Summer Meals in Arizona: Greek Quinoa Salad

A few weeks ago, Danny and I went to a party for a club he is a part of. It was potluck and I brought these delicious cookies. I was really looking forward to going since one of the members of the club is a great cook. Her name is Lena and she is from Italy. She makes really fresh, really delicious food.  Of course, I am trying not to eat so many breads and pastas right which limits my choices in Italian food, but I was hopeful. To my delight, she had prepared a dish centered around farro and barley, so whole grains, and added a bunch of other things to add flavor. It was so good! I took note of all the little things she added and was determined to make a similar version at home. I opted to use quinoa since we had it in the house and it gives a kick of protein and I used feta instead of her choice of mozzarella, making it more Greek than Italian, in my eyes. So here you have it!

Greek Quinoa Salad
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (serves ~4 when cooked)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 C. grape tomatoes, halved and quartered
1 C. kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 C. corn (I used canned corn)
1 C. Feta
fresh parsley, minced, to taste
garlic, minced, to taste
salt and pepper
Olive Oil, to taste

Cook quinoa according to directions and let cool. Prepare mix-ins: bell pepper, tomato, olives, corn, garlic, parsley. Add them to cooled quinoa, stirring well with each addition. Add cheese. Dress in olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. (I prefer my quinoa a little saltier).

I have been eating this as is and atop a bed of lettuce (as pictured above). Both are delicious! :) If you wanted to add a little more protein, then you could easily pan fry some chicken and toss it in! And again, no oven, for the win!

Summer Meals in Arizona: Asian-Inspired Lettuce Wraps with a Peanut Sauce

My husband is awesome. Which is related to lettuce wraps how exactly? Well, you see, he passed the CPA and so we had a party. I had never hosted a party for 30 people before, so I sort of over-prepared and bought way too much food. One thing I had way too much of was lettuce-iceberg lettuce. I am not really a fan of it, either. We just purchased it for burgers and were left with almost a whole head. So what's a girl to do? Make lettuce wraps!

I'll admit that I looked up a few recipes before beginning this process since I had never made lettuce wraps before. It gave me an idea of what it should have, but I was surprised that I already knew most of the ingredients. I also didn't have a lot of the typical veggies one might put in lettuce wraps, like green onion and watercress, so I was just going to wing it with what we had and hope for the best. We were also having two people over for dinner...so if it was a fiasco, it would not be a good thing. Luckily all turned out well. Better than well, really. These were absolutely delicious. I had all three men spooning off the sauce from their plates and there was absolutely nothing left. No chicken. No sauce. No lettuce. Victory! And to make it even better...you don't even need to turn on the oven. You do have to use the stove top, but only on medium heat, so it really isn't bad. 

Asian-Inspired Lettuce Wraps with a Peanut Sauce (served 4)

Chicken Filling

1 lb of chicken, minced or ground

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 carrots, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 T soy sauce (or to taste)

2 T red wine vinegar (or to taste)

1 T red pepper flakes (or to taste)

2 T Olive Oil

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pan over medium heat. While pan is heating, prep the veggies, dicing the onion, bell pepper, and carrot. Place olive oil in pan and wait a minute for it to heat up. Place all veggies in pan. Wait for onions and pepper to soften and then add minced garlic. Place chicken in pan. (I didn't have ground chicken so I used my food processor to ground the chicken). Break up the chicken like you would ground beef. Wait for it to book a bit and then add the soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Once chicken is cooked though, set aside. 

Peanut Sauce

1/4 C. creamy peanut butter

1 T. soy sauce

1/2 C. water

1 clove garlic (or more)

red pepper flakes to taste

curry powder to taste

juice of one lime

salt and pepper

Place first three ingredients in a food processor or blender (after you wash it from mincing the chicken, of course!). Emulsify the peanut butter with the soy sauce and water. (Sounds fancy, right? It basically just means to blend all of them together so that the PB becomes more liquified.) You might need to add some more water, but just see. Then add garlic (minced before putting it in might help it blend better), red pepper flakes, curry, juice of lime, and salt and pepper. You should keep tasting as you go. 

Serve chicken atop a piece of two of iceberg lettuce, top with the peanut sauce, and enjoy! 

Gluten-free, Sugar-free Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

How bomb do those cookies sound? They were so delicious. It's a good thing I made them for a party otherwise this pregnant lady (and her husband) would have eaten all 30 or so cookies!

Just looking at this picture makes me want to make another batch!

