Curried Quinoa Salad with Mango

My friend brought it over for a party and I fell in love with this wonderful and easy dish. Served over bed of fresh spinach makes a quick and easy lunch. Holds well in the refrigerator for few days. The original recipe is from Epicurious and I made few little changes to my taste. This is 100% vegan.

• 1 cup uncooked white Quinoa
• 1 cup diced seedless cucumber
• 1 mango, diced
• 2 TBS chopped green onions or chives
• 1 tsp chopped cilantro (optional)

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 TBS rice vinegar (or any other vinegar)
• 1 TBS mango chutney
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 1 TBS agave nectar (optional)

For 1 cup of quinoa you need about 2 cups of water. Cook quinoa in medium pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Drain well; cool. Transfer to medium bowl.

Meanwhile, whisk all dressing ingredients in small bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Add chopped mango, cucumber, green onions, and cilantro. 

Vegan Fudge Brownie Cupcakes

Very easy recipe. Yummy vegan brownie cupcakes. Definitely tastes like fudge brownie, with the light and airy consistency, not dense like expected from the fudge brownie. Just sprinkled with powdered sugar is enough, although chocolate fudge frosting would be a nice complement.

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup coffee
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease 9 x 9 inch brownie pan. Or lined cupcake form with cupcake liners.
Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together brown sugar, coffee, soy milk and vegetable oil. Combine the wet and dry mixes and stir to mix well. Stir walnuts into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, bake 35 minutes. Or fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake cupcakes about 25 minutes. Insert toothpick to check if done. Cool before sprinkling powder sugar or frosting.

 Makes: 16 cupcakes, 160 calories each. Recipe from "Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook"

Caramel Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Post-thanksgiving recipe for great no-bake caramel pumpkin mousse pie. Very light and tasty, not too heavy in calories. Recipe has 10 servings and about 262 calories per slice. Perfect for holidays. My mother-in-law made it for the Turkey Day and it was gone in no time. I have all the ingredients and I will make it this week, so photo will be added. But trust me - this is by far THE BEST and the EASIEST pumpkin dessert I have ever had.

1 graham cracker crust
6 TBSP caramel topping
2 oz chopped pecans
1 cup 2% milk (or skim milk)
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8 oz light whipped topping

Pour 1/4 cup (4 TBSP) caramel topping into the pie crust, sprinkle with half of the amount of pecans.
In a large bowl whisk together milk, pudding mix, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg until well blended. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Spread mixture evenly onto the crust. Chill at least one hour.
Top with remaining whipped topping, drizzle with remaining 2 TBSP of caramel topping and sprinkle with the rest of pecans.

Makes: 10 servings, 262 calories per serving (source: Calorie Count.com)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Sometimes you want to bring something to a party and don’t know what to make. You don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen slaving over a dish that not everybody might like. That’s the tricky part – you want to make sure that whatever you make will be a crowd pleaser.



There are gazillions recipes for spinach artichoke dip, and quite frankly I made several of them, but there is always something that I don’t like about it. Either the consistency or the flavor… I know – how picky of me? One Saturday afternoon I noticed a bag of fresh spinach in my refrigerator, it was couple of days past the “best by” date. I had an open jar of Trader Joe’s marinated artichokes, and pita chips – so what else could go better together than spinach artichoke dip.

I had no recipe.

I just sauteed one small, thinly sliced red onion with about a teaspoon of fresh chopped garlic (or less – whatever you like) added the bag of fresh spinach, which at first looked like way too much, but it will wilt down to almost nothing. After the spinach wilts, added 1/3 less fat cream cheese (8 oz.) and 2-3 TBS of light sour cream. The cheese will start melting as it gets warmer, stir it all together to combine the ingredients and it starts creating creamy consistency. One of the last steps was adding chopped marinated artichokes and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese (cheese is completely optional, as the dip tastes really good without it). Season the dip with salt and pepper and taste it. If the dip is too thick, I add some of the artichoke marinate juice from the jar to loosen it up a little. It all depends what brand of cream cheese you are using. Pour warm dip to a serving bowl and serve with pita chips or baguette.

Adding some thinly sliced, sauteed baby portabella mushrooms (or any mushrooms) is another great way to improve this dip. This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled. Oh, and I just wouldn’t recommend frozen spinach, can’t guarantee the flavor…

I have made this dip more than several times and it's always a winner. :)

Basil Pecan Pesto

Pesto is one of those things that is super easy to make, but you just never do it. At least that what was for me until one evening my husband went to the grocery store to pick up couple of little things, and I asked him to get me basil. And I meant just a little package, to have with my tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella. He comes home with this super huge box of basil leaves... almost like the industrial size! I didn't want to waste it, so I decided to make pesto. The only nuts I had in my pantry were pecans, and I decided to use them. They gave my pesto slightly different nutty flavor, and added more richness. I liked it a lot, and made it couple more times since...
I have basil growing on my roof top deck in pretty good quantities, it's so nice to just go upstairs and pick some fresh basil whenever you need it!



