Rosemary Lemonade and Grilled Summer Pasta w/Creamy Pesto Sauce

 Another summer monday morning! Right smack in the middle of summer, I love it!!!  I hope everyone had a great weekend and kept it cool.

Here are a few pic's from a hike we recently took.

  Dave and I rode our mountain bikes in this area last year and saw a turtle from the trail so we thought it would be nice to take Keaton and hike part of the stream going down the mountain and find more turtles.  Well, we found a little more than a turtle.

 

This here is a aquatic garter snake, we saw 3 of them.  They are harmless and we grew up with the ordinary garter snake.  They aren't very big and I think they are kind of cute!

This here is a western pond turtle.  This little guy blends in so well with the sand and rock, if he hadn't been laying in the water right in front of me it would have been hard to find him.    I love turtles!!!

We had a great time hiking.  It's such a nice way to spend as a family and we always find something new and we always get great pic's to remember it.

There's nothing like drinking homemade lemonade to cool yourself with on a warm summer day.

This is actually Rosemary Lemonade.  A cafe we go to offers a Rosemary Lemonade so I thought I would try my hand at it.  Keaton loved it and we gave some to Dave and didn't tell him what was in it but the first thing he said was "it smells like that bush by our front door."  He did say it tasted good.  

I don't have exact measurements but this is what I did.  I had some simple syrup made so I reheated it along with  3 large sprigs of fresh rosemary. (simple syrup is made by using equal parts sugar and water, heating it until the sugar dissolves and turns into a syrup).   I let the syrup with the rosemary sit off the heat for about 20min.  In a jar, I used a 32oz. jar and squeezed about 5 large lemons, we like it on the tart side.  Then I poured in the simple syrup and added water 2/3 of the way and topped off with ice.  Pour into a glass and enjoy!

For dinner last night we had Grilled Summer Squash with a creamytomato pesto sauce on pasta.  Grilled yellow summer squash is so juicy and buttery good tasting when you grill it.  Yum!  The sauce was so easy to make, flavorful, yet light on the palate.  A perfect summer pasta!  

Grilled Summer Squash Pasta

Cook up 1 package of pasta according to directions.  Set aside.

Grilled squash

1 Large summer squash, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

Heat outside grill. In a small casserole dish add the summer squash, garlic and enough olive oil to coat.  Mix with your hand to evenly coat with oil.  You don't want to stick on the grill.  On medium heat add the squash slices and grill for about 10 min. then flip over for about 2-3min. more.  Take off grill and set aside.

Pesto tomato sauce:

   

4 X-tra large homegrown tomatoes(farmers market) or (storebought but homegrown are so sweet and juicy), chopped 

1 C. white wine or veggie broth(a light broth)

1/2 -3/4 C. basil pesto(I make my own

1/2 C. soy creamer or other non-dairy creamer 

3 red spring onions or green scallions

salt to taste

Heat a medium sized saucepan and add 1 T. olive oil.  Next add in chopped tomatoes.  Let simmer until tomatoes are soft and then add the 1 C. white wine or broth.  Let the white wine or broth reduce to half then stir in the pesto.  Next add in the creamer.  Once heated through take off heat and stir in the spring onions.  Set aside.

To plate, scoop some pasta into pasta bowl.  Pour some sauce onto pasta, add a few slices of grilled squash.  Drizzle a bit more sauce on squash and sprinkle with extra onions.  You can add some fresh cracked pepper over top if you choose.  Serve with a side of fresh green salad!

Ciao!

Grilled Veggie Nachos, Non-dairy Ice Cream Sandwiches and Homemade Beer!

June gloom in July?  What?  So when I go to bed at night the sky is clear and full of stars and when I wake up....cloudy and damp.  Oh well at least it burns off and it's good for the grapevines, you know need to have my wine! Ha ha ha! 

 Speaking of wine.  Since I live in an area that is full of vineyards and wineries I have been in the process of finding wines that are vegan.  I've come to find out so far that just because the bottle doesn't say it's vegan doesn't mean it isn't.  I'm also finding out those that use sustainable practices.  So far there are a couple of wines that I really liked that I found out aren't vegan. Bummer!  Oh well, that just means I get to try out new ones!    

