Green Machine Quinoa Salad

Have you ever had one of those days where your body was literally begging for you to eat a really big, really green salad? I have felt super sluggish lately, which I'll chalk up to having a few sleepless nights with a fussy (suspected teething) baby, and I know I've needed to up my green veg game. Leafy green salads don't tend to fill me up and leave me feeling really satisfied, though, so I turned to the nutritional powerhouse that is quinoa for this job.

Not only is quinoa a gluten-free grain, which is what it's most often marketed as, but it's a complete protein - meaning, it contains all of the essential amino acids that our bodies require but cannot make on their own. Because it's packed with protein, it will help to make you feel full and give you plenty of energy.  I've had an aversion to it's trademark nutty/earthy flavor in the past, but with the dressing on this salad, you don't need to worry about that at all! It's a great starter recipe if you're trying quinoa for the first time. Just cook it according to the package directions, and mix it all up. This salad is best refrigerated for a few hours or overnight, so that all of the flavors can mingle and do their thing, but I ate a bowl straight away and it tasted great too.

"Eggplant Parm" Spaghetti

I love eggplant parm, but my other half isn't so fond of the mushy texture it can tend to have, and I'm not a fan of the idea of breaded & fried food. This meal is the perfect compromise - all of the delicious flavors of the classic dish, paired with wholewheat (or gluten free!) pasta for a much healthier twist. And, if you ask me, it has more flavor than the original!

I really wanted to throw a bunch of spinach into this dish, too, to up the veggie factor, but the stuff at our local market didn't look very fresh that day so I gave it a swerve. By all means, if you have a bag in your fridge, add a big handful or two right at the very end.

Cherry Berry Baked Oatmeal

Bring me your hungry, your hungover, your lazy, your busy moms, your health nuts. Everyone can gather around the table for a big warm bowl of this yumminess.

I love oatmeal, but I don't have time to stir it on the stovetop when I have a baby to tend to, and I don't own a microwave (seriously, I don't). Baked oats are the perfect cross between oatmeal and breakfast cereal, without any added nasties. You can serve it cold or warm, in a bowl or as a sort of soft oatmeal square. Personally, I like mine fresh out of the oven, hot with a drizzle of cold, creamy local milk (the milk from our local dairy is seriously delicious, and nothing like that which you get in a supermarket. If you can get milk from your local farmers market, seriously give that stuff a try. Liquid gold).

I can make a tray on the weekend, and it's the perfect brunch-y comfort food, and then keep the tray in the fridge (remember it has milk and eggs, so store it in the fridge!) to have cold with milk - like cereal - or in squares for the following few days.  With so many fruits and berries in season this time of year, the possibilities are endless, too.

Oh, and did I mention that it takes about 38 seconds to throw together?

The beauty of this recipe is not only in its simplicity, but also in that it has no added sugar. Nada. Only the berries.  But if you're like my hubby and you have a raging sweet tooth, a little drizzle of honey is positively perfect.

Vegetable Tagine with Cod

So my readers are pretty aware of my current obsession with harissa, right? Well, I hope you have some in your pantry, because here's a fabulous vegetarian & pescatarian option. If you want to omit the fish, that's fine, because this complete meal gets plenty of protein from chickpeas, and its plenty filling. If you're a carb lover, it would be great served with couscous or basmati rice.

 

If you're exploring the idea of a plant-based diet, it's a wonderful example to debunk the myth that a plant-based diet is made up of mostly salads. And it's a one-pot wonder, too, so your cleanup and actual cooking time is minimal, making it great for throwing together on a weeknight.

What is a tagine, you might ask? It's a round ceramic baking dish with a cone-shaped lid, popular for slow cooking in north African cuisine. As the heat and steam rises while food cooks, the cone-shaped lid helps the moisture to drop back down into the cooking, ensuring that the food (usually meat) is tender and moist. If you're like me and don't own a tagine (yet- it's on my wish list!) then you can make this dish in an enameled cast iron pot. Have you ever noticed the little bumps on the underside of the lid of an enameled cast iron pot? Well, they essentially are meant to do the same thing as a tagine, so it works great for these types of recipes.

You can adjust the heat of the dish to your liking, and I added a little bit of chili flakes to mine because the harissa I had on hand this time isn't as spicy as I'd have liked it to be. I also garnished with some chopped fresh mint, which goes fantastically with the flavors in this dish.

Colorful, flavorful, filling, and healthy! What's not to love?

Pesto Baked Mushroom & Eggs

Looking for a quick and easy weekend brunch idea that is totally fuss-free?

I always have pesto of some sort on hand - it's delicious, healthy, and a great way to add flavor to a meal. Sometimes I even just spread it on toast! This baked egg & mushroom recipe can be multiplied if you have guests, and you can experiment with other fillings as well (I just happened to have spinach and tomatoes on hand).

This recipe cooks the egg yolks solid, so if you like a runny egg, try baking the mushrooms with all of the other fillings, and then topping with a poached or fried egg.

Spicy Stuffed Eggplant

Aubergine, eggplant: whatever you call it, I love it! It's much more versatile than your run-of-the-mill eggplant parmesan, which is what I tried to highlight in this riff on a really traditional recipe. Stuffed eggplant is popular in both Moroccan and Greek cooking, and it's a fantastically filling grain-free recipe, keeping this beefy meal virtually guilt-free.

I used up the remaining ground beef from our Taco Tuesday; since there's only two of us (the little one isn't up to eating tacos yet!), we generally use 1/2 of the beef in a pack per meal, so this is a great way to use it all up without having two dinners that are really similar.

I chose to go the Moroccan route with my flavor profile, adding harissa paste to the veggie & meat mixture. But, if you're not a fan of the taste of harissa, feel free to sub in sriracha or your favorite hot sauce. If you're not using harissa, omit the cinnamon, as it might not work well otherwise. But if you do add the harissa, you're going to love how the cinnamon works in this dish! It's not just for baking, trust me! I would've garnished it with chopped parsley, but mine got infested with aphids or something so I chucked it outside and I'm too afraid of bugs to investigate it any further. I'm such a wimp; I love gardening, but the minute I have to touch a bug, I'm done. 

As a side dish, I cooked up some beet greens (which are chock full of great vitamins like B6) with a clove of garlic, salt, pepper, and a little of our fantastic local butter. You essentially can cook them just like spinach, swiss chard, or your other favorite greens. They even can bake in the oven like kale chips, so don't toss your beet greens next time you get some! Mine were quite wilted after spending a few days in the fridge, but they were still in perfect cooking condition, so don't let a limp bunch deter you as long as they're nice and green and dry.

A little greek yogurt with a tiny bit of harissa mixed in is a great cooling sauce for the eggplant, but if you're like me and mix everything on the plate together as you eat, it tastes great on the beet greens, too!

Roasted Fennel & Broccoli Soup

In honor of the No Food Waste challenge, I've come up with a recipe that uses one of the most frequently discarded edible foods (broccoli stem) and a seasonal delight (fennel). Broccoli stem has just as many nutrients as the florets - in fact, it has more calcium, iron, and vitamin C, and it's definitely just as delicious. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness and flavors of both of these veggies, so don't toss those stems!

Have some leftover bread laying around? I baked a loaf two days ago made from fantastic flour from a local mill, so when it began to go stale, I knew I couldn't let it go to waste. Croutons can be saved in a plastic bag and will keep their crunch for soups and salads, so make a batch up instead of wasting your stale bread! You can season them up with garlic (fresh, salt, or powder), or any spices you like. They add great crunch to this creamy soup.