Ingredient of the Week - Quinoa

Since Blogger decided to lose my last post entirely, here I am, resurrecting my post from last week!  I want to try something new to keep the blog fresh in between new recipe lulls, so I'm going the informational route.  I have 2 upcoming posts that use Quinoa, so I thought I'd share a little bit of information about it.  I'd never heard of it before, so I'm sure many of you are unfamiliar with it as well.  So here we go!

A spoonful of cooked Red Quinoa

The recipe I will be posting later actually came from The Biggest Loser.  They were making some healthy snacks and meals, and it looked so good that I had to try it.  I wasn't sure what the ingredient they were using was, and I didn't catch the name of it on the show, so I turned to Google and searched until I found the recipe.  The first ingredient was Quinoa, which I had no clue what that was, so back to Google I went!  Here are some of the basic facts I found about Quinoa.

QUINOA

Quinoa is an ancient food that is not yet well known in North America. It has been cultivated in South American Andes since at least 3,000 B.C. and has been a staple food of millions of native inhabitants. In Peru, Chile and Bolivia, quinoa is now widely cultivated for its nutritious seeds, and they are referred to as "little rice." Quinoa has been grown outside of South America for a relatively short time. It is grown in Canada and has been grown in the U.S.

Technically quinoa is not a true grain, but is the seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It is used as a grain and substituted for grains because of it's cooking characteristics.  Quinoa grains range in color from ivory to pinks, brown to reds, or almost black depending on the variety. There are over 120 species of Chenopodium, but only three main varieties are cultivated; one producing very pale seeds, called the white or sweet variety; a dark red fruited variety called red quinoa; and a black quinoa. The quinoa seed is high in protein, calcium and iron, a relatively good source of vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans. It is exceptionally high in lysine, cystine and methionine-amino acids typically low in other grains.The World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in quinoa at least equivalent to that in milk.

Before cooking, the seeds must be rinsed to remove their bitter resin-like coating, which is called saponin. Quinoa is rinsed before it is packaged and sold, but it is best to rinse again at home before use to remove any of the powdery residue that may remain on the seeds.  To cook, you can follow the directions on the package, but it's usually 1 part Quinoa to 2 parts water. For example, 1 cup dry Quinoa to 2 cups water.  Stir the Quinoa in the water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Cover, and bring the heat down to a simmer.  The Quinoa is done when all the water has been absorbed.

I had to go to a few different stores to find the variety I needed.  My local grocery store has the white variety the natural foods section.  I also found white at Trader Joe's.  I just happened to be going near a Whole Foods over that same weekend so I checked there as well, and they had all 3 varieties, white, black and red.  You can order it online as well.

I hope you all enjoyed my slightly lengthy blurb about this (actually last) week's main ingredient!  Check back soon to see the Biggest Loser quinoa recipe, and one that I came up with myself!

Source:
http://chetday.com/quinoa.html

Black Bean Soup

One of my coworkers asked me if I could make a black bean soup.  I decided to give it a try since I'd never really had it before, let alone made it, but since I love black beans, why wouldn't I like black bean soup?  For some reason I thought Hubby didn't like it, but I was wrong.  He was so excited when I told him I was making my coworker's request!  I actually made this once a while back, and had meant to post it, then lost all my info!  I had pulled my ideas from a few recipes I found online.  I searched and found it all again and made the soup for this week, and I think it turned out even better this time.  So it all works out!  You can make this with any broth you like, so it can be vegetarian (possibly vegan) if you use veggie broth.  I don't know much about vegan cooking, but if it counts then, even better!  I think the only thing that's not vegan would be the cheese and sour cream toppings recommended at the end.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium to large onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

(1) 32 oz carton of your broth of choice (veggie, chicken or beef will work, your preference)

(3) 29 oz cans of black beans (mostly drained, not rinsed, and divided)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

1 teaspoon oregano
A handful of fresh finely chopped Cilantro
Ground Black Pepper to taste

Juice of 1 Lemon

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons water

Preparation and Cooking Method:

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Sauté onions for 2-3 minutes until translucent.  Add bell pepper and garlic and sauté 1-2  minutes more.  Add broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Return heat to medium high.  Add half of the beans, salt, cumin, oregano, and cayenne powder and mix well.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat temporarily.  If you have a hand blender, puree the soup mixture right in the pot.  Otherwise you will have to use a blender, and probably do it in a couple separate rounds depending on how much soup you make.  After the mix is pureed, return soup to heat, and add the rest of the beans and cilantro.  Combine the cornstarch and water and mix well.  Add the lemon juice and the cornstarch mixture to the soup, stir, and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes or so.