 Recently one of my girlfriends was facebooking about how she had made nacho's and she didn't feel guilty about it one bit. It got me thinking that I have never made nachos, ever!  So how can I make a guilt-free version that actually has some nutrition in it?  Idea!  First I found a great non-dairy cheese sauce recipe on-line, baked my own chips and added grilled veggies.  There's just something yummy about homemade tortilla chips and they aren't loaded with salt.  I prefer more of a cheddar flavor so I threw in a handful of Daiya cheddar to the sauce and stirred until melted.  Dave wanted some Soyrizo so I heated some up, but just a small amount.  The boys loved it!  The next day I used up the leftovers and made Keaton and his friend Nacho's for lunch, his friend raved about the sauce!  I would definitely make this as an appetizer for company or when Keaton has a sleepover for his friends.

    This recipe goes out to you Y!

Grilled Veggie Nachos   

serves 4 as main dish

more as appetizer

Corn tortilla chips(recipe below)

Nacho Cheezy Sauce(recipe below)

Grilled veggies(recipe below), diced

*Pinto beans(I use homemade but you can use canned) 

scallions, sliced

tomato, diced

cilantro, chopped

avocado, chopped

Soyrizo, optional

salsa

To plate.  First lay some corn tortillas on a plate. Next pour some cheezy sauce on top and add the rest of the ingredients on top of that.  Continue with another layer of chips and repeat. 

*Cooking up homemade beans is actually really easy, saves you money and doesn't contain any bpa in them that have leached from the cans.  If you look on the directions on a package of beans it gives you two ways to soak beans, either over night or a quick soak. (I usually do the quick soak).  The total cooking time of the beans really depends on the type of beans.  I find pinto usually takes a good 2 hrs, garbanzo only takes 1hour at the most.  You can also freeze any beans that you aren't using right away.     

Nacho Cheezy Sauce:

makes about 2 cups

2 cups water
¼ cup raw cashews
One 4 oz. jar pimentos, drained
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin, heaping
*1/4 daiya cheddar cheese, grated(optional)if you want more of a cheddar flavor

Combine all ingredients in a blender/processor and blend until completely smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat until thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
* If you add the Daiya you may want to cut down a bit on the salt.

Baked Corn Tortillas
Corn tortillas12-18(as  many as you want)
canola spray

Heat oven to 375.
Lay aluminum foil on your top oven rack.  Spray each tortilla on both sides with oil or brush oil if you don't have a spray.  (You can also cut each tortilla into triangles before baking or just break apart when finished baking).  Lay tortillas on aluminum foil, six at a time if using whole.  You will want to flip half way through baking about 5-6 min. on each side. Bake until slightly brown and crispy. 
Note* you can turn up the heat to 400 and they will bake quicker but you really have to watch them because they will burn easy.

Grilled Veggies
2 med. Zucchini, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 anaheim peppers, whole

Heat bbq or indoor grill.  Coat the veggies with olive oil.  Grill until done.  The anaheim peppers are grilled until the skin is charred then put in plastic bag so the skin comes right off or you can scrape off the skin with a knife, then seed and dice up.  Cut up zucchini and red bell pepper and set aside.

Chocolate Mocha Fudge Ice Cream Sandwiches. When I saw the chocolate-dipped Ice cream sandwiches by Chloe in Veg News I new I had to make some for us. Now as you can see these aren't chocolate chip and that's because Keaton picked out the Mocha Fudge so I adjusted the cookie accordingly.  The fun part about Ice Cream sandwiches is that you can make any cookie and fill them with any type of non-dairy ice cream you want.  Next time I'm going with Coconut Bliss for my filler.
 Below is the recipe with my adjustments.

Chocolate Ice-Cream Sandwiches
original recipe by Chloe
adjusted by JoLynn

What you need:

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine(Earth Balance)
1/2 cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
3-4  oz. bar of dark chocolate, chopped
1 pint Mocha Fudge(So Delicious)

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment.

2.In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, egg replacer, salt. In mixer, beat margarine, sugar, brown sugar, water, and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in flour mixture ½ cup at a time, then add chocolate chunks.

3.Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough at a time and flatten with the palm of your hand. Repeat with remaining dough, and space on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15minutes.  These will really flatten.

4.Let the pint of ice cream soften in the refrigerator for about 15 to 30 minutes while the cookies cool.

5.Between 2 cookies, sandwich 1 scoop of ice cream and freeze. Repeat with all remaining cookies.

Isn't this beer lovely?  We finally got to try some homemade beer by a father of one of Keaton's friends.  I was told by the mother, when I called to thank her for this amazing tasting IPA, that

this was the first time in 20 years that her husband didn't use a recipe.  Dave and I were pretty impressed by the flavor of this Indian Pale Ale.  He needs to keep on doing what he's doing because this stuff rocks!!!

