Quinoa Salad with Dried Fruit, Avocado & Cashews

Category: Recipes, Salads, Savouries

I made this salad for friends and family this week, and it went down quite well! My aunt even asked for the recipe. It’s a modification of this awesome quinoa salad recipe.

Also, just so you know, quinoa has a weird pronunciation; ‘keen-wa’. More about this yummy seed at the quinoa wikipedia entry. You can buy it at Coles & health food stores.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbs. cranberries
  • 2 Tbs. dried apricots, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup red & white quinoa, rinsed well
  • 1 large lemon
  • 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cumin seeds
  • 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 2 medium firm-ripe avocados (6 to 7 oz. each), pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
  • 2 medium scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
  • 2 to 3 Tbs. coarsely chopped dry roasted cashews
  • Salt & pepper for boiling quinoa & to taste

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, soak the cranberries and apricots in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  2. In a 2-litre saucepan, bring 2 cups water, the quinoa, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (The outer germ rings of the grain will remain chewy and white. Some germ rings may separate from the grain and will look like white squiggles). Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and place in a bowl lined with baking paper. Let cool to room temperature.
  3. Finely grate the zest from the lemon and squeeze 1 Tbs. juice into a small bowl. Whisk together with the olive oil, coriander, cumin, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. In a large bowl, toss this dressing with the quinoa, cranberries, apricots, avocado, scallions, and cashews.

Tags: , , , , , ,

January 9th, 2011
Comments off

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Category: Entrees/Mains, Recipes, Savouries

I had a ball Friday night making this soup from scratch. I basically just added and added and came up with something awesome… I think so anyway! Heh.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients (makes about 3-4 litres of soup, can be re-heated)

  • 2 x 400g cans of roma diced tomatoes
  • 1 x 400g can of red kidney beans
  • 1 large eggplant
  • 2 large carrots
  • 200g cup mushrooms
  • 200g kalamata olives
  • A teaspoon of crushed garlic
  • Small handful of rosemary leaves
  • Small handful of dill tips
  • Tablespoon of dried basil
  • A dash of sweet white wine
  • A dash of extra virgin olive oil
  • 750ml vegetable stock
  • 250ml beef stock
  • All-purpose seasoning (Masterfoods brand is good)
  • Salt
Method
  1. Drain the red kidney beans, and rinse in cool water.
  2. Place beans and diced tomatoes in a large pot, and bring to the boil whilst adding the rosemary leaves and dill tips. Season generously with all-purpose seasoning.
  3. Bring heat of pot down to low and cover. Let sit, stirring occasionally whilst you dice the eggplant, carrots (peeled) and the mushrooms.
  4. Place the carrots in the pot and mix. Let sit, stirring occasionally.
  5. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan.
  6. Fry the eggplant, seasoning with a generous amount of all-purpose seasoning.
  7. When eggplant is browned, remove from heat, add to the pot and mix. Let sit, stirring occasionally.
  8. Add a little more oil to the pan. Fry the mushrooms, seasoning with a generous amount of all-purpose seasoning.
  9. Add garlic and wine to the pan and stir to mix with the mushrooms.
  10. When mushrooms are browned, remove from heat, add to the pot and mix. Let sit, stirring occasionally.
  11. Add dried basil to the pot and bring to the boil.
  12. Remove pot from heat, and process the mixture in a blender with the olives. Add the stock slowly to help the mixture blend into a chunky soup.
  13. Return the soup to the pot to reheat, bringing it to the boil. Add salt to taste.
  14. Serve, with rice crackers if desired.

Tags: , , , ,

October 24th, 2010
Comments off

Mandarin, hazelnut, almond and coconut cake

Category: Sweets

I modified this awesome gluten-free cake recipe and made a similar one with mandarins, hazelnut meal & coconut. Mandarins instead of the oranges. Easy, too! My hubby is yet to try it… hopefully he’ll like it :D I sure do!

Mandarin cake

Ingredients

  • Light olive oil spray
  • 3 mandarins (unpeeled, sweet is good)
  • 7 medium size eggs (or equiv.)
  • 3/4 cup caster sugar
  • 300g hazelnut meal
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • Small handful of silvered almonds
  • Extra caster sugar for dusting before baking
Method
  1. Put mandarins in zip lock bags in microwave. Heat for 10 minutes on high.
  2. Preheat oven to 180°C on ‘fan-forced’ setting. Spray a cake tin with light coating of olive oil, line with baking paper, spray again.
  3. Let mandarins cool, then cut up, discarding seeds and pith. Put remaining fruit and skin in a blender, and blend until fairly smooth. Leave the mixture in the blender for now.
  4. Combine eggs and sugar in a bowl, whisking until blended.
  5. Place egg mixture, hazelnut meal, baking powder and coconut flakes into blender with mandarin. Blend until fairly smooth.
  6. Pour mixture into pre-lined baking tin, and sprinkle almonds over evenly and a little caster sugar.
  7. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  8. Let cool, then serve.

Tags: , , , , , ,

September 30th, 2010
1 comment so far

Retagged all recipes regarding gluten

Category: Personal

Hey!

Another quick post before I get back to recipes, I’ve tagged all my recipes (and will from now on) either gluten free or not gluten free, for those looking. :-)

~ Julieanne

Tags: , ,

September 30th, 2010
Comments off

Well, this is a change! I’m gluten intolerant!

Category: Personal

Hey readers :-)

Well, the tone of this blog is going to change a little from now on!

After 6 months of chest pain (Costochondritis) and a myriad of other symptoms, I’ve discovered that I’m gluten intolerant! It was purely luck how I discovered this too… this lovely lady on Twitter happen to mention that costochondritis and gluten intolerance were related for her. Bazinga! :P

Not only am I much healthier now I’ve gone gluten free, my eyes have been completely opened to the world of food intolerances and catering for these. And it’s nowhere near as hard as I first thought I’d be.

At first, being a lover of food of all kinds, I was pretty depressed coming to the realization I’d have to be a whole lot more careful with my food intake. But it’s actually not that hard to be gluten free here in Oz, as by law, if something has a gluten-containing ingredient it in, it needs to be labeled. The most common one used in things is wheat, which is not only in bread & pasta, but also some thickeners, soy sauce, etc.

Whilst I realise there are a lot of gluten-containing foods, there are also a lot that are gluten free by nature (or by processing). Rice, polenta, corn, potatoes, fruit, beans, yoghurt, most chocolates, etc., etc., etc. If you’d like to read more about it, check out this link about coeliacs, and foods with and without gluten.

I should note, however, I’m not coeliac, just gluten intolerant. Being coeliac is a bit of a different boat, and my blood test before going gluten free were negative for being coeliac. But I am, at this stage, following the same diet a coeliac has to; no gluten at all. I may discover later though that I can handle some gluten, say in thickeners, but not until I work through things with my dietitian over time.

Anyway, I just want to say thank you for those who were awesome and very caring and supportive, my family and friends, whilst I suffered through the chest pain this year. I’m so glad I have the answer!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for gluten free recipes from now on (to be enjoyed by all, not just me :-P).

~ Julieanne

Tags: , ,

September 30th, 2010
Comments off
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »