I have a thing against meatloaf.
Fun childhood trauma story for you today.
Once upon a time, there was a small girl. One night her mother made meatloaf for dinner. The girl wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to eat the meatloaf. Despite her complaints, her mother made the girl finish her plate.
Then tragedy struck! The girl ran for the bathroom and was sick to her stomach. That was the last time the child ate meatloaf. Until today.
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The best part about this Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Quinoa is that it’s easy. Make a giant pot of quinoa for the week and repurpose it as needed – in salads, breakfasts, or even in baked goods.
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New kitchen methods fascinate me.
The stranger the learning, the better!
This week’s ingredients aren’t necessarily strange, but the way I cooked it was strange to me. It’s a quinoa casserole… but you don’t have to cook the quinoa first! Perfect for the lazy chef. Like me.
For some reason I have a mental block about cooking grains. It seems like SO much effort. I know this is totally irrational, and I make other things that take much longer. It is what it is. When I saw this recipe from Lee where she simply baked the quinoa uncooked, I knew I had to try it.
I used Mexican flavors here, but I’m excited to try the method with other flavor profiles (French is next on the list!). It’s one of those magical recipes that seems like it took a ton of effort, but is incredibly easy. It’s a one dish meal – I just tossed everything in a bowl to mix and transferred it to the dish.
Random story about my dish – it was just returned to me by a friend. She’d had it for 2 years from when I brought over these Mexican Black Bean Brownies to an Oscar party. LOL!
If you like heat, you’ll love this. If you don’t, I’d keep the paprika but leave out the cayenne. The smoked paprika is a must for me. I love that smokiness with the Mexican spices and the slight sweetness from the sweet potato.
Between the bean and the quinoa, this makes for a fantastic protein-rich vegan dish!
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Place all ingredients into a large bowl and miix until everything is evenly combined. Pour into baking dish, spreading evenly to combine.
Cover with foil and bake for 75 mins, or until sweet potatoes are tender and quinoa is cooked.
Makes 9 servings.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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I’m so excited for this weekend – I’m going to see some of my old teammates at the Atlanta Rollergirls‘ Bout!
Do you have certain foods that seem like a lot of effort to cook?
What is your favorite quinoa dish?
Start your day out toasted.
I crack myself up.
When I prep food I usually end up double-cooking it. You get the groundwork done during your Sunday meal prep, but to keep it tasting fresh and crispy I pop it back in the oven before you eat. Oven, not microwave.
Double-roasted is my favorite way to eat kabocha, and yesterday morning I did that with my quinoa. Strange to do with stuff you already cooked, but oh-so-good.
Can you believe how cheap that giant thing of cinnamon was?! Love my farmer’s market.
This is really a non-recipe. There are no measurements, only flavors you should adjust to your liking. 3 simple ingredients: my new English toffee liquid stevia from iHerb (you can use any sweetener), cinnamon, and ginger.
Basically, it tasted like cinnamon toast. Much healthier than the butter-slathered stuff mom made us. Add to that some bananas brushed with coconut oil and thrown under the broiler with the quinoa and you’ll wonder who put the dessert on your breakfast plate!
The quinoa was prepped on Sunday (after I burned the beans), making it quick and easy to grab from the fridge to make this. When you toast already-cooked quinoa, it becomes crunchy and granola-like. The added texture was amazing on top of my PB eggs!
How do you make PB eggs? I’ve posted them a lot in all my “Jegg” creations (there’s even a
vegan tofu version), but here’s the run down.
PSA: It’s also awesome on top of a protein-rich bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread Batter (this recipe, but with chocolate protein powder).
Toss together all ingredients and spread evenly on a piece of non-stick foil
Place in over under the broiler until crisp. Watch closely – it’s easy to burn on broil!
Remove from oven, top your eggs (or yogurt, salad, etc).
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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There aren’t many (any?) things I say this about, but caramelized bananas could honestly replace dessert.
Quinoa for breakfast: yay or nay? Yay!
Have you ever tried peanut butter eggs? How about just sweet eggs?
Quinoa is one of the easiest things I never make.
Maybe it’s not strange enough?
After complaining about the lack of fresh tabbouleh available in restaurants, it was brought to my attention that I could just make my own. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Traditional tabbouleh uses bulgur, but I’m not traditional. I use quinoa for the added protein. And because that’s what was in my pantry. 😉
I really loved the bright lemon in this. It compliments the parsley perfectly and helps make this salad last several days in the fridge. It also nicely complimented the sea bass I ate it with.
One of the reasons I had not made tabbouleh before was the overwhelming thought of mincing that much parsley. Then I remembered my kitchen shears.