The Verdict:

I think I changed a few things from the first time I cooked this, but it came out awesome this time!  I will be very happy eating this all week, and so will Hubby.  If you want a little more texture, keep some of the onions and peppers aside and add them after you puree.  I was going to do this, and even had some that I set aside, but not thinking, I threw them in the pot before I pureed everything.  If you want the soup to be thicker, add more beans before pureeing, and vice versa if you don't like it as thick.  Top the soup with some shredded monterey jack cheese, scallions and sour cream if you like as well.

Click here for the printable PDF recipe page!

Simple Peach Barbecue Chicken

I tried this one a few weeks ago.  It's another one out of my big slow cooker magazine and was another Hubby's choice.  As usual, he raved about it :)

Ingredients:

2 ½ to 3 lbs chicken drumsticks, skinned if desired 

1 cup of your favorite barbeque sauce 

1/3 cup peach or apricot preserves 

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

Preparation:

To Prepare Sauce:
In a small bowl, stir together barbecue sauce, preserves, and mustard.

Place chicken in slow cooker. Pour sauce mixture over chicken. Cover and cook a couple hours on high, or 3-4 on low for newer slow cookers. For older slow cookers, 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 on high.

Transfer chicken to serving dish, cover to keep warm. Transfer sauce to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes, or until sauce reaches desired consistency. Serve chicken with sauce. Garnish with fresh peach wedges if desired.

The Verdict:

As I said before, the hubby LOVED this one. I served it with cut corn and red skin garlic mashed potatoes. Very yummy!

**One thing I want to clarify from the preparation is about the slow cooker times. I will elaborate more in another post, but it seems that newer slow cookers cook at higher temperatures. I realized I have been overcooking some things, and this would be why. So when you use your slow cooker, you may not have to cook things as long as some of the recipes call for. Refer to the instruction manual for your slow cooker if you have it.

Click Here to download the printable PDF recipe page!

I'm still here, I promise!

Hello Readers!  I promise I haven't left my blog!  I've been crazy busy lately, as usual, and haven't had much time on the computer to do the work it takes to make a post.  Things should be slowing down so I can at least get up the last couple posts I have in mind.  With my busyness, I have been making a lot of repeat recipes.  I'm hoping to get into some new ones soon, especially some good ones for summer so stay tuned!

Easy Pasta Alfredo

As promised, here is the alfredo sauce recipe I made for myself last weekend.  I had a craving and did some recipe searching.  One from Campbell's ended up being the healthiest one, so I used it as the basis for my own recipe.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder OR 1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 3/4 cups chicken broth (possibly replace with vegetable broth to make vegetarian)

1/3 cup plain yogurt

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese (or any blend you prefer)

Half and Half

Preparation and Cooking Method:

Stir the flour, garlic powder, and black pepper in a medium sauce pan.  Add the broth and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens.  Stir the yogurt and the parmesan cheese in the sauce pan and blend well, whisk if needed.  Add some half and half.  Once well blended, cool mixture for a couple minutes to thicken.  Then pour over your favorite kind of pasta, cooked of course, and top with more parmesan and other toppings of your choice.

My Recommendations:

The original recipe didn't call for the half and half.  It became a bit of a weird color so I just added some until I got it to be the white color I wanted.  It also helped make the mixture less thick.  I didn't measure, so I apologize.  I would say I used maybe 1/4-1/2 cup at the most.  The recipe recommended mixing the sauce and pasta together before serving.  I didn't do this but you can if you like.  If you want to make it vegetarian, I suppose vegetable broth could work in place of chicken broth, but I haven't tried it.

The Verdict:

This meal came out AWESOME!  I had a craving for alfredo and this quenched it for sure.  This recipe made enough for my meal and a few more.  If you need to feed the family, I might recommend doubling.   It was very quick and easy to cook as well.  This is a very versatile recipe, which I topped with steamed broccoli and diced tomatoes.  You could also top with chicken, steak, shrimp, or anything else you like on your alfredo!

Click here for printable PDF page!

Pot Roast with Fruit & Chipotle Sauce (Slow Cooker)

Here it is, FINALLY!  Things got a little busier than I anticipated the last few days, on top of forgetting my usb drive every day, with my blog files on it, made it difficult to find time to make this post!  This recipe is from the Essential Slow Cooker magazine I wrote about a couple posts ago.  It is one of many that I want to make.

Ingredients:

1 3 lb boneless beef chuck pot roast 

Garlic Pepper Seasoning 

1 7 oz package dried mixed fruit 

½ cup water 

1 tablespoon finely chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce 

2 teaspoons cornstarch 

1 tablespoon cold water 

Preparation and Cooking:

Trim fat from meat. Sprinkle with garlic pepper seasoning. Place in slow cooker, 3 ½ qt or larger. Add dried fruit, ½ cup of water, and chipotle pepper. Cover and cook on low for 10-11 hours or high for 

5-5 ½ hours. Transfer meat and fruit to a serving platter and cover to keep warm.

For sauce, pour cooking liquid into a bowl or glass measuring cup, skim fat. In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch and the cold water. Stir in cooking liquid. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more.

Serve meat (and fruit if desired) with sauce.

My recommendations:

Not many here.  I didn't change too much about the recipe.  The book recommended serving the fruit with the meat.  I decided against it because it looked pretty gross after sitting in the crock pot for 10 hours!  Also, the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce comes in a can and can be found in the Goya section of the grocery store.  If you don't have it, I'd say just replace with a tablespoon of finely chopped jalapeno pepper.

The Verdict:

This one was Hubby's choice, and he raved about it through the whole meal, and didn't complain once about eating the left overs all week. I enjoyed it as well, but left the left overs for the hubby :)  The chipotle pepper gives it a pretty good kick!  For sides I served peas and red skin mashed potatoes with fresh minced garlic mixed in, as well as jumbo flaky biscuits.

Click here for printable PDF recipe page!

Recipe Analyzer

Hello again!  Just another quick post here.  The Pot Roast recipe will be coming tonight or tomorrow, promise!  I just wanted to share a little tool I found that can make calorie counting a little easier for you.  Since I like to cook from scratch, not everything is easily measurable without a lot of math.  We learned from my coupon post that math isn't always my strong point.  I've started using my calorie counter app on my phone again which is very accurate when it comes to foods with barcodes on them, but I couldn't find a way to measure the soup I made this weekend so I was inspired to Google for a solution.

I found a great recipe analyzer here.  You list the ingredients and the amount of each you're using.  You can leave out spices and things like that.  It will flag each ingredient whether it recognizes it or not with red, yellow or green flags, so you can change how they are named until it figures it out.  I tested it with my Chicken and Brown Rice Soup recipe as compared to the nutritional info given on the Whole foods website and it was pretty accurate!  Only a little off but I was fine with just a few points here and there.  Then I needed to convert from grams to ounces, then ounces to cups to figure out how much a serving is.  Google has a calculator function that is very helpful with that.

Hopefully with this tool I can now cook with more accurate measurements and give nutritional info for my recipes!

2 Recommended Slow Cooker Magazines!

Hello Readers!  Just a quick post for the morning.  My hubby's chosen recipe of Pot Roast with Fruit and Chipotle sauce is already in the slow cooker, roasting for 10 hours or so.  Expect a blog post either tonight or tomorrow!  He chose the recipe from one of 2 really awesome slow cooker magazines I just bought.  I'm usually not one to buy food magazines since I'll normally only find one or two recipes I'm interested in, but both of these are FULL of easy and very tasty looking slow cooker recipes!

