like on the internet, you just tear out the page (or picture or some words) so you can go back to it later.  (That's a PIN.)  You're going to take that picture you tore off the "paper internet" and assign it to any board you want.  (That's PINNING.)

The cool thing is this.  Let's say you wanted to keep a really long article you saw online about the joys of having an amazing daughter.  Seriously, you should do that.  Anyway, suppose the article is really long, and it wouldn't be convenient to tear out the whole article and all its accompanying photos.  So you just take one photo from the article to remind you what the article is about.  You pin that, and Pinterest will automatically link it with the article.  You can add your own description if you want to.  Then later you can go to your boards, click on that picture, and it will take you to the site where you first found it.

Easy, right?

Next lesson coming soon!

Stuart

Just a good ol' boy!