Quinoa, Sweet Potato, Beans, Dish it!

Yum, yum, yummy!  I love me some quinoa!  How many of you, when you saw that name for the first time, spoke it as it looked, quin-no-ah? Oh yes, I see all the hands. Innocent mistake. For those of you who still don't know the pronunciation, it's keen-wah.  Who knew. Anyway, on with it.

                     

This is too delish!  It has a semi-sweet taste due to the currants, but then I added the sweet peas.  A trick I learned with quinoa, is to go at it with a rampant boil rather than a slow simmer. It cooks much faster. I don't cover it, I keep stirring. If you think its drying out before it's thoroughly cooked, add some low-sodium vegetable broth.  Then I add any veggies, fresh or frozen to add to the taste.  Quinoa can be very blah when eaten alone. The sodium is high in this for me, I wouldn't add salt.

I go crazy buying all kinds of quinoa, and this one looked really good to me.  Next time I'll use the same ingredients, but my own fresh stuff.  Prepackaged just has that added salt that my body doesn't like.

                       

   
This dish was heaven for me as dinner!  Do you ever make a dish you just want to eat night after night? This could be one of them for me. I couldn't get enough, but saved some leftovers.  I have to hide it  from my son, or I'll never get to eat it.  Although, he usually finds it :)

                        

The sweet potatoes were scrumptious!  By the time I took the photo, there weren't many left.

Process:  I poked holes into 4-small sweet potatoes, popped them into the microwave for 5-minutes.  Then I peeled the skin off (and I ate it), cut them up and made a sticky little gravy to pour over them and mix.  SO. GOOD.  I can't get enough of sweet potatoes, and they are an excellent healthy treat.

For the sweet potato gravy I took 1/2-cup of honey, 2-TBL of smart balance (butter), fresh ground pepper, 3-TBL of orange juice (because I didn't have orange zest).  Combine all ingredients into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.

                         

The green beans were Trader Joes, and they are yummy all their own. I like to put a little lemon juice on them with just a skinny pat of butter, not even a teaspoon.

I l-o-v-e shopping at Trader Joes!  I walked out with a lot of stuff, even meat for the meat-heads, and still have 4 "large" recycle bags (and you know how big they can be) full, for only $130. I am a happy camper!

I mean, look at this!  Pure health & beauty!

                         

What's on your table lately?

RAW Gorilla!

Recently I've committed to the RAW way of eating. Fresh organic vegetables, fruits and nuts, that about sums it up.  I never realized all the amazing dishes you can make with RAW foods.  I mean, , gorilla dish such as "Gorilla Wraps" doesn't sound very appealing but it is, trust me.  It's a mexican meat textured wrap.  Delicious!

I live by these two books,(so far): Forks Over Knives, my best friend told me about this one, and I accidentally found The Beauty Detox Foods.  Not only will the recipes in this book make you healthy, you actually feel healthy, and you look and feel better overall. Both can be found on-line.

I'll be sharing some of my random dishes and what I learn as I go along.

Today, I'm sharing the Raw Gorilla Taco Wrap, that I have made several times already. 

The Beauty Detox Foods book

This is your mexican dish without the meat but with all the flavor!  I don't always follow recipes to the exact, and many times I have to improvise because I don't have an ingredient.  This one is very easy. 

Ingredients

2 cups walnuts - use a food processor to make them chunky

1 TBS cumin

1/2 TBS coriander

1 tsp chili powder

Pinch of cayenne pepper (More if you like spice! I am less than a pinch, I don't like spice.)

2 TBS low-sodium tamari

Collard greens - wash and cut the stem about 2" from the bottom (keep them to use in green smoothies)

Salsa 

Directions

Put the chopped walnuts in a bowl and add in the cumin, coriander, chili powder and cayenne, mix.  (I found that adding the spices prior to any wet ingredients helps to blend them better with the dry ingredients.) Add the tamari and mix again.  

Cut your collard leaf stem.  If the leaf is very big, I will cut both sides off the stem and wrap.  Too much is overwhelming for me. 

Place the taco filling on the collard leaf, top with your salsa and fold up like a burrito!  Voila!  Enjoy.

(I make a salsa like topping rather than from a jar.  Using some cherry tomatoes, chopped peppers and shredded carrots. They have flavor all their own, but you could add any herb to your own taste.)

Just a note, I do not in any way benefit from either author of the books above.  I am not promoting their books or mentioning their name, for any other reason than, I eat RAW, the recipes are good, and I want to share them with you. 

Do you eat RAW?

Any RAW food books you'd like to share with me?