The larger magazine, Essential Slow Cooker, was $9.99, and the Prevention Guide Slow Cooker was $4.99.  I happened to be waiting for prescriptions at CVS and found them while perusing the other magazines, but you can probably pick them up just about anywhere.  As I said, I normally wouldn't spend $15, but since I want to try just about every recipe in these books, it was definitely worth it for over 200 recipes!

Chicken and Brown Rice Soup

Here's a great easy recipe I based off a recipe I found on the Whole Foods website.  It's easy to prep and fast to cook.  We had it for dinner tonight and it was hubby approved.  It's also very light and low calorie.  Also, don't be confused by the tags for this soup.  A couple easy changes will make this a vegetarian dish.

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken broth, (or vegetable broth for vegetarian) divided

1 medium onion, chopped 

3 medium carrots, chopped 

2 stalks celery, chopped 

2 cups water 

1 cup long grain brown rice 

½ lb chicken breast, diced into 1/2 inch cubes (tofu or quartered button mushrooms for vegetarian) 

1 bay leaf 

1 bunch kale, thick stems removed and leaves thinly sliced 

salt and pepper to taste 

oregano to taste 

Method:

In a large pot over medium-high heat, bring ½ cup broth to a simmer. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally. Add remaining broth, water, rice, chicken and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook about 35 minutes or until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through. Remove bay leaf and stir in kale. Continue cooking just until kale is wilted and tender.

The Verdict:

As I said above, this was hubby approved and very easy to make.  It made a pretty decent amount so we should get a few days of meals out of it.  You can also make 2 easy changes to make this a vegetarian meal.  The original recipe didn't call for the salt, pepper, or oregano.  I added the oregano, but I would like a little more flavor, so I will add a tiny bit of salt and some pepper next time.  Over all, it was very tasty and light and I look forward to the left overs!

Click here to download the PDF page for this recipe!

My New Adventures in Couponing

This blog is not just about cooking, but making your home.  Saving money is part of running a home, and we all like to save money where we can, right?  I have been using coupons for a while now on things here and there, but thanks to tips from friends and meeting a well known "Extreme" Couponer, I'm finally learning and understanding how to use them to their maximum potential, getting things for nearly, or completely free!  I will be up front and tell you that it's not easy or quick, but if you put in the work, it definitely pays off.

I recently met Kathy Spencer of Boxford, MA, the creator of the website How to Shop for Free, and writer of a book of the same name.  She was a guest on a show at my work, and she gets so much for free, that she is more than stockpiled at home, and is able to donate to food pantries and other charities.  I plan to buy her book on my Nook next week, and I highly recommend it to you and I also recommend signing up on her website.  I've also signed up on Coupon Mom so I can use both to my advantage in my search for deals.

The best stores to search for deals are the ones that offer incentives and rewards, like CVS and Rite Aid, and Walgreens.  If you haven't already, sign up for CVS Extra Care, and Rite Aid Wellness+, and get the rewards cards, and sign the cards up on the store's websites.  Also, you can sign up through the Rite Aid website for Rite Aid Single Check Rebates.  Certain items have rebates, you can enter your receipt information, and once it processes, you can cut a check!  You can also get deals at Target, Walmart, and the grocery store with a little more work.

Part of the work is getting the circulars in the paper or online, and going through them.  Coupon Mom and How to Shop for Free do this for you and will list out the deals of the week, in conjunction with the coupons that are online, as well as in the Sunday paper inserts.  You also have to find a way to come across multiple coupon inserts or this won't work to it's full potential.  I have an alliance with a board member at work who gives his coupon inserts to me when he's done, and he barely clips any of them so it works out in my favor to load up.  I'm also thinking of reaching out to people in my apartment complex. You can also print out up to 2 of each coupon per computer from the coupon printing websites, so if you have multiple computers between home and work, go for it!

I'm not going to get into too much more detail in this post, otherwise it will be a novel!  I will try to provide posts with tips along with my usual recipes, and show any deals that I get.  I will try to shop earlier in the week as time goes on so you can take advantage of the deals too!  You don't get everything for free right away, but once you add in the rewards and things, you will start to see it snowball.  I will keep tabs on my rolling total as well.

