Chickpea Quinoa Cakes

*I made this for dinner and thought I'd love it since it's made with quinoa and chick peas...two of my favorites!  It was REALLY good!  Even my teenage son liked it.  The avocado dip is a must with it.  The only problem I ran into was the cooking time was WAY off!  I ended up turning the oven up to 400 degrees and they browned much quicker.  The picture on the left is before I cooked them..the right is after.  Enjoy!


Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

For the cakes:
1 10.5 ounce can chickpea, drained and liquid reserved
4 stalks green onion, chopped
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 tbsp chickpea liquid (plus additional, as needed) I used extra
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

For the Lemon avocado dip:
1 avocado, halved, seeded and mashed
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1 heavy pinch fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 (I did 400 because they never browned at 350).  In a food processor, pulse together the chickpeas, green onion and garlic until coarsely pureed, about 2 minutes

Transfer chickpea mixture to a medium mixing bowl and stir in quinoa, tahini, whole wheat flour and chickpea liquid until well combined.  The resulting mixture should be moist but not too wet.  You may need to add another tbsp of chickpea liquid.  Stir in paprika, salt, and pepper.

Add the panko bread crumbs to a small plate.  Form the chickpea quinoa mixture into equal size balls (I used a large melon scoop).  Roll each ball in the bread crumbs and transfer to a parchment or silicon mat lined baking sheet.  Flatten slightly to form 3/4 inch thick discs.  I used the bottom of a glass to flatten cakes.  Bake in the oven until light golden brown, about 18-20 min.  This depends on the oven.  Keep an eye on them if you decide to bake at a higher temperature.

While the cakes are cooking, make the avocado dip.  In a small bowl, mix the mashed avocado, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.

Serve the cakes warm or at room temperature with a side of dip.

Polenta with Black Beans and Mango Salsa

From:  The Starch Solution
By: John McDougall, MD

I'll admit...I was a little afraid of polenta.  I had never made it before and was worried that my family wouldn't like it.  Well, no need to worry....this meal is fabulous!!  I will be making this again very soon.  My kids liked it as well.  Polenta reminds me of corn bread.  In my picture, the polenta cakes are underneath the bean and mango salsa mixture.  I bought my polenta at Trader Joe's.  It was inexpensive and organic (which I always prefer).  I made my mango salsa, but if time is of an issue, Trader joe's sells a great mango salsa.  I will also double the amount of polenta I make next time.  We are a family of five with 3 teenagers.  The recipe made enough of the bean/mango mixture.  Enjoy!

1 package (24 ounces) cooked polenta, cut into 1/2 thick slices (It is sold in a tube)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 orange or yellow pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (4 ounces) green chiles
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
Dash or two of Tabasco (I used many dashes!)
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups mango salsa (recipe below) or store bought mango salsa

Preheat oven to 375.  Place the polenta slices on a nonstick baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. My polenta stuck so I would recommend spraying the baking sheet first.  Also, I flipped my polenta over after 15 minutes and baked another 5 minutes.

While the polenta bakes, put the broth, onion, bell peppers, and garlic in a large saucepan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add the black beans, tomatoes, chiles, chili powder, cumin, hot sauce, and black pepper to taste.  Cook 10 minutes.  Taste and add more hot sauce if you wish.  Stir in the cilantro and remove the saucepan from the heat.

To serve...arrange a few slices of polenta and top with bean mixture.  Top with the mango salsa.

Mango Salsa:
2 cups peeled and chopped ripe mango (I buy the frozen mango chunks at Trader Joe's and let them thaw....much easier!)
1/2 cup chopped onion, fine chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Put above ingredients in a bowl.  Add 1 tbsp of warm tap water and stir to combine.  Add more salt/pepper to taste.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to a week.

Not-Tuna Spread

From:  The Starch Solution
By: John McDougall, MD

Ok...I'm so bummed that I forgot to take a picture of this!!  It is DELICIOUS!  Don't let the name scare you.  I will post a picture when I make it again in several days.  This is so good that my teen daughter requested I make it again.  I tripled the batch and ate it for lunch all week.  I topped it with avocado slices to add extra protein and it was great.  It tastes delicious inside a whole wheat pita.  Also, I added more than the 1/4 cup of tofu mayo.  Just put enough in for your liking.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Tofu mayonnaise
     *1 package (12.3 ounces) silken tofu, drained in a fine mesh strainer
     * 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
     *1 tsp granulated sugar
     *1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp mustard powder, 1/8 tsp white pepper
     *Combine all of the above in a food processor and process until mixture is completely smooth.
       Transfer to an airtight container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a week

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1 tbsp lemon juice

Place chickpeas in a food processor and process until COARSELY chopped, or mash with a bean masher.  You do NOT want this smooth so go easy on processing.  Place in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and mix well.  Chill for at least 1 hour or up to 4 days.