So let me explain the gluten-free aspect of these cookies: I used rolled oats from Trader Joe's. They come in a huge bag and they have a recipe on the back from gluten-free cookies. I adapted my recipe from that recipe. The recipe doesn't call for any type of flour substitute, just the fresh oats themselves.

As far as the sugar-free aspect goes, these cookies are definitely still sweet and have sugar in them...the chocolate chips for instance, but I did not add the 3/4th cup of sugar or the 3/4th cup of brown sugar. Instead, I opted to use a ripe banana for the cup of sugar and genuine maple syrup for the brown sugar. Obviously both banana and maple syrup have sugar in them, but they are much better alternatives then straight cane sugar or brown sugar. I had never subbed out those ingredients before, so I had to do a little bit of research. You can substitute one banana for one cup of sugar. All you do is mash up the banana and add a little water to smooth it out. As for the maple syrup, you are suppose to subtract a 1/4 of a cup from what the recipe calls for. In this case, the recipe called for 3/4 cup of brown sugar, but 1/2 a cup of maple syrup seemed like a lot, so I just did 1/4 cup. It was plenty! Something to keep in mind is the additional liquid of maple syrup. You are suppose to cut back on the other liquids in the recipe if you sub out the brown sugar for the syrup, since obviously the syrup is a liquid. I didn't do this and it turned out fine. Better than fine really. Absolutely delicious!

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookie Recipe (with my changes in italics)
1/4 cup of butter
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar (1 mashed banana with a little bit of water)
3 cups Trader Joe's Rolled Oats
3/4 cup brown sugar (1/4 cup maple syrup)
6 oz. chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/2 cup seeds or walnuts (I didn't do this since I didn't have any on hand)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, combine sugar (banana), brown sugar (maple syrup), and butter and beat until creamy. (I should let you know that the creaminess looks different when you don't use sugar and brown sugar, but don't let that discourage you!)
Add eggs, vanilla, and baking soda and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix. (Now it should definitely look creamy).
Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and nuts.
Place teaspoon full of dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 (I did 9) minutes until lightly brown around the edges. (Make sure to take the cookies out when you see the brown edges. They might not look done in the middle, but as you let them cool, they will firm up and the oats will stick together more readily!)

I only had one cookie sheet, which would have taken forever, so I also used a little mini cupcake pan (like one you might use to make mini-quiche in). I didn't know how they would bake, but they did fine and I actually preferred the size of those cookies to the ones on the cookie sheet.

Now I am serious, if you make these, be ready to either a) devour them all or b) bring them to a party. The best part is if you decide to go with option a, it is really not that bad! These cookies, as far as cookies go, are pretty good for you. Maybe even...healthy? Okay, maybe not healthy, but not terrible!

Summer Meals in Arizona: Gazpacho

About a week or so ago, I posted about making spring rolls as our first attempt at keeping the oven off during this hot AZ summer season. Today, I am excited to tell you about gazpacho! First off, it is fun to say. Win. It is also extremely easy to make. Win. We didn't have to turn the oven on. Win. And last but not least, it has tons of fresh veggies. Win. Win. Win!

The first time I ever had gazpacho was at my sister-in-law's house. Candyce is a great cook and likes to make fresh things. I think we also had it during the summer, but I am not sure. Anyway, it was one of the first summer meals that came to mind. I was super excited to find out that it was also very simple to make and didn't require any random ingredients. I looked on pinterest and google for a few recipes and finally decided on this one. I just used it as a guide and changed a few things, but I used all of the veggies suggested. I didn't add any sugar, the tomato juice, or the Worchestire sauce (though I could see how this would add a nice dimension). I also didn't use tabasco, as I generally don't like the flavor.

The first step I took was chopping up all of the veggies: cucumber, red onion, red bell pepper, celery, tomatoes (I didn't peel the tomatoes which didn't seem to matter), chives, and parsley.

All the ingredients. 

I then added all of them to a large bowl. I added to the bowl the 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic.

How delicious does that look?!

I mixed it all together since I knew I was going to have to process it in batches (I don't have a huge food processor; a blender would work also!) and I wanted it to have an even flavor. Then I started processing it. I only had to do two batches which was awesome.

My only adjustment to flavor was adding a little kick. Since I didn't use tabasco, I decided to throw in some Tapatio hot sauce. This added a great little kick to the soup. Then it went into one large pyrex container and into the fridge! The best part is, dinner is ready for tomorrow! Love that!

Wait a day for all the flavors to really blend together! Can't wait!

The best part is dinner is ready for tomorrow! Love that!