FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Dip Baby Dip

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When a slightly competitive girl woman reads an article like “Five Easy Meals Every Woman Should Know How to Cook” and spots a recipe she’s never made, well…  she crosses it off her list ASAP.

Besides, with a party to go to and a diet to stick to, Green Goddess dip seemed like a pretty solid snack that would keep me from munching on man subs and sugar cookies.

I brought this dip along with quartered mushrooms, snap peas, sliced cucumbers, and sliced orange bell peppers.  Not only did it totally keep my interest throughout the night, but I consistently overheard any and everyone by the dip dish comment on how yummy it was.  Thank you Women’s Health for adding this quick/easy/healthy/tasty recipe to my bag of tricks!

Quinoa Stuffed Grape Leaves

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I’m not even going to proceed with caution when telling you that I think rice is a total waste.  Rice bores me to death.  Rice is the reason why it’s taken me so darn long to make dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) at home.  Making a dish that centers itself around a main ingredient of rice just seems painful.  

Quinoa, now quinoa isn’t boring at all.  It kicks rice’s butt when it comes to protein, fiber, and overall vitamin content.  And quinoa is so darn cute.  Perhaps the bird measuring cup is clouding my cuteness judgement, but for reals, if rice then why not quinoa?

I began scoping out dolmas recipes to get a general idea of process and ingredients, but ended up jotting down the list on the side of my favorite Whole Foods dolmas.  I winged it and it totally worked.

FoodFash Quinoa Dolmas

Stuffing:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/3 cup mint leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons dried dill

juice of 1 lemon

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper to taste

Grape Leaves:

12 to 20 jarred grape leaves, thoroughly rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

2 cups of water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Over medium heat, lightly brown garlic in olive oil.  Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add remaining stuffing ingredients and stir together until thoroughly mixed.

Layer the bottom of a dutch oven with leftover grape leaves.  Place the stuffed grape leaves in the dutch oven like tetris.  You’ll want them really close together so that they don’t move.  You can place a second layer of grape leaves on top of the first.  Pour water, lemon juice, and olive oil over the grape leaves and immediately cover the grape leaves with something oven-safe and heavy that will prevent them from floating to the top (I used 4 ramekins).  Cover and bake for 45 to 60 minutes.  Eat right away or refrigerate overnight for cool dolmas.

So… quinoa stuffed grape leaves should happen all time!  The amount of lemon tang that the grape leaves soak up is unreal and amazing.  And the stuffing was so good that it would be completely worth it to make on its own if you didn’t have time for the whole grape leaf shebang.      In that case, you would cook the quinoa first and add it to the rest of the stuffing towards the end.

After preparing this recipe, I feel as though I should be able to add another notch to my pseudo-chef belt – go me!

Cleaning Out The Cabinets, In Pictures

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Breakfast: Sprouted Wheat English Muffins with Fried Eggs (and messy yolk)

Lunch:  Leftover Black & Bleu Salad

Dinner: Leftover Black Bean Salad (sans cheese & avocado)

Dessert:  Leftover Birthday Cake

Holy leftovers!  As the move date gets closer and more boxes get packed, leftovers and simple meals will be as sure as the sun in this kitchen.  Luckily, I am obsessed with salads these days, which will prevent my pantry from being stocked with ingredients that will eventually need to be packed.

Have you written about any good salad combos lately?  Link me up!

Concept Thieving

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One of my favorite lunch spots in Tampa is Pane Rustica.  If you haven’t been, think Anthropologie meets Panera.  It has casual counter service (during the day), an eclectic dining atmosphere, and stellar food.  Pane Rustica is a must-do-often lunch spot here in TPA.

One of their more unique menu offerings is an acorn squash stuffed with their chicken salad of the day.  Served with a small yeast roll and topped with fresh fruit, it’s quite simply lunch perfection.

Now that I’ve given credit where credit is due, I totally jacked their idea for this meal.  I split a sweet dumpling squash in two, coated it with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and baked in a 450 degree oven for 35 minutes.  I let it cool in the fridge for 20ish minutes while I made tuna salad with vegenaise, dijon mustard, celery, and shallots.

I stuffed the cooled squash full of tuna salad and admired its prettiness.  Squash bowls are about to be all the rage in my kitchen!