Quinoa, Arugula, Golden Beet, & Goat Cheese . . . oh my!

This, I promise, is a little bit of salad heaven.  Added bonus: it's not just wheat free -- it's gluten free!  Most important: the FLAVOR. 

Pause.  Before I get started, let me just say, I have to add beets to the long list of vegetables that were victim to my undeserved derision. But only golden beets. Still not a fan of the red variety, but for any of your red beet lovers, I do wholeheartedly approve of their color if that helps? And I'd love any recipe suggestions to change my mind. :)

Here is a preview of how amazingly delicious AND beautiful this salad is. 

Now that I have your attention, and have tantalized your taste buds, I have to tell you this salad contains several cooked components so requires a bit of time.  HOWEVER, 1) I promise it's worth it, and 2) all the cooked items can be made ahead of time and tossed in at the last minute.  This gem of a salad is good warm or cold!

For this bit of salad heaven (3 large entree salads) you will need:

1. Roasted Golden Beets

• 9 golden beets, washed with stems/tops removed

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place beets in a roasting pan and fill with water until beets are 3/4 submerged.  Cover with foil and roast for 1-1.5 hours.  Remove from oven, let cool, then remove skins and chop.  Let cool.

2. Quinoa

• 1 c dry quinoa
• 2 c chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf

While chicken is  cooking, use a medium pot to boil chicken broth and bay leaf.  Add quinoa, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 12 minutes or until all water is absorbed.  Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, and cover again.  Let stand for 15 minutes (this steam time is critical!!! Otherwise your quinoa will be dense and slightly crunchy; more like grape nuts than fluffy, yummy sprouted quiinoa)

3. Exploding tomato mixture

• 1 c grape tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• olive oil, s/p for tossing

(Adapted from Rachael Ray) Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine first three ingredients in a small bowl, then toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Place on cookie sheet and roast until tomatoes start to pop.  Moisture from the tomatoes will keep the onions and garlic from burning.  And your kitchen will smell fabulous.

4.  Grilled Chicken (OPTIONAL, if making entree salads and someone in your family insists on eating meat . . . at every meal . ..  not naming names :)  love you, babe ;) )

• 1lb chicken breast, cut into strips
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Dried oregano
• s/p
• 1 T olive oil

Heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat.  Rub chicken breasts with dry ingredients and cook until done, getting a nice golden color on both sides.  Set aside to cool.

****If knocking this out all at once, let your cooked ingredients cool before assembling salad.  You don't want wilted arugula****

FINALLY,
Combine the above cooked ingredients in a large bowl with

• 1 package baby arugula
• 1/4 c goat cheese
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/4 red onion, sliced thin

And phew!  You're ready to chow down.  It was a little bit of work, definitely more fit for a weekend meal, but YUMMMMMMMMMMM.  Anything that looks this beautiful has got to taste amazing!



I adore this salad for many reason.  Its layers of flavor, its color, its nutrients, its balance . . . but what I love most is the surprises.  When I get goat cheese and roasted beets in the same forkful -- oh my goooooooodness!  Who knew that goat cheese and golden beets are such an amazing pair?!  This revelation alone is worth the prep time . . . and don't be at all surprised if you start seeing a lot of meals from me utilizing this new pair. 

Quinoa, Arugula, Golden Beet, and Goat Cheese Salad, I love you.  You've got your greens, your protein, your essential fatty acids, your antioxidants, your fiber, and your TASTE all in one amazing little (ok, big) bit of salad heaven.  Eat up! (We did.)

Tahini Lime Sauce with Roasted Veggies

My husband loooooooooves his veggies. LOVES. Crazy, right?! I, on the other hand, have really struggled with a bad case of veggie phobia. My previous solution was always to bury veggies in other flavors, For instance, veggie omelettes, veggie pizza, veggie chili.....in fact all my early recipes on this blog stemmed from that veggie phobia. I am a master at hiding vegetables in other food deliciousness. Turns out pretty well, overall.

