What a great time to play around with vegetarian recipes while our daughter Kerri is out here visiting in Colorado. This is a new recipe that I got from Jessica Seinfeld’s “Do it Delicious” Blog. My friend Cathy told me about it and she was right and once again Jessica Seinfeld hit it out of the ball park. I love this recipe and anyone looking for a new vegetarian side or main dish this one is just perfect. We ate it cold out of the fridge the next day after skiing and it was still delish! Big thumbs up here . Thanks Cathy and Jessica.
Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups torn kale leaves, I bought the bag of chopped and cleaned at Whole Foods and it is perfect
1 3/4 cups water divided (1/4 cup + 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups Quinoa
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Chop the garlic , clean and rinse the tomatoes.
Place a large oven proof pot on the stove ( if you want to go from stove top to oven you’ll need an oven-proof pot) I cooked it in oven in a separate Pyrex dish.
Heat the olive oil until it shimmers ( app. 2 mins.) add the garlic and cook without burning, stirring with a wooden spoon, until lightly golden ( about a minute) Add the tomatoes and 1/4 cup of the water and cover the pot. You will now cook the tomatoes till they start to break down , it took me about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, if you haven’t bought cleaned and chopped Kale, tear the kale leaves from the tough stems into bite size pieces. ( app. 4 cups) discard the stems. Clean and dry the kale, a salad spinner works very well here.
Once the tomatoes are ready, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, salt, black pepper and red pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in the kale and the quinoa. I transferred to an 8 x 8 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the parmesan and cover tightly with foil. As I said before you can leave it in the pot from stove and cover with a lid. Transfer to the oven and bake until the quinoa is tender , about 25 minutes, I added a drop more water after 25 minutes and cooked in total about 35 minutes. You’ll have to play with it depending on your oven. Out here in Colorado with altitude it can be a little funky.
If you’d like sprinkle with extra Parmesan before serving.
Makes a wonderful healthy vegetarian dish and should serve 4 – 6 .
Now you all know how very much I love bananas and I also love nuts. My favorite snack is unsalted roasted almonds. I always eat them after the gym and just love to have a handful as a snack. When I first saw this recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook, “It’s All Good” I was struck by how wonderful this would be for all the vegan non-dairy eaters out there. So it’s not really ice cream but will satisfy that craving for something smooth , sweet and crunchy. A little salty and a little sweet. I decided to give it a whirl and it’s a keeper for sure. This one’s for you Chloe, hope you enjoy it. There is no refined sugar in this and it tastes delicious, just the right amount of sweet but you gotta love bananas. Of course you can omit the nuts. Sugar free and Dairy…
Cooking with Candi 