  

Look at the beautiful head of this!   We are saving our last bottle to share together, although I have to tell you, yesterday evening, a warm summer evening,  I was so tempted to open it up and drink it myself before Dave got home.  Bad, bad thoughts. lol!  It just tastes so freakin good.  It still sits in the back of the refrigerator, taunting me everytime I open the door.  Diana, if you are reading this, you can tell Warn that we are more than happy to try more anytime! Hee hee!

Happy Birthday Merlin kitty! Yummy 4th of July food!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday and things are getting back to normal from 4th.  It's been a bit cooler in the mornings here the last few days but I can't complain, I know that everyone back east is dealing with record breaking temps.  Sorry for all of you that live in those states, try to do your best to keep somewhat cool.  Just think about about those states that deal with 110-120 temps every summer.  My brother lives in Arizona and a few days ago it was around 115 that day.  I'll stick to living here on the central coast of California.

It's our cat Merlin's 15th birthday this month! 

He joined us for dinner one night.

 

I was washing dishes one evening when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  Merlin was just sitting up there watching me.  It was really funny!

 

I couldn't leave Cleo out!  This was on the houseboat. 

We grilled pizza's last Saturday night for the first time for my in-laws.  It was also the first time

I've used Daiya(dairy free cheese).  I know... but better late than never.  We usually make cheeseless pizza's but I figured since my father-in-law was here I'd try out the Daiya.  I must say I was very pleasantly surprised!  It is so far the best non-dairy cheese I have ever tasted.  Everyone really liked it too! In the future though, I think we'll stick to cheeseless pizza's, just because I'm not used to having any type of cheese product and putting the cheese on all 3 different types of pizza's were a bit too much for me.  I didn't get a chance to take a pic of all 3 pizza's but this one was a tomato, onion, mushroom, vegan sausage with daiya cheese.  Yum! 

Our favorite black bean burgers with a grilled corn and tomato salsa.  This salsa is so good you can use it to top off tortilla chips!  Just grill up a few corn on the cobs, then cut the corn off the cob.  Chop up a couple of ripe tomatoes, cilantro, scallions/red onion, lime juice, jalepeno(to taste), s & p. 

So my plan for dessert on the 4th was to make berry hand pies but the Pate Brisee was so fragile I only got to making 4 little ones and they were falling apart at that.  Soooo....I opted to use all the berries I had, mix them together and make a Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  The berries were blackberry, blueberries and strawberries.  I mixed in some arrowroot and sugar, then poured into the pie crust.  

For the crumble top I used, flour, brown sugar and Earth Balance.

This doesn't look so great,  but I had wax paper covering the top so it kind of softened the crumble topping.

I must admit this was one very delicious tasting Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  This is the first time I've used strawberries in a baked pie.  It's also the first time I've used a crumble top on a berry pie.   Since I didn't use much sugar with the berries the crumble top sweetened it nicely.

  

Last week I had a visit from 2 of my best friends.  We have been hooked on succulents lately and there is a great place in Los Olivos with amazing arrangements and succulents.  One of my girlfriends made me this cute arrangement from some of her succulents.  When the girls come out we've been exchanging propegated plants and succulents from our cuttings.  It's a nice way to add to our collection of plants and make for nice little gifts.  It's alot of fun too!

This is an arrangement I made using a Corona pail.  I just made some holes in the bottom of the pail, added rock for drainage, filled with cactus/succulent soil mix and then the succulents.  There is some Irish Moss in the middle.  The nice things about succulents are that they grow pretty quickly, easy to care for and don't require much watering.

Upcoming reviews: POM

Houseboat and Viva Vegan/Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers

Hi everyone!  I was trying to post the other day but something was going on with my blog and it just didn't work out.  I'm here now!  I hope you are all off to a great summer.  4th of July is coming up, do you all have plans?  My in-laws are coming up again this year to watch the fireworks with us.  Our town has a parade and then some good bands that play before the fireworks.

We have been back from the family reunion housboat trip about a week now.  We had a nice time.  It was only like 104-107 degrees out. lol!   Acually that isn't bad because we have been houseboating in the middle of July and that's when it doesn't even cool off very much at night. My father-in-law made some awesome margarita's that I will post soon.   Here are a few pic's, I'm waiting on everyone else's pic's because we couldn't stay the whole week. 

Looking out from the front of our boat to the back of the "old people's boat" as we called it! lol!  Those "older ones" can put down some drink I tell you! 

Cleo hanging out!  First day we found a place to anchor she was non-stop in the water.  She was pooped out the next day.

