Cheesy Quinoa Casserole

The magazine we found this recipe in called it "Quinoa Mac and Cheese." After making it once, we decided it's not a mac and cheese dish at all, but does make a very delicious casserole. We've now made it twice, and it's delicious!
(This recipe makes one half the original recipe, good for 4-6 servings)

1 cup whole-grain quinoa

1 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 medium leeks (perhaps half an onion?)

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup crumbled fat-free feta cheese

¼ cup light garlic and herb cream cheese

1 tablespoon milk

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

Panko

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

1. (Quinoa) In a large pot, combine quinoa and vegetable broth, then cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high. Reduce heat to a low and cook for 30 minutes or until broth is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Fluff resting quinoa with a fork.

2. (Greens) Meanwhile, roughly chop only the white and light green part of the leeks and discard the leaves. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan over medium-high. Add leeks and garlic sauté for 2 minutes or until soft. Using a paper towel, squeeze excess water from spinach, add to pan and sauté 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in thyme, parsley, pepper, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and feta together; set aside.

4. (Combine) Place cream cheese and milk in a small microwavable bowl and heat I the microwave on high for 30 seconds, then whisk to combine. Mix in Parmesan, spoon mixture into a zip-top bag, and refrigerate until ready to use.

5. Add cooled quinoa to spinach and leek mixture; toss to combine, then stir in egg mixture until combined. Coat a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray and pile quinoa mixture. Snip a corner of the cream cheese-filled baggie and squeeze evenly over quinoa. Scatter panko and parmesan on top and mist lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately. 

Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake

I made a really delicious root beer float cake for Jeran's birthday. I looked for recipes for a root beer float ice cream cake and was surprised that there weren't very many to be found. Maybe two. Luckily, the one I tried is very scrumptious and simple (I would be lying if I said this cake was easy for me to make, but that is only because the cake stuck to the pan big time).

Here's a link to the original recipe post by Keep It Sweet Desserts.

And here's the recipe:

Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients (Serves 12)

• 1 (18.25) ounce box white cake mix
• 1 (12 ounce) can root beer (I used diet)
• 4-5 cups light vanilla bean ice cream
• 2 (8-ounce) containers fat free cool whip

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and soda until almost all the lumps are gone. Divide cake batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set cake aside to cool (you can even cool the cake layers in the freezer so the ice cream doesn't melt when you build the cake. )
• When cake is cooling, prepare ice cream layer. Line an 8-inch cake pan with wax paper and press ice cream down into pan. Put this layer in the freezer until firm, about 1 hour. Once the cake and ice cream layers are ready you can build you cake.
• Place first layer down on a cake plate. Top cake with ice cream layer by turning wax papered ice cream upside down over cake and then peeling wax paper. Top ice cream with second layer of cake and press down lightly. Cover cake with saran wrap and re-freeze cake until ice cream is frozen again, about 20 minutes.
• Ice entire cake with cool whip and refreeze for 2 hours or until cool whip is set. Slice and serve. Store leftovers in the freezer covered tightly with saran wrap for two weeks.

I would either really lather the pan in cooking spray or line them with a baking liner. I had such a hard time getting the cake out intact. Maybe freezing it in the pan would help. Not sure, but don't stress over it because between the freezing and the frosting, it is very forgiving of crumbling cake.  Good luck!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

Ever since we got back from vacation I've been on a healthier eating kick. There's nothing like eating snacks and pizza for a week to motivate me to try something new, and this one was super yummy. I found this soup quite a while ago from two peas and their pod, which is a blog that I don't really follow regularly, but where I occasionally find some good recipes to try out. This soup is colorful, flavorful, and relatively easy. I definitely recommend it. I was also surprised at how spicy it was. I guess I had forgotten that there were red pepper flakes and chili powder in there. :)

 

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

1 T olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I used one large and one small because I like sweet potato and it definitely didn't seem like too much... I think it was just right)
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (I used jarred because I didn't want to roast a red pepper just for this soup. I had never purchased a jarred roasted red pepper before but it smelled super duper good right when I opened it. bonus. I also used some of the juice from the jar as part of the 2 cups of water below.)
2 cans low sodium vegetable broth (15 oz. size)
2 cups water
3 cans low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 T chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
Dash of red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the onion and cook until tender. Add in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the sweet potato and roasted red pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the broth, water, black beans, and tomatoes. Stir well.
4. Add the chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Stir and toss in the cilantro. Stir again. Let the soup simmer on medium low for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

I didn't use any of these, but she says you can garnish the soup with cilantro, avocado slices, cheese, tortilla strips, and/or sour cream. 

