Vegetable Quinoa Dinner with Egg

Have you ever tried "Quinoa?" coin-no-ah? kiwi-no-wa? queen-wah? KEY-NWA! The "supergrain!" Or as the packaging also informs, its actually a seed from a plant similar to spinach! And a darn tasty one at that!

This dish is so filling, and healthy and delish! I've always been a meat and potatoes (or french fries and ice cream) type of gal, but I've also had a few roomies and besties who are strictly vegetarian. I LOVE vegetables too, and I have been trying more to center my meals around them.

Here's what you need for this dish:

1 3/4 cup Vegetable Broth (or water or other broth...)
1 cup Quinoa (rinsed in cold water and strained well)
1 cup fresh Spinach leaves
2 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1 Avocado, diced
2 Eggs
Cilantro Dressing (store bought or see recipe below)
Salt, Pepper, Parmesan, Hot Sauce, Sour Cream (all optional and to taste)

Let's get this party started!

Combine vegetable broth and quinoa in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stir, cover and immediately reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 12-18 minutes until liquid is absorbed, quinoa looks semi-translucent, and you see the "germ" sticking out on the quinoa (like little tails on each seed.)  Cooking directions on quinoa packaging always ask for 2 parts liquid and 1 part quinoa, but I find that it ends up like soup and never fully absorbs, so I've lowered the liquid content for a more "rice-like" consistency.

While the quinoa is cooking, get your veggies ready! I like using baby spinach leaves because they're already bite size, and then dice up the tomato and avocado into bite sized bits. Simple!

When the quinoa is about 2 minutes from finishing cooking, I'll fry up my eggs. You could fry or poach them, both would give you that oozy delicious yolk that brings everything together.

Scoop a hefty serving spoon full of quinoa onto your plate or large bowl, arrange your spinach, avocado, and tomato on the quinoa, drop your eggs on top! Lastly, add a little salt and pepper (and a pinch of parmesan if you like) and drizzle some cilantro dressing over everything. Mix it all up and chow down!

I cheated this time and used store bought cilantro dressing, but i like a lighter home made dressing typically. You can find an excellent recipe for that HERE

Quinoa is seriously great with a bunch of different stuff. Mix in whatever you like! I even like it cooked in veggie broth then mixed up with a little sour cream and a lot of Cholula! Yum!

On another note, Here's what I got into today... stayin' in those pines :)

Enjoy!

Chicken Adobo - a Filipino TREAT!

Growing up, one of my best friends was Filipino (Floridel.) I used to spend a lot of time at her house having pool parties, singing karaoke, and taking advantage of Mamung's (her grandma) excellent cooking! So much fun! That lovely woman would make us TRAYS of delicious egg rolls... Always presenting them to me saying, "Eat! Eat more! You're too skinny! Eat more eggroll!" God, I loved that woman! I'll be on a mission to make her famous egg rolls one of these days!

*throwback picture of the gang coming soon!*

Anyway, Chicken Adobo was a common dish at parties at the Sotelo residence and I always LOVED it (along with everything else!) I have my own take on it (attempt at authenticity...) and I love to serve it on steamed rice with cooked carrots! So tender! So delicious!

thanks, Kelly, for bringing over croissants!

*Note: It is best to prepare and marinate the chicken a day before you want to cook this dish.  That way it will be extra tasty and tender!

What you need:

Chicken thighs or drumsticks (with bone & skin!) 4-6 pieces
Garlic, about 6 cloves
Soy sauce, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Bay leaves, 3
Whole Peppercorn, about 1 tablespoon
White Vinegar, about 1 tablespoon
Brown sugar, about 1 tablespoon (optional)
Cooking oil, enough to coat bottom of pot

Basmati Rice, 1 cup
Water, 2 cups

Carrots, cut up
Water, 2 cups
Butter
Parsley (fresh chopped or dried flakes)

Here we go!

Marinate your chicken -  All you need is your chicken, garlic, and soy sauce. In a ziplock bag or bowl, place your clean/rinsed chicken pieces. Coarsely chop your garlic cloves. Pour in the soy sauce and add the garlic cloves to your chicken. Seal or cover your chicken mixture and refrigerate overnight.

