Day 4: Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

While preparing this quinoa salad, I felt like I should be listening to some Peter, Paul and Mary, Creedence Clearwater Revival, or some other hippie-esque music. It's a total vegan hippie dish. But it's also quite tasty.

Just in case, like me before yesterday, you have no idea what quinoa is, it's a super small grainy, seedy thing, similar in texture and consistency to rice. It's quite healthy, with almost zero fat, lots of protein, and tons of fiber. Kind of like oatmeal.

To prepare it, you simply bring one cup quinoa and two cups water to a boil, then let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all the water has been soaked up:

Please excuse our messy kitchen. All this cooking (and eating) leaves little time for cleaning!

Here's how to make the rest of the salad.

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango (from Veganonmicon):

2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cup chopped scallions (or onion)

1 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 can black beans (we used 2 cups dry bulk beans, cooked)

Combine the mango, bell pepper, scallions, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Add the vinegar, oil, and salt, and stir:

Add the quinoa. Then fold in the black beans:

You really can't get much healthier than this. Beans, whole grains, fruit, and veggies--all in one little salad! 

Next time we make this, we're going to add some lime juice and a couple hot peppers to give it a little kick. 

Anyone out there have any other good quinoa recipes?

-Kristin

Day 2

One day into our Eat Less Crap challenge, and I was already desperately craving candy. If you know me at all, you know I am pretty obsessed with candy. Skittles, Red Vines, Sixlets, gummy worms, jelly beans, Sour Patch Kids. I probably got over half of my daily calories from these things. I knew going into this that this was going to be my (main) area of weakness.

So yesterday morning I sent Andy off to the store to pick up some sweets that fit within our rules.

He was able to find some fun candies (like jelly beans, licorice, and these amazing honey hard candies), but bringing home all those tubs of dried fruit was just genius! Not only are the dried mangos, cherries, blueberries, and apricots I've been munching on not bad for you, they are good for you! An easy way to both cut back on the candy, and bulk up on the fruit.

For lunch yesterday, we had yummy pear salads with maple candied pistachios.

I'm a total salad girl, so I enjoyed this dish immensely. The candied nuts are awesome (we used pistachios because I'm allergic to pretty much every other nut, but the recipe actually calls for pecans). We ended up making more than we needed for the salad, just to have on-hand to snack on. Here's the recipe:

Pear Salad with Maple Candied Pistachios (Adapted from Veganomicon):

For the nuts:
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

For the salad:
Salad mix/lettuce of your choice
1 ripe pear, chopped into bite-sized pieces
Crumbled gorgonzola cheese, to taste
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons basalmic vinegar

In a cast-iron skillet, toast the pistachios over medium heat for about 5 minutes, tossing them frequently after the first 2 minutes.

Then, sprinkle the oil and salt over them and toss to coat.

Add the maple syrup and toss to coat, heating until the syrup starts to bubble.

Let it bubble for about 30 seconds while tossing.

Transfer the nuts to a parchment paper-lined plate and let cool/harden.

Toss all the remaining ingredients together, sprinkle on the nuts, and you're done!

Andy also whipped up some Curry Pumpkin Hummus yesterday.

Hummus is one of my favorite snacks, and this recipe from Skinny Dips is pretty tasty! This recipe makes a LOT of hummus, and stays good in the fridge for the whole week (or like, 2 days around here!) I love it with carrot sticks, but it's also great with baked pita chips. Here's how to make it:

Curry Pumpkin Hummus (from Skinny Dips):
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1.5 tablespoons honey
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1.5 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1.5 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

In a small pan, over medium heat, warm the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and saute until just beginning to soften, about 30 seconds. Then, add the curry powder and saute, stirring constantly for about a minute. Then, stir in the honey, remove from heat, and set aside.

Using a food processor, process the chickpeas until finely mashed. Then, add the pumpkin puree, ginger, salt, and the garlic mixture, and process until the hummus is nice and smooth.

For a quick and easy dinner last night, Andy made some hummus and tabouli open-faced sandwiches. He started with a layer of hummus, added some store-bought tabouli (a Mediterranean salad with cracked wheat, mint, garlic, lemon, tomatoes, and green onions), and topped the whole thing off with tomatoes and green onions. Delish and oh so healthy!

Day 2 of Operation Eat Less Crap was definitely a success!

Tonight it's cajun chicken with sweet potatoes and salsa. I can't wait!

Until tomorrow,
K