So without further ado, here is my pile for this week!

From left to right: 4 bags of Chex Mix, 2 packs of Goodnights, 4 boxes of pasta, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 2 Almay eyeliners, 3 boxes of Gain dryer sheets, 1 bottle of spray butter, 4 bottles of Suave body wash, and 1 bottle of Dove body wash.  My grand total for all of this between Target, Market Basket (grocery store), CVS, and Rite Aid was $81.54.  The end total spent after manufacturer coupons, store incentives and rewards, used and unused (but they still count toward the end total), and rebates, $26.36.  That's a savings of $54.58!  If I look at my receipts, that's like paying only for my Target bill (pre-coupons), and getting the rest free!  I will break everything down for you by store.  The totals don't include tax.

Market Basket (grocery store)
4 boxes of Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta, $1 each, with 4 $1 off coupons = FREE!
2 boxes of Swanson Chicken Broth (not pictured) $2.39 ea, with $1 off 2 coupon = 3.78
Original Merch Total: $7.98
MFR(manufacturer) Coupons Total = $4.00
Out of Pocket Expense = 3.78

Target
3 boxes of Gain dryer sheets, $4.34 ea ($13.02), with 3 $3 off coupons = 4.02
4 bottles of Suave body wash, $1.84 ea ($7.36), with 4 $1 off coupons = 3.36
1 bottle of Dove body wash, $5.84, with $1 off 1 coupon = 4.84
Original Merch Total: $26.22
MFR Coupons Total: $14.00
Out of Pocket expense: $12.22
That's like paying only for the dryer sheets, plus a few cents and getting the rest free!

Rite Aid (two separate trips)
2 tubes of Colgate Toothpaste, $3.50 each, with 2 $1 off coupons = 5.00
4 bags of Chex Mix, 2 for $3, with 1 $1 off 2 coupon = 5.00
2 Almay Eyeliners, 40% off on sale, $4.49 each, with 2 $1 coupons = 6.98
Merch Total: $21.98
+UP dollars earned for toothpaste purchase: $7.00
+UP dollars earned for Chex Mix purchase: $4.00
Rite Aid Single Check Rebates on Eyeliners: $4.00 ($2 each, limit 2)
Original Merch Total: $21.98
MFR Coupons Total: $5.00
+UP and Rebate Total: $15.00
Out of Pocket expense : $1.98
That's like paying for only one bag of the Chex Mix at the sale price, plus a few cents and getting the rest free!

CVS (two separate trips)
2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste, $3.79 each with 2 $1 off coupons = 5.58
2 packs of Huggies Goodnights, 2 for $17.98, with 2 $1.50 off coupons = 14.98
Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) earned for toothpaste purchase: $7.58
ECB's earned for diaper purchase: $4.00
Original Merch Total: $25.56
MFR Coupons Total: $5.00
ECB's Total: $11.58
Out of Pocket Expense: $8.98
That's like paying for one pack of the Goodnights at the sale price and getting the rest free!

The butter was free with a Buy one get one Free coupon that I used at Hannaford during my weekly grocery trip.  I didn't count Hannaford toward my couponing, but I counted the butter as part of my freebies :)  I suppose it would actually throw off the math a little, but let's pretend it doesn't because I don't feel like trying to recalculate all over again for a second time!

Grand Merchandise Total: $81.54
MFR Coupon Total: $28.00
Rewards Total (extra dollars and rebates): $26.58
Current Out of Pocket Expense: $36.96
Grand End Total: $26.96!

I have $10 in unused rewards and rebates to come, but they contribute to my rolling total. Hopefully I can earn rebates and extra dollars back over time to make that total go down. I will also earn some extra dollars back from CVS every quarter, so the more I spend there, the more I will earn! I hope to learn more as I get to read Kathy's book as well.

I know it's a lot to read and take in, but it is work to do this.  Like I said, it's not all free at first, you have to get into it, but as time goes on, the numbers should eventually even out!  I started an excel workbook with tabs for each store, and an over all tab to log it all so I can track my progress.  I will be sure to keep sharing as I learn more and give tips and deals through out the weeks to come!