I Still Have a Quinoa (Salad) Problem, and Also a New One

Once upon a time, there was a Brunch Princess who fell in love with a highly attractive and easy-to-make salad. It was a fun time for them, it being summer and all, and the salad went everywhere with the princess. People thought the salad was exciting and exotic because quinoa wasn't everywhere back in those days, and the princess loved how the salad could sit out in the sun and not end up killing everyone. The princess's favorite potato salad was a little jealous, but the princess made sure to let the potato salad know that it was still loved whenever there was a party at home, with refrigeration. Then one day the princess fell in love with another quinoa salad and wrote a blog post about it. 

Falling in love with another quinoa salad doesn't mean that we don't love the original quinoa salad - it's more akin to having another child than it is replacing your spouse. I managed to explain this concept to my daughter at age 2 but I don't have a lot of faith that Quinoa Salad #1 will understand, and it will be an uneasy truce between the two anytime I have an event to bring a dish to. 

I also heard that the jump from one to two is the hardest, and that I should add another quinoa salad to my repertoire. I'll hardly notice the extra work and two of the salads can periodically gang up on the other one. I'm sure it will all work out just fine. 

This recipe comes from March 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine, which I still miss - curse you, internet recipe archives! Happily I still have a decades' worth of the annual collection cookbooks, but they're not for sale at Amazon anymore so you'll have to do some online thrifting to find it. If you come across any of these annual collections at a garage sale or used book store, I encourage you to pick them up; there's no better collection of fast and easy recipes, random food knowledge, and look back at past food trends than this. 

I Still Have a Quinoa (Salad) Problem

1 cup quinoa
1 cup stock
1/2 cup  water 
1/2 cup orange juice 
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
3 Tbsp lemon juice 
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground red pepper 
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (use the jarred ones - no reason to be ambitious and roast your own)
12 olives, chopped 
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped 

Put the quinoa, broth, juice, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. 

Put the cilantro, oil, parsley, lemon juice, spices, and garlic into a food processor and mix until smooth. 

Toss the quinoa with the dressing, chickpeas, red pepper, and olives. Top with the pistachios.  

(No)Danger Noodles: An Injury-Free Dinner at Last

Having both cut and burned myself making dinner last night (okonomiyaki, in case you're wondering), I decided that I needed a recipe that required neither knives nor a pan - and I actually have one, because owning hundreds of cookbooks is delightful. This recipe was originally scheduled for a night when there were only 3 of us eating, but because of Reasons we ended up with 6 people, 3 of them teenagers. We repurposed some leftovers and doubled the noodles and everyone went away feeling pleasantly full. Huzzah for noodles! 

And huzzah for this sauce, which is fantastic. You could use just about any Asian noodle with it, but we went with rice ramen because that's what Costco sells. As I said, you can double the noodles and end up with a slightly drier dish. You could skip the chicken and it's vegan. The ingredient list will justify your recent binge at the Asian grocery store, and if you don't have sambal oelek you can substitute Sriracha and nobody will be the wiser. 

I can already tell this is going to become a summer weeknight favorite. It comes together in less time than it takes to boil the water for the noodles; buy the kind that you just soak in hot water for a few minutes and you can have dinner on the table in under 10 minutes. Seriously. You won't overheat your kitchen and you won't make a lot of dirty dishes and you can even skip the first step if you're really not feeling it. Aldi sells cilantro and green onions so we pretty much always have them on hand so I don't even have to think ahead. Best of all, it's almost impossible to injure yourself while cooking it. 

** A side note about the element of danger in my kitchen: With Anna both in culinary school and cooking for work and my general accident-proneness, there are so many cooking injuries in our household that we've had to come up with criteria for what actually constitutes an injury rather than an annoyance or an anecdote. We also have a "This department has gone ___ days without an injury" sign next to the fridge. Our record is "several." 

