Quinoa Loaf

Quinoa is one of my favorite foods.  It is my favorite because it is very good for you. You often find quinoa on a list of superfoods.  I also love quinoa because it tastes great in every recipe I have ever made.  I make my quinoa in my rice cooker. It does not take long and it comes out perfectly. I make extra so that I can eat it for breakfast or have some on hand to make this loaf or my other casserole I posted a few weeks ago.
Todays recipe is very diverse.
You can sub in and greens you have on hand, spinach, chard, or kale.
If you have sundried tomatoes, those go great in this too.
Do not be afraid to experiment with what you have in your fridge. This is a perfect, use up the leftover veggies kind of meal!
Quinoa Loaf
PAm or 1 TB evoo
one package of mushrooms
1 onion chopped fine
1 can organic chickpeas, rinsed off
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup peas, or frozen mixed veggies
spices to taste: minced onion, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper
Saute mushrooms and onion in saute pan with PAM or evoo.
Preheat oven to 350 and grease 8 inch loaf pan.
Add in spices to the mushrooms mixture after a few minutes. Then add in whatever greens you have.  Today I added in some fresh kale, about 5 huge leaves, chopped up small.  Cook down all the veggies till well cooked about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
In your food processor mix up til smooth the chickpeas, the oats and 1/2 cup water.
In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, the sauteed veggies, the chickpea mixture, the peas, the sundried tomatoes, and whatever else looks good.  Press into a loaf pan and bake for one hour.  Let rest 10 minutes and then slice and serve.
If you want to try something quicker, press mixture in to a small rectangular pan and cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes instead.
Enjoy!

Fresh Basil Hummus

So with last week's basket we got a beautiful bag of fresh basil. It smelled incredible. I wish I had a way for you to scratch and sniff this page, but I don't.  Trust me it was so good.  I almost did not want to make anything with it so I could just have it smelling so delicious in my refrigerator.
This hummus recipe is super easy.
I threw all the ingredients into my food processor and Diane pushed ON a few times.
Serve it warm, it tastes best that way.
And also, try not to eat it all in one serving.

Fresh Basil Hummus
1 can chickpeas, organic preferred, rinsed off
2 cloves of garlic
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. Tahini
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup fresh basil, packed
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
1/4 cup water
Serve with crackers, pretzel crisps, or fresh toasted bread.

Some products live up to the hype and some don't

I follow a lot of food blogs and I love to try new snacks that are healthy. Since the members of this house have very varied diets, it is nice to find foods that are vegan but still taste great.  Therefore, the vegans in the house enjoy it, while the non-vegans don't mind eating it either.
Desserts and snacks seem to be the easiest category to make everyone happy.
I have heard about Sweet and Sara's goodies for a long time.  They are an all vegan natural company that is kosher too!  I follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Sara/122809066462 and you should too!  The owner, Sara,  has devoted her life to making vegan marshmallows and recently she has expanded to other goodies.  She runs her business with her parents, and she is dedicated to making our life more delicious one marshmallow at a time.

Yesterday I went to the grand opening of our Mom's Organic Market. It is a wonderful store, with so many unique items you cannot find anywhere else.  I was thrilled to find many of the Sweet and Sara products yesterday.  We have had the plain marshmallows, the coconut covered marshmallows, and the rice krispy treats.  The smores are out of this world.  But yesterday we tried the graham crackers for the first time.

I wanted to include on this post a picture of how cute the graham crackers were, but 12 hours later they are all gone.  The container came packaged with 2 individually wrapped groups of grahams.  The grahams were so crunchy, slightly sweet, and addictive.  They did not really taste much like the regular grahams you are used to. They were so much better.  You try a small bite and there is something in the graham that makes you need to eat more, and more, and more until the container is as empty as mine.
I did not plan to go back to Mom's so soon, but now another trip is in order.
I can't wait to make a 7 layer bar with these grahams, it will be sooooo good.
If you have not tried Sweet and Sara's give them a try!

Another great from the Farmer Delivery

Today's picnic basket delivery did not disappoint.  We have so much delicious foods and we are planning to make some delicious recipes including:
*grilled cheese with tomato rosemary bread, daiya cheese, red kale, and carmelized red onions.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
*strawberry smoothies with the few strawberries that are left, red kale, pineapple, oranges, coconut-almond milk and hemp seeds
*grilled asparagus with almonds
*Crispy Potatoes and Red onions, sliced very thin and cooked at a high temperature til very crisp
*lots of fresh salads with the crisp boston lettuce
If you are interested in having an amazing basket delivered to your front door please email nick@fromthefarmerdc.com

Happy Friday everyone!!