So, into the food processor goes: bunch of fresh basil, garlic cloves, pecans, and cubed Parmesan cheese and some olive oil. {I do not have exact proportions for this recipe. I just kept tasting it to make sure that the taste is right.} Pulse together several times to get the ingredients pureed, adding more olive oil as needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.



Toss some cooked warm pasta with it, or use it as a marinate for chicken or pork. Also great as a spread on the sandwich with tomato and fresh mozzarella... Super easy to make, holds in the fridge in a jar for 3-4 days. Substitute pecans for walnuts or other nuts...

Family Famous Spinach Salad

Now I know why everybody loves it but no one wants to make it! It's washing the spinach that is such a lengthy process, especially when you are having a dinner party for 10, and don't have a salad spinner!




I remember this salad at my husband's family gatherings, his mom would always make it. As I learned later - everybody always asked her to make that particular spinach salad. I remember tasting it for a first time, and realizing why. It was just delicious! Sweet and tangy dressing with celery seeds and red onions complements the fresh spinach like nothing else. Few bacon bits and hard boiled egg just make all come together in a perfect way.
The dressing is the key. It has to be made one day ahead or overnight, so all the ingredients have time to infuse their flavors and make this incredible flavor.

Original dressing recipe calls for:

1 small red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup of sugar (or less)
1/3 cup vinegar (cider, white wine or red wine vinegar)
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. celery seeds
1 TBS. Dijon mustard

Put all above ingredients to a jar or a plastic container with a lid, cover and give it a good shake. Refrigerate overnight before serving. This makes about 1-1 1/2 cup of dressing, serves about 10.

For a salad, to assemble before serving:
1 large bag of spinach, washed
3 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup of bacon bits

Toss all salad components with the dressing, let sit for few minutes before serving. Do not put all the dressing on the salad, as it might be too much, the spinach leaves needs to be just barely covered with he dressing. It will taste too sweet if too much dressing is added.




This is the original salad, but believe me - with this dressing the possibilities are endless. One Sunday afternoon I made a batch of the dressing, so we could have a salad for couple of days during the week. I did not want to eat the same salad every day. On Monday I mixed it with mixed greens, chopped pecans and some blue cheese. On Tuesday, I made spinach salad with fresh raspberries and feta. Wednesday - we had mixed greens, spinach, green apple, cranberries and feta cheese.... and Thursday - I made a salad with chopped romaine, olives, chicken, tomatoes and blue cheese - it was a hit!

As you can see - it works great with lot of different combinations.

Tomatillos and Salsa Verde

I don’t know what is it with me lately, but I just don’t have time to post. I cook and bake, take pictures, and when it comes down to sitting down and writing I run out of time…

One of my latest food inspirations is Mexico. I am researching for a good and simple cookbook with the south of the border cuisine. If you have any suggestions I will gladly check it out. “Comment me” and I will make a post of all the good Mexican cuisine cookbooks …

Meantime I made a homemade salsa Verde (green) – which is made from green tomatillos. I bought couple of those few weeks ago and wanted to make something. My husband is a huge fan of salsa Verde, so why not make that.

What are tomatillos? Are they related to tomatoes? Is it a fruit or veggie? I’ve read different stories on this fruit, and yes, they are related to tomatoes. Tomatillos are often referred as green tomato, and are a staple in Mexican cuisine. The fruit is green and covered with thin, paper-like husk. Its green color and tart flavor are the main culinary contributions. When you buy tomatiollos, you want to make sure they are still green and firm, once they ripen and turn yellow, they loose a lot of their tartness and are no longer as valuable in the kitchen. Fresh tomatillos can be stored refrigerated for about 2 weeks, they can also be frozen whole or sliced.

To make this simple and delicious salsa the tomatillos can be grilled, broiled or boiled. I opted for shorter version and just boiled them in lightly salted water for about 5 minutes. But grilling them would probably be my preference, there is something in grilling, it adds so much more of a flavor to everything that’s made on the grill… Here is what I used to make salsa Verde:

6 green tomatillos (boiled or grilled)

3 garlic cloves

1 small/medium red onion

1 cup of fresh cilantro

Fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot peppers like jalapeño or habanero peppers (quantity depends on how hot you want it to be)

I had about 6 medium size tomatillos, and it made about 2 cups of salsa Verde. This can’t be any easier. Cool down your tomatillos and place them in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients and press the “ON” button. Salsa Verde is usually pretty smooth, so you don’t have to worry about over blending it.

That night we made steak tacos with salsa Verde, and we loved it. I put the leftover salsa in a jar, and stored in the fridge - it’s safe to keep in the fridge for about 5 days – this one did not last that long – it was gone the next day… There is a huge variety of already made green/verde salsa in the stores, but there is nothing better than homemade!