Farm Salad

From: Zinburger Restaurant

*Our family ate out the other night at Zinburger.  We ordered this salad and loved it.  My daughter found the recipe online.  It takes work chopping up the ingredients, but it is worth it!

Ingredients:
Spring mix (finely chopped, portioned 1ounce each) 1 each (I bought the spring mix in a bag at Trader joe's and used half of the bag)
Cooked Red quinoa 1/3 cup
Garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained) 1/3 cup (I added double this amount)
red radish (diced small) 1/4 cup
carrots (peeled and diced small) 1/4 cup
cucumber (peeled, seeded, and diced small) 1/4 cup
tomatoes (seeded, diced small) 1/4 cup
green cabbage (diced small) 2-3 ounces (I bought the grated cabbage in a bag at Trader Joe's.  I just used half the bag)
Avocado (diced small) 1/2 avocado (I used the whole thing)
chives (minced) 1 tsp (Since I had to buy a container of fresh chives, I used about triple this amount)
champagne vinaigrette 2 ounces
kosher salt 2 pinch
ground black pepper 2 pinch

Dressing:

Champagne Vinegar 32 oz
Granulated Sugar 11 oz
Blended Oil 64 oz
Honey 7 oz
Dijon 7 oz
Kosher Salt 2.5 oz
Fresh Ground Pepper .5 tsp

Blend ingredients together.

Toss all the ingredients together for the salad and then toss with the dressing.  If you aren't eating all the salad that night, only toss what you are eating.  The salad stays good for the next day if you leave off the dressing

Quinoa Wilted Spinach Salad

By: Taste of Home

*This is a great salad!  I served it as a side dish and everyone loved it.  My daughter is taking the left overs to school tomorrow so that is always a good sign that it is a hit!  I did make some changes....I do that a lot! :)

Ingredients:
-2 cups water
-1 cup quinoa
-1 package (6ounces) fresh baby spinach, torn (I used about 18 ounces since I love spinach.  I chopped
  it into small pieces)
-1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing Ingredients:
-3 tbsp olive oil
-2 tbsp orange juice
-1 tbsp maple syrup
-1 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1 garlic clove minced
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/8 tsp pepper
-1 green onion finely chopped (we love green onions so I used the entire bunch)
-1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I used 1 cup and I bought unsalted dry toasted pecan pieces at Trader
  Joe's so that saved me time)

Directions:

-In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Add quinoa.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 min until water is absorbed.  Remove from the heat; fluff with a fork.

-In a large bowl, combine the warm quinoa, spinach and cranberries.  Stir until the spinach wilts.  For dressing, in a small bowl, whisk the oil, orange juice, vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, salt and pepper.  Stir in onion.  Pour over quinoa mixture; toss to coat.  Sprinkle with pecans.

Israeli Couscous with pine nuts and parsley

**This is a DELICIOUS side dish!  I thought it sounded weird since it had a cinnamon stick in it, but it was great!  The whole family loved it.  It made enough to serve a hungry family of 5!  I used the pearl couscous (you can buy it for less at Trader Joe's).

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp butter, divided (I didn't use butter since I don't eat butter...I substituted olive oil instead)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup shallots, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous
1/2 large cinnamon stick
1 fresh or dried bay leaf (I used dry)
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (I used vegetable broth since I don't eat meat)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup parsley, minced
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup raisins, optional (I used golden raisins from Trader Joe's.  I loved the raisins in it!)
black pepper, to taste

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a large saucepan (I used no butter/oil. I dry toasted them) over medium-low heat.  Add pine nuts and stir until golden brown.  Transfer to a small bowl.

Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter (I used 1 tsp olive oil) in the same pan over medium heat.  Add shallots and sauté until golden.  Add couscous, cinnamon and bay leaf, and stir often until couscous browns slightly.  Add broth and salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid
is absorbed and couscous is tender.  Remove from heat and stir in parsley, pine nuts and lemon zest.  Add the raisins and season with black pepper.

Grilled Veggie Shish Kabobs

From: Food.com

This is an easy and delicious marinade for veggies!  My whole family loved it!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
3/4 cup olive oil (I used less since I try to avoid oils)
1/8 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp ground pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup pineapple juice

Veggies:
12 cherry tomatoes
12 slices Japanese eggplants
12 mushrooms
12 small onions
2 yellow peppers, cut in 1" squares
12 slices yellow squash
12 slices zucchini
12 fresh pineapple chunks

Directions:
1. Marinade:  Blend all ingredients together in blender for 1/2 minute
2. Pour marinade in ziploc bag with all ingredients and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight)
3. Arrange veggies on skewers, grill on medium high heat turning a brushing with marinade until done

**This made at 5 skewers but only 1 was left by the time I took the picture!