Cooking time! in a deep stainless steel pot, heat up about 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and keep the marinade on the side, you'll need it later! Add your chicken, skin side down to the pot. (Careful! It fights back!) Brown for about 5 minutes on each side. Ten minutes total. This should make the skin nice and a little crispy!

ahhh! it's so angry!

Next pour your marinade over the chicken into the pot. Sprinkle in the whole peppercorns, and drop 3 whole bay leaves into the mix.  Bring to a boil then turn heat to LOW, cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.

browning nicely :)

after adding marinade, bay leaves, & peppercorns

With 10 minutes left to cook, pour in about 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and about a tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir, cover, let it finish cooking!

While you're chicken is slow cooking, cook your rice.  You can use a rice cooker or cook it over the stove. Need help with that?  Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add 1 cup white basmati rice. Turn heat to low, stir once, and cover the pot. Cook covered for 18-20 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered for 5 more minutes. Fluff and it's ready to go!

Of course you can do any other side dish with this, but I just think carrots are tasty. I just boil about 2 cups water in a pan, toss in the carrots, cover and cook over medium for the entire time the chicken is cooking.  I like to strain them then saute with a little butter and some fresh or dry parsley!

carrots! nom nom!

everything cooking together like a big happy family - all to be ready at the same time!

This meal is super filling and SO good! Hopefully Mamung would be proud of me! Let me know what you think!

Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice

One of my favorite things in life is Asian food.  Can't get enough of it! Sushi, Chinese, Vietnamese, whatever... It's all amazing.  I don't know why it took me so long, but last year I finally made it a point to learn how to make delicious fried rice at home.  GENIUS! The best part is, you can substitute a lot of the ingredients, add, or take away some of them based on what you have around the house or what sounds good to you. I apologize in advance for the lack of process/conclusion pictures... this is my first recipe blog! Anyway, I made chicken & shrimp fried rice the other day and here's how it was done:

What you'll need:
1/2 to 1lb Chicken (boneless/skinless breast or thigh) cubed into bite sized bits
1/2 lb Shrimp - rinsed/peeled/de-veined
1 cup rice (brown or white - I used brown)
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas/carrots mix, defrosted
2 eggs
1 stalk green onion, chopped
soy sauce
fish sauce (optional)

What to do:

1. Cook your rice! To be honest, the best fried rice is going to be made with day old plain steamed rice.  You can use a rice cooker, but I usually do your typical 2:1 ratio of water:rice on the stove top.  Deets - 2 cups water and 1 cup rice in a sauce pot, stir. Bring to boil, stir, immediately turn heat to LOW and COVER. Cook for 18-20 minutes (until the water is all absorbed.) Leave the lid on the pot until it is DONE! (Glass lids are helpful so you can see.)

2. Cook your meats! Using a separate pan, heat a little oil and minced garlic cloves.  Once heated, throw in your chopped up chicken.  As it is cooking sprinkle a little soy sauce on it for flavor.  When your chicken is about half done, toss in your shrimp. They should be done at about the same time! Set aside in a bowl

3. Cook your eggs!  I usually do this while the meat is cooking. In a little bowl, mix up 2 egg with a tiny splash of milk (optional) and soy sauce. (I like to add sesame seeds too)  In a large sauce pan (big enough to mix EVERYTHING in the end) heat a little oil and scramble the egg mixture. Mix the eggs the entire time they are cooking so it's all crumbly in the end. When that is done cooking, you can toss it in the bowl with the cooked chicken and shrimp and keep it on the side.

4. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in the large pan. Add your chopped yellow onion.  When the onions begin to become translucent, add the peas and carrots. Stir frequently as you cook for about 5 minutes. Throw in your cooked rice and stir until all the oil is absorbed and the rice is slightly fried (about 5 minutes.)

5.  Now you can add whatever you want in! Toss in your bowl of chicken, shrimp and eggs.  Stir continuously.  At this point, you should drizzle soy sauce and a little fish sauce all over the mixture to your taste. Once everything is mixed and heated through, you're done cooking! Turn off the heat, stir in your green onions, and serve! Voila! 

Like I said, you can change up the stuff you mix in any way you like! For example, you could do more onions, no peas/carrots, add pineapple, shrimp, ham (fried spam?)... or whatever your sweet little heart desires!

Hope you enjoy! Please add comments if you've got any for me!