Best short cut ever. In fact, I even cut the onion with them!
This dish is a fantastic way to get more parsley in your diet. Why should you eat more? I’ll tell you…
In a large bowl, toss together parsley, chopped tomato, cucumber, onion, lemon juice, and seasonings.
Add chilled quinoa to bowl and mix together. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Makes 4 servings.
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It’s also a great way to use those massive bunches they sell. Who can eat all that so fast?!
Do you eat much parsley? Tabbouleh?
What’s your favorite herb? Keep it legal (in most states 😉 )…
Strange doesn’t wait for 5 o’clock!
Neither does my mother… she’s in Mexico! 😉
Remember Kat’s “Amazing Kitchen Mistakes” post? We’ve been on the same wave-length eating similarly, so I apparently am also making happy accidents.
Have you ever under estimated how much is left in a bottle? I thought there was just a drop of butter extract left when I dumped it into my oatmeal… it was more like 1/2 a teaspoon. I thought I’d ruined it. Too much extract can be nauseating (and I don’t need more of that!). It turn out, too much butter extract in your oats is like eating cookie dough for breakfast. Strange, but unbelievably good. 
Cook oatmeal as usual, adding flavors in the last 2-3 mins (or when your microwave finishes). Stir in peanut flour when just done, adding addition liquid as needed.
Add toppings. Inhale.
I’m not the first person to do eat quinoa in the morning… but it’s still uncommon enough to be strange. And it’s good!
What took me so long it beyond me, but quinoa for breakfast is amazing. If you haven’t tried it, you must. Particularly this cinnamon-y version. The heaping scoop of cinnamon with the coconut butter had me dreaming of an airport treat that shall not be named.
I just realized this looks a lot like the oatmeal above. I had a lot of pomegranate.* Sorry.
*Did you hear the FTC found “POM Wonderful health claims to be deceptive?”
Stir it all together, top with your favorites, and enjoy!
In order to kill two craving with one stone for Meal 2, I added a poached egg to the last of my mom’s Matzo Ball Soup. The strange part isn’t even the egg. It’s HOW I poached it. My lazy arse poached that thang in the microwave.
Let me be the first to tell you that runny, silky, yolk porn goodness streaming into a hot bowl of soup is heaven on a spoon. So good that I wanted to be spooned after it was over.
Fill a small bowl (I used a cereal bowl) with water. Add 1 T of apple cider vinegar (this is important – it keeps the egg white intact). Microwave until boiling hot, about 2 mins.
Crack the egg and gently drop it into the water. Whites will begin to cook/thicken, and you may need to use a spoon to carefully direct them around the yolk.
Microwave for another 20-30 seconds. Remove immediately from water and place in soup, atop salad, on bread, etc.
Now for the link up! The rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above.
In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂
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This time tomorrow I’ll be in a forest in FLA… in the midst of an 8-hour adventure race. Ahhhh! #strangebutcrazy
Also, I forgot to mention I was featured in FitFluential’s Ambassador Spotlight yesterday! Check it out here.
Have you ever made breakfast quinoa? What are your favorite mix-ins?
What #strangebutgood creations have you enjoyed lately?
Two important items in today’s news:
Good-bye fuzzy cell phone pictures. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
The new addition is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3.
I have NO idea how to use it (you’ll see what I mean with the pics below…).
Even more awesome is the deal I got on it: $23 through an auction site!!!
It didn’t come with a cable… details, details…
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If you’ve read much of my blog, you have probably noticed that I think Angela @ Oh She Glows is brilliant. I’ve never made anything of hers that I didn’t like love.
In keeping with my recipe pack rat rehab, I tried one of her newer recipes. It still counts! I already had it bookmarked on Delicious. 🙂
Her Creamy Avocado Pasta is reminiscent of an alfredo sauce-covered pasta.
I took her recipe, reduced it by half (half my avocado was bad. fail.), changed up the pasta, and added a little spice.
She claims it is a 15 minute recipe… she’s right. The only “cooking” involved is the pasta of your choosing!
Here are the details, with my minor edits.
Creamy Avocado Quinoa
Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, place garlic clove, lemon juice, salt, jalapeno, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Then add avocado, basil, and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy.
When quinoa is done, place pasta into a bowl, add sauce, and toss until fully combined. Garnish with basil and black pepper.
Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.
Note: Next time I do it, I’ll top with red pepper flakes too (I like a lot of spice). Also, Angela noted that it doesn’t keep well due to the avocado. I’ll let you know tomorrow. 🙂
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Do you have a go-to site for recipes?
Like I need more bookmarks… 😉