(No) Danger Noodles

1 Tbsp sesame oil, divided
1 Tbsp ginger paste
2 cloves garlic, minced, or equivalent amount of garlic paste
2 cups chopped cooked chicken 
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp soy sauce 
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce 
2 tsp sambal oelek or Sriracha
1 7-oz package rice noodles (if you like it saucy) or more 
2 Tbsp chopped roasted peanuts unless your husband ate them all 

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in small pan, then add the ginger and garlic. Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Or skip this step altogether because you can; the garlic and ginger will be a tiny bit sharper but still delicious. 

Add the other ingredients, up to the noodles. 

Cook your noodles and add them to the bowl, then top with the peanuts. Enjoy your extra leisure time and clean kitchen. 

Meatless Monday, Meet Taco Tuesday: Actually Delicious Black Bean Burgers

While Wednesday will always be Prince Spaghetti Day (an advertising campaign that scarred an entire generation), Meatless Monday and Taco Tuesday have earned their well-deserved place in our hearts. I personally advocate for Waffle Wednesday too, but hardly anyone likes breakfast for dinner as much as I do. Regardless, my beloved Great Big Burger Book has come through for me again and now you can have an actually delicious, not mealy, not dry vegetarian burger that holds together, made from actual ingredients in your kitchen and not fabricated in a lab somewhere. It's not even any more work than a meat burger. You're welcome. 

Good and healthy!

I have complicated feelings about Meatless Monday. On the one hand, it's definitely a healthy option (or can be - let's face it, we can make anything unhealthy around here), eating meatless is cheaper, we should all be eating less meat, Greta Thunberg, etc. etc. I often wish we ate more vegetarian meals, but I'm feeding a teenage boy who eats his weight in food every dinnertime and it's a lot more planning in our gluten-free house: there are no consistently available and convenient vegetarian foods that are both gluten-free and budget-friendly. And let's be honest, the same contrary streak that leads me to eat meat and chocolate every single Friday in Lent also makes me to want to chomp on a great big steak every Monday night. I've met a fair number of evangelical vegetarians and vegans that bring out the same streak. It's a character flaw, I admit. 

I'd like to take a moment to make another sales pitch for The Great Big Burger Book; my friend Kyrie won a copy of it at a school fundraiser auction and I read it cover-to-cover during one of our cottage weekends. (Please tell me you read cookbooks cover-to-cover. I can't possibly be the only one.) I have a long-held ambition to cook my way through an entire cookbook a la "Julie and Julia" and this may be the one that makes it. I've made a pretty significant dent in it; the only deterrent is a couple of portobello burgers near the end. On the other hand, nothing says I have to eat every burger in the book, only cook them. At any rate, if you like grilling during the summer this is an indispensable book and will break you out of your bacon cheeseburger rut and you'll be very happy. Also there is a Big Mac recipe in there - the "Big Mock" - that is amazing and will ruin the original for you. 

You can tell which one I think is more fun

The massive amount of chili powder gives these a nice kick that counteracts the blandness of the beans and the tortilla chips help the patties hold their shape. As with almost everything I make these days - see above RE: Teenage Boy - I can personally verify that it's easy as anything to double this. Since Teenage Boy's best friend is (a non-evangelical) vegan and we are hoping to do a gaming/camping weekend this summer that includes him, I'm looking forward to trotting these out and making everyone around the campfire feel happy and full but not too full for s'mores. 

From the Great Big Burger Book, which you ought to buy, by Jane Murphy and Liz Yeh Singh. 

Actually Delicious Black Bean Burgers 

2 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and well-drained (don't use dried beans here; you want the softer texture of canned)(also convenience)(and planning ahead sucks) 
1 small red onion, minced (or diced if you like bigger crunchy bits mixed in)
1/2 cup minced green pepper (diced, etc. etc.)
1/2 cup finely crushed tortilla chips 
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 
1 Tbsp chili powder 
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 
2 tsp canola oil 

Mash the beans in a large mixing bowl. Add everything except the oil and mix well, then shape into 4 1-inch thick patties. It's important to press these together well so they don't fall apart; next time we'll try using our burger press and see if we can't get them perfect instead of merely very, very good. 

Heat the oil over medium-high heat and cook the burgers until crisp on the outside, 2-4 minutes per side. 

We served these on buns with some shredded Mexican cheese and one of Anna's improvised aioli, but I think any of your favorite taco topping would be great.