Then, i discovered roasted veggies..... And everything changed. It started with the brussel sprouts i described a three or four posts ago. Who knew that a little olive oil, salt & pepper, along with roasting, could make vegetables (especially brussel sprouts) so delicious?! Something about that beautiful golden color makes them taste amazing, I promise.

So, in keeping with my wheat free diet, I made a roasted vegetable dinner last night. Cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and red potatoes, a serving of grilled chicken, and a side of TAHINI LIME SAUCE for dipping. Y-U-M. Note: pinterest totally inspired this dinner (I adore pinterest) with a recent pin for tahini lime sauce..... But the recipe is my own!

Tahini sauce
(note: I used a vitamix to make my own version of tahini, but you could skip the first several steps and just buy tahini at the store)
1. Toss 1 c sesame seeds with 1 tsp paprika
2. Toast in skillet on medium heat until the seeds are golden (you will be able to smell them when they are done)
3. Put toasted seeds in vitamix, add 1 garlic clove, and blend until all seeds are puréed consistency should be like peanut butter, add some olive oil or water if needed to purée
4. Transfer to bowl and whisk in: juice of three limes, salt, and a little mayo
5. Alternate adding water and olive oil until you have the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
(if using jarred tahini, add paprika to sauce with the limes, etc)

Grilled chicken
1. Mix 1/2 T each of: paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder in a small bowl
2. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix together
3 rub on all sides of 1 lb of chicken breasts
4. Heat 1 T olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook until chicken is cooked through

Veggie prep
1. Set oven to 425
2. Slice red potatoes into wedges, sweet potatoes into fries, and cauliflower into slices so all have a flat side to lay on a cookie sheet.
3. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper
4. Roast until golden brown on bottom and cooked through

Pile your plate high with roasted veggies, chicken, and a side of tahini for dipping.

Enjoy!

30 Days Wheat Free: A Fresh Start on Day 1

Breakfast:

Orange Ginger Icelandic Skyr (like super thick Greek yogurt, with MORE protein)
////UPDATE: Skyr is available at our local health food store in the yogurt section. I use the Siggi's brand on the top shelf)/////
Fresh pomegranate seeds (I used half a pomegranate)
Orange zest

Mix together and YUMMMMMMMMM.

Believe it or not, I had never had pomegranate seeds until last October when I visited my dear friend Jessica (check her out at Capture Photography -Grant & Jessica Flynn on Facebook. She's brilliant.) I have since asked my mom, and she confirmed that she never bought them because she didnt't know how to extract the seeds without spraying juice all over the kitchen). Jess probably doesn't even realize it, but I paid exceedingly close attention as she immaculately extracted pom seeds, and have been hooked ever since.

/////UPDATE: my best attempt to explain how to get the seeds out of a pomegranate is as follows.... 1) hold pomegranate so stem is pointing upwards
2) cut the fruit horizontally (across the equator) -- super important to get this cut right!
3) hold one half of the Pom and basically invert it. It will sort of break apart and you will see little "pockets" of seeds. Continue inverting sections of Pom to expose the seeds
4) gently guide the seeds out with your finger tips (once exposed, they will almost fall out on their own)
5) if this doesn't help, tell me and I'll put something on you tube :)
//////

On a whim, shortly after discovering pomegranate goodness, I added a TON of seeds to my favorite orange ginger yogurt. The skyr mentioned above is quite thick, so the Pom seeds play two roles- adding juice to thin it out a bit, and adding crunch akin to granola (without the granola calories). Topped with orange zest, the result is magic! And quite pretty too.

On a final health related note, I researched poms today and discovered they are perhaps the most super of all super foods. They have some of the highest antioxidant levels you can find in nature, plus special cancer fighting properties unique to them. Whole food is amazing!