I had to put the soup on medium-high for part of the 30 minutes because my potatoes just weren't getting soft, and I didn't end up adding any salt and pepper at the end because I thought it tasted great. However, I didn't get the low sodium versions of beans and vegetable broth so you may want to add some salt if you do get the low sodium stuff. I served it with buttered wheat toast which was super good to dip in the soup broth. Yum yum yum. I'm looking forward to lunch leftovers tomorrow. :)

Mac and Cheese with Roasted Poblano Chiles

Kara and I have been looking for quite some time for a good mac and cheese recipe. I think we finally found it - we loved this dish! Even though this is a slightly spicy recipe, variations should be pretty easy. The hardest part of the recipe was timing everything - I'd suggest doing the peppers first, and putting the noodles in to cook about when you start the Bechamel sauce.

Mac and Cheese
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 large fresh poblano chiles
Sea salt
1 lb dried pasta
4 cups hot Bechamel sauce (recipe included)
8 oz sharp white cheddar, grated
8 oz sharp orange cheddar, grated
8 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago, grated
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 c breadcrumbs

Bechamel sauce
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
4 c whole milk, heated till steaming
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Peppers:
Lay chiles on the sides on a gas burner and turn flame on high. Roast chiles, turning with tongs, until skins are evenly charred, about 10 minutes. (We put them in the oven on high broil).
Steam until cool in a closed paper bag (we put them in a covered bowl), about 15 minutes. Under cold running water, rub off burned peel. Then discard stems, core and devein chiles, scraping away all seeds, and cut into long thin strips.

Pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to instructions on package until just tender. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl (do not rinse) and toss with butter.

Bechamel Sauce:
Melt 6 tablespoons butter over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking often, without allowing flour to brown, about 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in hot milk. Add salt and nutmeg (and black pepper, if desired). Return to medium heat and bring to simmer. Continue to cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sauce has thickened to texture of melted ice cream, about 10 minutes.
Add cayenne, paprika, mustard, and Tabasco to sauce.
Stir all but one cup of the grated cheeses into the bechamel sauce. Heat, stirring until cheese just melt and sauce is smooth.

Pour the sauces over the pasta in the bowl. Add chiles and stir. Spoon into a buttered 9x13 baking dish . Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.

Bake at 400 until pasta is heated through, sauce is bubbling, and top is browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand on a rack for 5 minutes. Serves 8.

Blueberry Cobbler

I realize that nobody's posted anything on here in about a year, and that the last bajillion posts were by Mindy, so I figured it's about time that I post something. Earlier this week Mindy and I went blueberry picking at a local farm a couple of miles from our homes. I ended up with almost 6 cups of blueberries so I came home and found this recipe online. There were some other ones, but they usually involved orange juice, which I didn't have at the time. I had never made a cobbler before and I think it came out so darn good I had to make it again... two days later.

Blueberry Cobbler

      Filling:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (fresh is best, right?)
• 1 teaspoon melted butter (I used a tablespoon because I read it wrong and it was delicious, so whatever you want to do here)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

     Topping:

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a saucepan, heat to boiling, stirring constantly, then boil for a minute or two (it turns clear and goopy when it's ready). Add the blueberries and pour into a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart pan/pyrex/pie plate/whatever. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with melted butter. For the topping, combine the dry ingredients, then add the melted butter to the milk and add that to the dry ingredients. Mix it until it comes together in a ball, then drop by spoonfuls onto the blueberry mixture. Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes until topping is golden brown and goop is bubbling. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

You know it's good because Lydia kept asking for more... she didn't even have to finish a bite before she'd ask for another.