The best cauliflower you will ever eat

Ingredients 

5-6 Cloves of garlic roughly chopped

1/3 Yellow onion diced (red onion for a sweeter caramelized flavor)

2 Tsp dried parsley

4 Tbsp olive oil 

4 Pinches sea salt

Pepper

1- Head of cauliflower chopped up

4-6 Sliced hot cherry peppers diced up

1 Tsp hot cherry pepper juice 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all ingredients excluding hot peppers.  Taste for flavor once it's all combined.  I add more garlic, pepper, or more salt at this stage. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and toss in peppers and juice.  Cook another 10 minutes until it reaches your desired doneness. (I like it al dente, my husband likes it soft).  Normally I don't pull it until the onions are soft and caramelized.  I marinated mine for 2 hours prior and I think it gave it more flavor. I think this could also be marinated over night and thrown in the oven the next day. 

I used to make this adding the peppers at the start of cook time.  I realized it added too much heat and took away from all of the other flavors.  I now add it in at the end of cooking. I find the peppers stay sweeter, and you can still distinguish the onions and garlic from the overwhelming heat.

Italian fresh tomato cannellini beans

INGREDIENTS

1 Can no sodium cannellini beans in water (drained and rinsed)

3 Cloves garlic roughly chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

4 Roma tomatoes diced

Fresh basil ribboned

Salt

Pepper

Heat oil over medium low and add beans.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add in half of tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes.  Add in garlic and vinegar and lower heat.  Cook until tomatoes and garlic are soft, about 3 more minutes.  Taste and adjust salt & pepper seasoning as needed.  Plate and top with remaining fresh tomatoes and fresh sliced basil.  I garnished with toasted sourdough bread for sopping up the juices.

I came home tonight in a hurry and starving. I had fresh tomatoes and basil in my garden so I ran with that.  This makes about 1.5 cups of food.  I served it in a half cup of bean portion.  For one serving it was 239 calories.

Spicy black bean quinoa

Since becoming gluten free I've found myself in love with quinoa.  I love it because you can add anything you want to it and it will absorb that flavor.  That means it can be mexican tonight, Italian tomorrow and Greek the next day.  Today I was in a huge hurry at work so I grabbed a few things out of the fridge and a pan and off I went.  Quinoa looks like it might be hard to cook, it's not.  It is idiot proof.  I promise.  

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 cup peach mango salsa

1/2 cup black beans

1/4 cup chopped bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp garlic powder

The basic directions for quinoa are; Bring quinoa and water to a boil.  Reduce to low, fluff with a fork and simmer for 20 minutes covered.

For this recipe you will:

Bring quinoa, onions & peppers to a boil.  Reduce heat to low & fluff with fork.  Add salsa, beans & garlic powder & mix.  Cover and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is kind of soft.  That's all.

The only thing you have to worry about with quinoa is making sure it's cooked all the way. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes.  Sometimes it takes 20.  As long as there is some liquid (stock, salsa, etc) in the pan you can continue simmering it until you get the consistency you want.  I topped mine with a little bit of hot sauce and it was delicious.  In place of water you could use vegetable stock, or chicken stock if you eat meat.  This should make two lunch size portions or three side dish portions and it's a complete protein and great fiber.  

Enjoy!

Parmesan sour cream mashies (with lumps please)

8 Medium size red potatoes (not peeled) sliced up
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
2/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk

Boil potatoes until soft. Drain then return to pan over low heat and cook for about 1 minute to cook out all excess water. Add in milk & sour cream and begin mashing. Add it Parmesan, mash a little more and serve. Leave in some lumps. These aren't meant to be creamy. Try and share.

Note. I do not salt these because of the cheese. If you want to get UBER indulgent and just wildly blow your mind add in 1/3 cup of cream cheese. Then die and go to Heaven and send me a message thanking me!

Not Just For Decoration

I always love finding different types of produce that I am not familiar with. You never know if you might find something new you like. The other day at the grocery store I spotted some red corn on the cob. I quickly threw it in my cart. I always thought colorful corn was only for Thanksgiving decorations.

I ended up wrapping it in foil and throwing it on the grill with our steaks. It wasn't a huge taste difference from your regular white or yellow corn on the cob. It wasn't as sweet as white corn, and tasted healthier, almost earthy.

Try picking up something new next time you go to the store!

Spinach Parmesan Orzo

INGREDIENTS
1-12 ounce package Orzo
1/2 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1-10 ounce bag of baby spinach
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large pot of boiling water add orzo and cook 7-9 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and pepper flakes, cook 1 minute.
3. Stir in spinach. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar.
4. Drain orzo and rinse with hot water. Stir orzo into the skillet along with basil, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Spaghetti Squash

INGREDIENTS
1 spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on a baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance.
3. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.
4. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook only until tomatoes are warm.
5. Use a fork shred the squash to form noodles. Place squash in a medium bowl and toss with the sauteed vegetables, feta cheese, and basil.

Basil Parmesan Biscuits

I checked my mail today and found my Cooking Light in the mailbox. As soon as I got off work I sat down and started browsing. They had a whole section on basil and I paid close attention since I have a variety of basil in my garden right now. Since my other two dishes for dinner had basil I figured why not make the basil biscuits. To tie it together I also added some lemon thyme. It was perfect!

Here is Cooking Light's recipe (with the lemon thyme added in)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cubed
2/3 cup fresh basil chopped
3 tbsp lemon thyme chopped
1/2 cup fine grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup fat-free milk
1 large egg
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425. Spoon flour into measuring cups*, level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in basil, thyme and cheese. Combine milk and egg in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat to 1- thick circle. Cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter into 12 biscuits. Place biscuits on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes.

*When baking breads and doughs you never want to "scoop" your flour or you will have an incorrect measurement as "scooping" will cause the flour to be packed in. Instead using a spoon lightly fill your measuing device small spoonfuls at a time, allowing it to settle naturally and not be overly packed in. Also, when I was done I had a little dough left so I just tossed it on the pan. I love the way that biscuit came out as opposed to using the biscuit cutter. Next time I will for sure just toss it on the pan and not pay attention to symitry. It made it look so much tastier.

Lemon Thyme

Sweet basil

(I have the bestest little herb garden)

How I make rice

Someone wrote in asking me how I make my rice. The truth is...I cheat. I use a rice cooker. When I married my husband I had one of these that I used as a vegetable steamer. I never knew that it would become something I would use 3-4 times a week. This is actually our 4th rice cooker because we use them so much we wear em out. There are a few tips I will give you.

First, when I met my husband I had no idea you had to rinse the rice. Apparently YOU MUST RINSE THE RICE. So. I do. I fill it with water, swish it and drain. Lather rinse repeat. Also, for 1 cup of rice you are supposed to put 1 cup of water. However, I feel it works better to put just over a cup. Or two cups of rice and just over two cups of water. Finally, before you scoop it out, it works best if you get the scoop wet.

Add your rice

Rinse

Drain

Fill with water just over the line

Push cook

Wait fifteen minutes and BAM!

Fluffy white rice every time!

No need to fuss with the silly pans!