Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed With Quinoa and Feta

Earlier this week I pinned a bunch of quinoa recipes and one of them was a squash stuffed with quinoa and blue cheese (I think). I decided to make it last minute this morning while the kids played outside. I searched my pinboards for the recipe and couldn't find it. What board did I pin it to??? I do this all the time..."lose" pins. I would have spent some time looking for it, but Avery was starting to lose it and throw tantrums so I figured I needed to head out and get my ingredients before she melted any further. I figured I would just "wing it" and hope it turned out ok. I decided to just go to the nearest produce stand since I needed to get a bunch of produce since I was going to be making this other quinoa recipe for lunches this week for work. With that said I wouldn't have any blue cheese so I figured I would sub feta, which I had a bunch of. This turned out pretty good and it was really easy to make. Even the hubby who is not a fan of squash or quinoa for that matter (but he's trying to eat healthier) said it was "pretty good". I think next time though I'm going to try using butternut squash to add some color. The acorn squash and the quinoa are basically the same color and you can't really see the squash very well.

Gather it:

3 small acorn squash

1.5 cups cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup of yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup of feta cheese (we like feta so you can certainly use a little less if you like)

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Make it:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and boil 3/4 cup of quinoa with 1.5 cups of water in a small sauce pan with a lid. Once it starts to boil, simmer for 12 minutes until the water is gone and the quinoa has puffed up and has little "white tails". Mine typically still has a little it of water in the pot after 12 minutes, but I just turn the burner off, fluff the quinoa, replace the lid and leave it on the burner. Allow to cool.

2) Wash the acorn squash. Cut in half lengthwise and rub a small amount of olive oil. Place cut side up on a baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes.

3) Scoop out the flesh of the squash while it is still hot so it will be easy to scoop out. Be careful not to tear the skin - it will be somewhat soft from baking. Place the squash shells back in the oven to help crisp out the skin while you do the next stop.

4) Mix together the scooped out squash, quinoa, bell peppers, feta, and salt and pepper. 

5) Place mixture into squash shell. I piled mine up and ended up not using one of the shells. Place back in oven and bake for another 10-15 min. 

I can't wait to have this for leftover lunch!!!

Can't beat $0.79 each for red and yellow peppers at the produce stand! It's normally over $1 at Publix. I spent just under $10 and got a bunch of produce!

Southwest Quinoa Salad w/ Spinach

It's after midnight and I just finished making and devouring this salad. I do feel a little bit guilty for eating so late, but in my defense it was a healthy salad and I just couldn't help myself. I was text messaging all night with a friend whose mother has to go on an unprocessed diet and was having to eat a lot of brown rice. I suggested trying out quinoa and shared with her my tropical quinoa granola recipe and fried quinoa (think fried rice) recipe. The more we talked about food, the hungrier I got. Then I went to the kitchen to take a picture of the bag of quinoa I use so she could see what it looked like and before I knew it I was scooping some out to cook. I had no idea what I would add to it since we haven't gone to the grocery store since last week! After some rummaging, I had a pile of ingredients and started to chop my veggies and cook the quinoa. Then my heart fell as I realized I didn't have any lemons for my dressing (I was going to make a simple lemon/olive oil dressing). But a bottle of white wine vinegar that was tucked way back in the corner of my cabinet saved the day. As I cooked, I kept sending my friend pics and she will now be making this tomorrow since she also has all the ingredients. You probably do too!!! It's so easy and yummy!

Note: 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa will make about 1 cup of cooked quinoa. Those tiny little things expand quite a bit! 

Grab it:

FOR THE SALAD:

1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

4-5 stalks of scallions, sliced

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

spinach leaves

2 large handfuls of frozen corn (I did not defrost it, see #2 below)

half of a tomato, seeded and diced (I would prefer grape tomatoes, but I was lucky to even have a tomato on hand!)

salt and pepper, to taste

FOR THE DRESSING:

white wine vinegar

olive oil

Make it:

1) Cook the quinoa: boil 1/2 cup quinoa with 1 cup of water in a small sauce pan with a lid. Once it starts to boil, simmer for 10-12 minutes until the water is all gone and the quinoa has puffed up and has little "white tails". 

2) Allow the quinoa to cool. If you are making this last minute, spread the hot quinoa on a plate and toss the frozen corn with it - it will cool the quinoa down quickly and the heat from the quinoa will defrost the corn. I'm so smart! lol

3) Combine all the salad ingredients except for the spinach in a large bowl. 

4) I didn't measure the amount of vinegar and oil I used, but used a rough 1:2 ratio of vinegar to oil.  If I had to guess, I used about 3 Tbsp of white wine vinegar and 6 Tbsp of olive oil. Whisk (or in my case I used a fork) together until mixed well then drizzle over salad and toss salad.

5) Place spinach leaves on a plate and top with salad mixture. Enjoy...and try not to eat the rest of the salad.

this was the whole dish...it made a lot! I'm sure nobody will miss the midnight snack I had when it's time for lunch tomorrow (or rather today!)