 

I couldn't wait to make another recipe from Viva Vegan and the Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers were calling to me.  These are so good!!!  I made the Red Seitan recipe from the book and used up 3 out of 4 loaves from it for the skewers.  The seitan recipe is really easy to make and it made 12 skewers.  For the skewers I found these small cherry size potato's at Trader Joe's that worked perfectly.  The marinade for these skewers is delicious!  Next time I will kick up the heat more, I toned it down for my son.

This is one skewer(kabob) served with the So Good, So Green Dipping Sauce that is also in the book.  Again I will add more heat next go around but we really liked this sauce.  We made some artichokes as well and used the green sauce for dipping the leaves in them.

This sauce makes alot!!!

I had plenty of left over skewers from the night before so for dinner the next night I sauteed up some zucchini slices,a couple of tomatoes, then added the veggies and seitan from the skewers and heated through.  Warmed up some corn tortillas, filled them with the seitan mixture, topped off with avocado, lettuce, green onion and green sauce!  Served with a side of pinto beans. The seitan was really good the next night with all of those wonderful flavors from the marinade. Yum!  Dave commented on how good this was and topped off with the green sauce that he really likes!

My next venture...tamales? 

 I have a couple of girlfriends coming up to visit today.  I better go get ready. 

Until next post..have a wonderful summer day!

Flan, White Bean Chili, apricot/coconut logs

We are so close to officially being in summer.  Everywhere there is fruit galore!  All kinds of berries, peaches, apricots, cherries, etc.  Yum! This year the berry vines in our yard are producing so many berries.  Every couple of days I'm picking more ripe ones. The only problem is I pick a big bowl full

wash them and set them on the counter and next thing you know, the bowl will be empty.  Hey I know what you are thinking....but it's Keaton eating them all, I just eat them off the vine as I pick!  hee hee. 

When I lived in Colorado the grocery store we shopped at had these yummy apricot coconut logs that I used to enhale!  I love apricots so I've tried to replicate over the years and recently I've just made some more. 

Apricot/coconut logs.  These are so easy to make.  In a food processor add in some unsulphered apricots and add about half the amount of shredded coconut.  Process until blended.  Next roll into logs and then roll in coconut.  I keep these in the refridgerator just because it's been warm here. 

  I've recently received a copy of Viva Vegan and flipping through it the first thing I saw that I could make rather quickly and easily was the Vanilla Coconut Flan.  Everything is going to have to wait until I have more time and there are many recipes, tamales, samosas, erapas, the list goes on.  Anyhoo, Keaton loves flan and Dave likes it as well so I couldn't wait to try this recipe out.   I've never been a big fan, but I tell you...this stuff absolutely, amazingly, rocks!!!  I can't wait to make this for company.  No one would know this doesn't have dairy in it. 

White bean chili is the perfect meal for a cool spring/summer evening  topped off with chunks of buttery avocados.  This is one of my favorites chilli's.  This is one of those meals that I do use Yves Meatless Turkey.  I don't like to use those types of products very often.  You could use extra beans or another product in here if you choose to.  I usually cook up my own beans but if you want you can use canned beans instead.  The Chili's I used were a mixture of anaheim and poblano, Keaton can't take alot of heat or I would've kicked up the heat more.  You can control your heat with the amount of Jalepeno's you use as well.  Also, jalepeno's are not created equal so you will find some that are really hot and others real mild. You can also use canned chili's as well.

White Bean Chili

1 1/2 C. yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 C. cooked cannelini or other white bean

5 C. No-chicken broth(Imagine Foods) or veggie broth

1 1/2 C. anaheim chillies, poblano mixture, diced

1 jalepeno or less, pick your heat, finely diced (optional)

1 pkg. Yves Meatless Turkey

1 T. dried Oregano

2 Tsp. ground Cumin

1 tsp. ground black pepper

salt to taste

1/2 C. cilantro(optional)

In a large stockpot heat 2 T. of oil and add onion, garlic and chilies. Saute until onions and chilli's are soft.  Next add in the Yves Meatless Turkey, oregano and cumin.  Stir for a couple of minutes until the mixture is warmed through.  Next add the broth and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover partly with lid, lower heat to a simmer for 1-1/2 hrs.  Stir every once in a while.  Once this is done you can stir in cilantro and add salt to taste.  Top of with avocado or non-dairy sour cream.

If you are making this for company have some hot sauce out and people can add some to their bowls if they like it hot!  You can also have a side of extra jalepeno's as well. 