Chef's Block and a Cure

Hello blog world! I am sure I have lost all followers after almost six months of blog silence, but I think I am ready to start again. First, i think i started too much at once . . . On the heels of opening this blog, i also started a creative party planning endeavor AND a creative photography project. Just a bit over zealous, don't you think??? Though both are fun efforts, I got so overwhelmed that I lost my culinary creativity . . . . By the holidays, I was suffering from the culinary version of writer's block-chef's block, as I say. I didn't even cook or bake for Christmas! (sigh)

However, a random Facebook post and the associated blog about dealing with food allergies (THEEVERYTHINGFREEMOMMY.BLOGSPOT.COM) suddenly inspired me to FINALLY do what I've been meaning to for ages . . . . 30 days wheat free!

You may be wondering why I am actually excited about this. (I so am!) Much of it has to do with anticipated results, since I am 80% sure I am indeed allergic to wheat. For someone with the allergy, benefits of cutting it out of your diet include less bloating, increased immunity, and increased weight loss, and decreased joint pain, headaches, and acne (which mysteriously showed up when I turned 30). Aside from all that, I am honestly thrilled at the challenge it presents in the kitchen. I believe the previous food blog posts on here were already wheat free, but I have NOT been holding true to that. Not in the least. Plus, making a cake or delicious burger are easy when you can use bread and flour!

So thus begins a new foray into healthy eating AND healthy cooking. I am intrigued, challenged, excited ..... Here I go!

Veggie Snacks

Thanks to my crazy schedule lately, I'm rather behind on my food posts!  However, I did want to share our family's most favorite snack food lately: roasted brussel sprouts!

This discovery occurred quite by accident, and all started with a regular trip to our local farmer's market.  My daughter had been intrigued by the mound of brussel sprouts for weeks by then, but I always just walked right by since I had long ago classified brussel sprouts as a nasty-tasting, limp, and boring vegetable that I was forced to eat as child.  Ick!  Not a positive association.  I finally gave in not long after starting this blog, realizing I should be encouraging my 4-year-old's veggie curiosities and not perpetuating the vegetable aversion I've had for as long as I can remember.  <Sigh.>  So, I let her fill up the bag with brussel sprouts (trying not to gag and wondering how in the heck I was going to prepare them) and off we went.  Honestly, the bag of brussels stayed buried in the produce drawer for a good week.

Then, my husband saved the day.  Yes, he gets all the credit for this bit of (simple) brussel sprout magic :)

He sliced 1 lb of brussel sprouts in half lengthwise, and tossed them with just enough olive oil, salt, and pepper to lightly coat the veggies.  He then placed the brussel sprouts cut side down on a cookie sheet (trust me, this is important!), and baked at 375 or 400 degrees until the aroma filled the house and the veggies had a fabulous color on them.  Once they were out of the oven, he squeezed the juice of one lemon over top and . . . oila!  Easy peezy!

I do have to confess, agreeing to try these veggies was a bit of a "grin and bear it" moment for me.  Jim was so very proud of his creation, but I am pretty sure that I kept flashing back to the steamed brussel sprouts of my nightmares . . . at least, until I got the first bit in my mouth! 

Roasting transforms this vegetable into a little bit of heaven, while the olive oil and lemon juice combine to  elevate the flavors even further.  The way I kept eating these, you would have thought they were potato chips!  I am so very grateful that I gave in to Abby's veggie curiosity and Jim's culimary creation.  We happily snacked on brussel sprouts the whole night while watching the Olympics -- sounds crazy, I know!  But this, my friends, is a little bit of foodiva magic.  Promise.  :)

Two LIttle Monkees!

You may have been wondering where I've been for the last week . . . the answer: up to my ears in "Two Little Monkees Jumping on the Bed!" party funness!

Party planning is certainly high on the list of my most favorite creative outlets.  In fact, I've loved throwing parties for as long as I can remember.  Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are spending hours with my mom pouring over our party planning book, selecting a theme to entertain all my friends, and knowing my mom was going to plan every detail to perfection.  I remember them all: the Mad Hatter Tea Party (where she forced my brother and his friend to be our waiters), the Cheerleader Party (where she paid my oldest brother's cheerleader friends to come and teach us high school football cheers and we totally got to dress up in their uniforms (awesome, right?!?!?!)), and the Campout Party (where she had family friends come entertain us with old time campfire songs and we made s'mores).  So it's not hard to understand why I've loved passing along the tradition to my own daughter -- and more recentlly, for my friends too.

