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.
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. :)
I was browsing through my favorite online shopping site Amazon and stumbled upon this book. I have spent some time looking for a nice wine book, something with new inspirations for upcoming holiday season. Karen MacNeil is one of the county's top wine educators, author and a tv host. She writes a column for Cooking Light. She is the author of this super popular wine book called the Wine Bible .
Wine, Food & Family is a perfect guide to wine and food pairing. Sometimes you just need a bit of expert advice to gain a better understanding of the art of selecting and serving wine as well as inspiration for elegant entertaining. The book also includes more than a 100 top rated Cooking Light recipes that were chosen by the author to complement your favorite wines.
I think I am going to like this book a lot, so I decided to put it in my cart - and... purchase it... Once I get I definitely will post about it, and let you know if it really is good...
Karen's Sip Tip: Learning wine speak
"There are some conventional wine terms that are really important to know because they allow you to remember wine more easily and give you a vocabulary when you’re talking to your local wine merchant. The top three words to know are body, acidity, and tannin. Body is the weight of the wine in your mouth. One way to remember body is to think about skim milk, whole milk, and cream. A light-bodied wine is like skim milk; a full-bodied wine feels like cream. Acidity is what makes wine lively, vivacious and refreshing. Zing is a good thing when it comes to wine, and in fact, wines that don’t have enough acidity usually taste pretty boring, dull, and flat. And then there’s tannin. Tannin tastes a little bitter, like an espresso, and it’s what gives wine its majestic structure. It also helps wine age. So remember body, acidity and tannin: three words no wine lover should be without."