Now I'm off to get the last bit of errand's and packing done for our houseboat family reunion trip.  If you have never been on a houseboat before, you should at least try it once.  It's the most relaxing vacations you'll ever take.  Just make sure you pick the right famly, friends to join you because you'll be together for a whole week with them! 

Have a great weekend and I'll be back next week!

Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing, Grilled Artichokes and stuff!

Another sunny and cool morning which will lead to a nice warm afternoon.  Summer is sure on it's way.

Yesterday the 3 of us went on a nice hike and we noticed how the spring flowers are fading and the hills are turning brown.  Here are some of my flowers in my backyard.  My sweetpeas have gone crazy and are everywhere. I love sweetpeas and the smell is absolutely wonderful!

In early spring wild poppies start popping up every where as well.  You can see them on the hillsides and in everyones yards.

 If you aren't using your own bags for groceries well you should be.  The stores out here are actually going to start charging people if they don't have there own bags.  It's about time, San Francisco has been doing this for years! Going along with using our own eco-friendly bags that we use for groceries I thought I would share with you some great produce bags I bought about a month ago.  Made in the U.S.A.

 

It took me quite a while to find a company that makes their bags here in the U.S.A. and it's called Beneterre.  I've found another type of produce bag but it was made of cotton, but I wanted something that would clean more easily and these are it! These are their Farm Fresh Sacs and they hold a head of lettuce, fruit, potatoes and much more.  They are sold in sets of  3 and are 11 by 12inches. I love, love, love these!  I've actually had people come up to me in the store and ask me about them.

Some companies say made in the U.S.A. but when you read the fine print or the complete description they aren't. 

 

I've spoken with one of the owners, Louise, she is very nice and responds very quickly.  I recently asked about them carrying bags for seeds and grains.   It seems they used to make a bag like that but ran out of the material.  Once they get their hands on more of the proper material they will offer them up again. 

This is a Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing that I found at Gliving quite a while ago that is fabulous!  It contains agave, stone ground mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, poppy seeds and raspberries.  You can find the recipe by clicking here.  I blended the raspberries in the dressing but you don't have to, it just makes it more fruity.  If you love poppy seed dressing you'll love this, just don't add the rasberries.

The dressing on our first grilled salad of the season a couple of weeks ago. Bring on the salads!!!!

If you think you don't like artichokes well you have never tried having a grilled artichoke.  You have to try these, we are so hooked on them.  When you make these you won't want to eat an artichoke any other way!  They have a wonderful smoky flavor and you don't need any of that mayo dip or whatever you use with your artichoke leaves.

Grilled Artichokes (our way)

In a large stock pot with a steamer basket add in your artichokes, ours will hold 3 good size artichokes at a time.  Steam with lid on for about 40-45 minutes or so.  It depends on the size of artichokes. You want them to be pretty much cooked all the way through, grilling them is just to bring out the flavor.  Our second go around we cut off the tops, drizzled lemon on them and then steamed them.  This seems to cook them quicker.

While these are steaming, in a small sauce pan I heated some olive oil, earth balance, 1 garlic clove, minced, and a bit of lemon juice(optional). Set aside.

 Once they are steamed take them out and cut in half.  Be careful they will be hot!  (Once cut in half if they don't seem to be cooked enough you can always put them back on and steam them longer.)  Scoop out the chokes and throw in trash.   Towards the end of steaming you will want to heat up your outside grill.

Next take each half and drizzle the olive oil mixture on them.  Lay them on the bbq grill and grill them for about 10 minutes, tops!  Take them to your table and enjoy!  If you have any olive mixture left you can use this for dipping if you'd like, but you really don't need anything.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Helen's Kitchen, Tofurky and Quinoa Salad

Hey I just found out I was the lucky winner of the cookbook giveaway of Viva Vegan at Chow Vegan! I can't wait to start cooking recipes from it because I'm reading awesome reviews on it. 
As you can see I'm still here, my mind just hasn't been into blogging for the past week for some reason.  School has been out for almost a week now for Keaton and we are on summer mode.  Yesterday we did a nice family bike ride yesterday, 22 miles or so.  It felt great!   I feel pretty lucky to be able to bike ride in such pretty scenery, although the hills are turning brown, the trees and vineyards are all green.  We get to see cows, horses and other animals all along the way.  One thing I wish for is to be able to save all of those cute cows!  Maybe one day!

