Recipe of the week: Quinoa salad with pear, avocado and blue cheese

I continued my experiments with quinoa with an exquisite salad which combines different tastes. It has enough energy to keep you strong during the day or to finish your evening. If you have all the different ingredients, in less than 30 minutes - most precisely 25 minutes - it is ready. You can prepare it and store in the fridge for a couple of hours. Served cold is a very refreshing snack during the hot days of summer - not the German summer anyway.

Ingredients

100 gr. quinoa

200 ml. water

50 gr. butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 walnuts cut into little pieces

2 pears peeled and cut into little pieces

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

100 gr. blue cheese

1 ripe avocado, medium size, cut into little cubes

Directions

Boil the water. Add the salt and the butter. Clean and add the quinoa and let boil for another 5 minutes.

Add the cheese when the quinoa is still warm, it will melt nicely.

Add the olive and lemon juice and mix.

Add the walnuts, pears, avocado and mix well.

Let it rest for a couple of minutes.

If this pleasant mixtures of tastes it is not enough for you, add also some cherry tomatoes. 

Bon Appetit!

Recipe of the week: Quinoa goat cheese salad

I recognize that quinoa is by far one of the least favourite foods. First and foremost, I do not understand why eat foods without taste. Second, I hate the smell of it, of wet earth. Not exactly an inviting fragrance to have your good morning boost.

The last week though, I decided to do more healthy food experiments - details coming up soon and I ended up buying a bag of quinoa. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what I want to mix with it for feeling that I eat more than a tasteless something. 

When I am out of ideas, as usual, cheese creativity helps. Goat cheese in this specific case. I also added for flavour avocado, olive oil, salt and some butter, and cherry tomatoes too. Lessl than 30 minutes later I was happy with the results, and the salad was rich in vitamins and proteins to keep me energized for a long time after.

It serves 2. Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

100 gr. quinoa

200 gr. goat cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon olive oil

50 gr. butter

1/2 ripe avocado

Clean the quinoa till the water comes up clean.

Put to boil 150 gr. water and add the salt and butter. When it boils, add the quinoa and leave it for 10 minutes.

Slice the goat cheese and the avocado. 

Wash the cherries and cut it into 4 small pieces each tomato.

Add the soaked quinoa and mix it well.

Add the olive oil.

Wait for 2-3 minutes and start eating. 

You do not need anything else for the breakfast, besides, of course, the coffee and some fresh orange juice.

Bon Appetit!

The quinoa connection

Yesterday, I was in the mood for something delicious, fresh, easy to make and that will cut my hunger for at least the following 10 hours to come. I had a look at my cooking corner and in my fridge and decided that it should be sweet and with quinoa as the main ingredient. 

I added to it:

2 tablespoon grated coconut

100 gr. blueberries

3 tablespoon blackcurrant jam

whipped cream

First, you need to boil the quinoa for around 10 minutes. Eventually, if you like a sweeter taste, add two piches of sugar while boiling. When everything is done add the coconut, the blueberries and the whipped cream. 

I double-checked and it is nothing else to be done that wait that it cools down and taste it. 

I was told that my recipe has a Carribean flavor, and I am not very sure about it. As for the taste, I am more than sure that it is beyond delicious.

Bon Appetit

Quinoa obsession

I accepted very reluctantly quinoa into my life. First, I have the smell of boiling quinoa - of moistured earth - and second, I did not find anything interesting about the taste. The third consideration against eating it would be the way in which the fresh boiled quinoa looks like.  

Influenced about the sophisticated discourses about how important is this quinoa for our lives, I combined in various ways with vegetables but after 2 tries the badge of quinoa will be abandoned until nothing else to cook around and too late for a rapid shopping. 

But nothing lasts forever, not even my antipathy for quinoa.

Last week I tried a very fancy combination of quinoa with agave syrup, cinnamon and bananas and I switched rapidly at the other end of the scale of feelings for quinoa.

The magic potion is not only delicious, but cut my hunger for the first half of the day. Now, I have another reason for impatiently waiting for the morning.

Paprika stuffed with quinoa

Quinoa is relatively newly entered into my food universe. Openly speaking I don't like it too much, as I did not find (yet) its specific taste. From my point of view, it is like eating nothing. 

Last week, I wanted to diversify a bit our menu - but still keeping the main vegetarian line. After reading various posts and closing a bit my eyes in order to imagine some interesting combinations, it resulted the following wonder:

boiled quinoa - max. 15 minutes

finely chopped mushrooms fried together with equally finelly chopped garlic

quinoa+mushrooms+garlic are fried together with avocado oil

The fresh paprika is delicately stuffed with the fried mixture and put in oven for another 15 minutes.

To be served fresh and warm.