*** UPDATE *** I had every intention of adding feta cheese to this dish last night, but I got totally caught up with trying to find a replacement for the lemon for the dressing that I totally forgot. So today for lunch I topped my salad off with some feta. It was delicious, light and yet very filling!!! Oh, and my girlfriend made hers this morning and she kept texting me and saying she can't stop eating it! lol

Fried Rice...errr Fried Quinoa

One day after making Tropical Quinoa Granola I decided to make something else with it...this time I wanted to try fried rice. I pinned a recipe, but didn't even look at it. I just used my own Fried Rice recipe and substituted quinoa for the rice. This recipe changes a little bit each time I make it - it all depends on what I have on hand. I used chicken adobo again b/c my mom made a huge batch when she visited this past weekend, but I've used the other half of the steak the kids didn't eat, some grilled chicken, and shrimp all at once. It just depends on how much meat I want to use or have on hand. It's a great way to use up leftovers. We cap out at eating leftovers once...after that we throw it away even though it's still good. Re-using the leftovers in fried rice makes it seem like we're not eating the same thing for the third time.

The kiddos ate this all up and didn't even bat an eyelash at the new texture. Kevin's response: "It's different, but it's good." lol

My quinoa turned out a little mushy b/c I did not let it cool completely b/c I had some hungry kids to feed. Cool your quinoa COMPLETELY. If you have time to do it earlier in the day or the night before and throw it in the fridge then even better. 

Gather it:

- 1.5 cups cooked (and cooled off) quinoa (it doesn't sound like much, but holy moly, we've got a lot of leftovers!)

- 1.5-2 cups of chicken adobo 

- 1 medium white onion, diced

- 5 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 red bell pepper, diced

- frozen peas

- frozen corn

- dried parsley

- freshly ground pepper (to taste - I didn't use much since the Adobo had a lot of pepper in it already)

- soy sauce, to taste (I didn't use much since I used the sauce from the Adobo)

- about 1.5 Tbsp oil 

- about 2-3 Tbsp butter 

Make it:

1. Heat oil in a wok or a large skillet under medium/high heat. Saute onion until slightly softened. Add garlic - do not let it brown.

2. Add quinoa and red bell pepper and toss it in oil, onion, and garlic. Add butter. Let it "fry" for about 5 minutes - stirring every now and then to evenly fry the mixture.

3. Add frozen peas, corn and meat and let it warm through. Then add parsley, pepper, and soy sauce. Stir everything together.

Tropical Quinoa Granola

I'm jumping on the quinoa bandwagon. I've learned that it is a complete source of protein, which is great b/c I'm going to need to start packing Parker a lunch for school starting on Monday and aside from peanut butter (in a sandwich), nuts, and a hard boiled egg I'm not sure what else I can give him. He's not huge on lunch meat so that's pretty much out. Enter quinoa...I've read how versatile it is. It can be put into salads,  desserts, and pancakes/waffles, not just made as a side dish.

I decided to run to Costco with the kids this morning to pick up a few things. I walked by the bag of quinoa that I've walked by dozens of times before and was too intimidated to try. I decided to go for it! I turned to Pinterest and found a few recipes I want to try, but nothing really that would work for Parker b/c they were all side dishes. But then I saw it...granola made with quinoa! I've made granola before. The kids and I were on a granola kick back in the summer! We ate it for our snack by itself or used it to top off greek yogurt. So I just used the same recipe (tweaked a bit since this was an impromptu decision to make and I didn't have all of my "normal" ingredients) I used before and just added the quinoa...so easy and my house smells so good!!! You HAVE to try it!!!

Gather it:
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (instruction on how to cook way below in case you need it)
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup of shredded coconut (I LOVE coconut!)
1/2 cup of cashews, roughly chopped (also a new additions, I normally use pecan halves)
2 tsp of vanilla
4 big shakes of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of honey (I also LOVE honey and prefer a sweeter granola)
1 Tbsp of flaxseed (this is a new addition, hubby bought some for a power bar he made so I figured I'd use some too)
1 cup of dried mango, diced small (I used to use craisins, but I'm out and I just bought dried mangoes for the kids while we shopped to keep them quiet)

Make it:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Add all ingredients except for dried mangoes into a large bowl and toss together. I prefer not to add the mangoes until later b/c I learned when using craisins that dried fruit can get extra chewy. My young kids have a harder time chewing it.

FYI: I diced the mangoes and combined all the ingredients while cooking and cooling the quinoa so it saved some time.

3. Pour mixture unto parchment paper and spread out evenly. Bake for 40 minutes, tossing every 8-10 minutes to evenly brown it.

Allow to cool and either eat it by itself, eaten as a cereal, or top yogurt with it. Or in my case: abandon half eaten lunch, grab a pineapple Chobani Greek yogurt, top with piping hot granola, and burn the roof of my mouth with its delicious goodness! The tropical flavors: pineapple, coconut, mangoes, and cashews was absolutely perfect!

How to cook quinoa: boil 1 cup of water.  Add 1/2 cup of quinoa after it boils, lower heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and fluff quinoa. Replace lid and allow to "steam" in covered pot for an additional 10 min to allow quinoa to puff up and soak up remaining liquid. Allow to cool completely. Tip: after allow to puff up, pour quinoa into a plate and spread it out. Toss it every few minutes. This will allow it to cool faster.

here's what it looked like before I put it on the baking sheet

the kids couldn't stand smelling the delicious smell...so they watched it for a bit. Sadly they went down for a nap before it was ready.

enjoying their afternoon snack: yogurt and granola! The first thing Parker said when he woke up was: "Gah-ola ready? I eat it?"