I was recently contacted by a company, Helen's Kitchen, a family owned brand, to try some of their products.  I had never heard of them before so I was delighted!  The products are all GMO, MSG free.  They are  frozen and offer vegetarian and vegan items which are all very clearly labeled on the packaging.  The items they offer are tofu steaks, veggie ground, burrito's and frozen entees.They are also lower in sodium than most frozen foods. Our local healthfood store only had 2 vegan options to try so I tried the vegetarian steaks, which are sliced tofu steaks infused with herbs and the Indian Curry entree, which I still have yet to try. The tofu steaks are very flavorful and you just throw them on the skillet to reheat. I actually used these tofu steaks to make a recipe that I used to make for Dave before I was vegan.  Since this tofu is firm and already flavored it was a good choice to use.  The recipe is below and the leftovers I used to make a sandwich the next day which tasted excellent! 

 Yummy sandwich!  The tofu steaks alone would be great by themselves on a sandwich, wrap or salad.

The products work well together with Turtle Island Foods or better known to many as Tofurky.  I'm really excited to tell you that Tofurky now makes 3 different  pizza's using  Daiya non-dairy cheese!  You can now purchase a cheese pizza, sausage/veggie, pepperoni/cheese or heck try all three why not!  Unfortunately, my local health food store doesn't carry this pizza yet so I'll have to wait until they do or make a trip to another store.  When I do try I will be sure to post and if you all happen to get your hands on this new product let me know how you like it.  

Cornflake Crusted Tofu Steaks

serves 4

2 C. organic cornflakes, crushed

1/4 C. Veganaise or other non dairy mayo.

1 Package of Helen's Kitchen Tofu Steaks (or other extra-firm tofu)

3T. whole grain mustard or dijon

1 garlic clove

herbs of your choice are optional as well as salt.

3Tbsp. Melted Earth Balance or(olive oil or spray oil)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a plastic bag crush cornflakes then poor in a bowl.  In a smaller bowl stir together the veganaise, mustard and garlic. 

Grab a tofu steak and coat with the mayo mixture then coat with the cornflakes and put on to a baking pan.

Once all of the tofu steaks are on the baking pan, drizzle on the Earth Balance.

Cook for about 30-35 minutes until brown and crunchy on both sides.

Okay, this is my new favorite salad.  I use quinoa for alot of things but cold quinoa salad is my favorite!  This one above is a yellow quinoa using this recipe here from HLife.  I took this to a track meet at Keaton's school for my lunch, so I added some garbanzo beans to be more filling.  It definitely did the trick and was so refreshing!

Here are some interesting facts about  Quinoa to those who may not be to familiar with it.

1.  It is actually not a grain but a seed from a leafy green related to a spinach or swiss chard. 

2.  It was called "the gold of the Incas".  They found it helped out with the Stamina of the Inca Warriors.

3.  It contains all nine of the essentail amino acids.

4.   It is a great for those who suffer from migraines, diabetes and atherosclerosis, cardiovascular health, menopausal women and many other health issues.  It contains a huge amount of maganese, magnesium, b2 and other minerals.  Magnesium helps to relax the blood vessels which is a wonder for migraine headaches.

5.  It's very easy and quick to make.

This salad I used black quinoa and I have the recipe down below.  I made this for dinner the other night and in my bowl, not pictured here, I added some chopped avocado and served along with a vegetable.  The next day for lunch Keaton and I had some with chopped avocado as well and diced, sauteed tofu strips.  Yum!  It's just so versatile.

QUINOA SALAD

1 C. dried quinoa, rinsed

1 1/2 C. water

1 red bell pepper, diced 

1 yellow bell pepper,diced

3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 large cucmber, peeled and diced

1 very small red onion, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped  

1 1/2 C. spinach, chopped

1/4-1/3 C. fresh basil, chopped

1/4 C. pine nuts, lightly toasted

Dressing:

1 Lg. Meyer Lemon or( regular lemon), juice of

2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar

2-3 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 Tbsp. Raw Agave

1 Garlic clove, minced

salt to taste

In a medium saucepan add the rinsed quinoa to 1 1/2 C. water.  Bring to a boil and cover.  Continue to cook for about 20min until water is evaported.  Take off stove and let cool to room temp.

While quinoa is cooking, chop all of the veggies and put in large bowl. 

Next, make dressing by adding  all of the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined, set aside.

To toast pine nuts.  Heat a skillet to medium and toast pinenuts just until they start to turn color.  This only takes about 3-4min.

When quinoa is cooled add to the veggies and pour over dressing.  Stir until combined.  Eat room temp or refrigerated. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

More reviews in the future.