Quinoa Portobella Salad

Last night we prepared this dish at a Wellness Workshop, at the home of Jill and Shelby Daniel. One of our guests brought quinoa, so Shelby cooked some. We added it to the salad we were preparing. Quinoa is one of the most nutrient dense grains. It's a great source of iron, fiber, magnesium, and one cup contains about eight grams of protein.  It only took about 12 minutes to cook!

Ingredients:
2 cups spring mix lettuce
2 cups arugula
1/2 cup baby Portobella mushrooms sliced
1/2 cup chopped purple cabbage
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/3 cup feta cheese
1 cup cooked quinoa

Dressing:
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T grapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic- minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss. Serve as the main course or a great side dish. This is also great in a pita or tortilla wrap!

Red Beans and Quinoa

I like to purchase organic dried beans, soak them, and cook them myself as opposed to buying canned beans.  Occasionally, when I have not prepared beforehand I will use beans from a can.  I prefer soaking my own for several reasons:  When I soak my own, I know they have not been sitting around in a can for who knows how long absorbing the contents of the can itself;  I feel much better about buying them in bulk and eliminating putting another can in the earth once I'm finished with it; It is much more cost effective to prepare them myself and I can get organic ones for even less than the cost of canned non-organic; I think they are much more flavorful when I soak and cook them myself!

Soaking Dried Beans:

2 cups dried red beans

6 cups water

I placed the above in a glass bowl and soaked them for 3 days.  Each day I drained the water off of them and replaced it with fresh water until the water was clear again.  I left them on my counter and put a glass plate on top of the bowl.

Ingredients:

Rehydrated beans

4 cloves of garlic, minced,

1 tsp celtic sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 white onion, diced

8 cups of filtered water

Chopped cilantro and green onions for the topping

Quinoa (to put the beans on top of!)

Place the first 7 ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil.  Turn down to low-med heat.  Simmer beans for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, stirring about every 10 minutes, until beans are tender.

I put the beans over quinoa, but you could use rice as well, and I topped it with green onions and chopped cilantro.  This meal provides a wonderful source of fiber and protein.

We take the leftovers and use them later in the week to put into a tortilla and add salsa, lettuce, green onion, cilantro, and purple cabbage for a lunch or dinner option!

Broccoli, Chicken, Quinoa Soup

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked quinoa

5 cups water

1 cup chicken broth (or an additional cup of water if you do not have any)

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped mushroom

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 cups diced cooked organic chicken

4 T flour (I used freshly ground soft white wheat.)

1 T olive oil

2 cloves of garlic - diced

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, saute carrots, onion, celery, mushroom, broccoli, and garlic until just slightly tender.  Add water, chicken stock, chicken, quinoa, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Simmer on medium.  When the liquid has been heated, remove 1 cup of the broth (in a measuring cup or small bowl) and with a wisk or fork add 4 tablespoons of flour and stir rapidly.  This will begin to thicken.  Slowly add this liquid back to the soup, stirring as you pour it.  Continue to allow the soup to simmer until flavors have had time to blend together.  Serve immediately or turn the soup off and and let it sit, continuing to season, until you are ready to eat. (I allowed mine to simmer for about 5 minutes then turned it off.  We ate it about an hour later.)

I served this with homemade bread.  A fresh salad would be great with it as well.  You could double this recipe and freeze the leftover portion in order to have a quick meal to pull out of the freezer.

You could easily add different vegetables or leave out the ones you do not have on hand.  I had several leftover organic chicken legs.  I used the broth I had saved from baking my chicken and chopped the chicken up.  (Note - I always add more water to the chicken I bake in order to have broth to reserve for something later.  You can freeze the broth until you are ready to use it!)

Soups make an easy way to use up what you have in the refrigerator.  This soup was created by what I had leftover from the week.  Try creating your own recipe sometime.  Just take the leftovers that sound like they might be good together!