I was delighted to plan this incredibly fun "Two Little Monkees Jumping on the Bed!" party for my friend Kym's two daughters, Kaylee (age 4) and Daphnee (age 1).  P.S. now that I've finally introduced them, you also know that I really do know how to spell "monkey," it's just that the double "e" is a thing for the Boisverts!  ;)  The theme was a perfect play on their names, but also on their rambunctious little spirits and the giggles and playfulness that fill their (totally awesome, brand new) home. 

My first order of business was hiring my friend Kristin to come up with a fabulous piece of artwork to anchor the party, as well as serve as a photo booth.  As you can see below, she more than delivered!  (I helped, but all I did was paint in the lines!)  And kudos to the girls' daddy, John, for building the board and to Kym for painting it a fabulous shade of purple.

I really can't thank Kristin enough for bringing my and Kym's idea to life and making it so darn CUTE!  The polka dots were an unexpected addition that were just too perfect not to carry throughout the party. 

With the artistic inspiration completed, my next call was to my friend Chelsea who makes AMAZING cakes -- both to eat and to look at!  In fact, for those of your who remember, she made the awesome rainbow cake for Abby's rainbow superhero party.  Yeah, pretty cool, right?  But check these cakes out!  I think she outdid herself:

If our request for these two custom cakes (with custom artwork) weren't enough, we also asked for SEVEN dozen cupcakes.  She didn't disappoint!  Thank goodness for the amazing ladies on etsy (especially AbbaGee and CraftsbyJilly), where I spent hours pouring over as much monkey themed, pink/green/purple polka dots as I could find!  I think I literally squealed with delight when the adorable custom monkey cupcakes toppers arrived.  And I think Chelsea squealed with delight when I told her she didn't have to decorate seven dozen cupcakes!

About a week before the party, I discovered my friend Monique had started a new company specializing in cake truffles, "Posh Desserts."  (Like her here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/sdposhdesserts!)  She did an awesome job with the monkey cake pops -- and judging by how fast they disappeared, they tasted pretty fabulous too!  She also made the beautiful banana pops (cuz monkeys have to have bananas to eat!) -- which ended up being quite a bit trickier than we anticipated, so major props to her!

So, with all of that, I'd say we created one fabulous cake table!

Of course, a party isn't just about creating an awesome cake table . . . so we hired the BEST taco cart service ever (though I think we also gave the taco lady a heart attack when we doubled the attendees two days prior! Doube the fun, right?  HA!).  We had two jumping castles, a play area for the babies, a giant chalkboard, a monkey (or should I say monkee?) pinata, and hand made (thank-you-very-much) goody bags to round out the fun:

And of course, since it's my blog . . . here's my little monkey :)

Thank you, Boisverts, for all the silliness and fun . . . it was great to plan a party with you and oh-so-fab to see it all come together!

Smoothie Quest 2012: Round 3

This week has been full of party planning (don't worry, definitely showing that Herculean effort off soooon!) but I had to take a moment to share my hands down, most favorite smoothie yet. 

one handful green grapes
1/4 carton raspberries (about 10)
10 strawberries
handful blueberries
one over ripe banana
1/3 cucumber, cut in small chunks
1 large handful clover sprouts

Pause: I'm sure this would have been delicious on it's own.  On a whim, however, I opened up my freezer and added:

1 large handful of unsalted mixed nuts

The result?????  Fruity, not too sweet, peanutty, lavendar-colored goodness.  INCREDIBLE.  My new favorite.  The nutty note in the smoothy definitely keeps it from raising your blood sugars and adds in a helpful blast of protein.  The berries deliver al lthe antioxidants I need to help me fight this yucky, not-needed head cold.  I'm in smoothie heaven!

I call it Nutty Lavendar.  :)

Enjoy, fellow foodivas!