Guest Recipe: Quinoa Spinach Casserole

I have a superstar client who is jumping in with both feet experimenting with grains. She told me about this fabulous dish she prepared and shared with friends this week, and I invited her to share it with everyone. Because she made it up (love that!), I'll post in the original way it came to me. Comments are welcome on how you make it your own!

Combine 1 cup of well-rinsed quinoa with 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce (I prefer homemade vinegar hot sauce) and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

While your quinoa is cooking, combine 1 package of Smart Ground Original Veggie Protein Crumbles [JL NOTE: ground turkey would be awesome here] with 2 cloves of garlic, half of an onion, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in skillet.  Add 1 tablespoon of crushed fennel seed, half a tablespoon of dried sage, and just a touch of salt and pepper (to taste). Stir regularly because the Smart Ground has a tendency to stick to your pan! Sauté on low for the same amount of time your quinoa is cooking.

When both the quinoa and Smart Ground are good and cooked, layer them in a casserole dish and stick them in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

While your dish is in the oven, in a skillet, bring a couple of cups of water (and if you're feeling, "saucy" add a tablespoon of your hot sauce as well) to an ALMOST boil. Once it's good and steamy add your freshly washed spinach leaves. Cover the pan and let them steam for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

Take your casserole dish out of the oven and spread your spinach over the top. Then dive in and enjoy!

Layered Tomato Pie

We have 2 birthdays in the month of July in our family. We celebrated one with this, and last night I made a tomato pie I want to remember, because it might just be the summer recipe triumph.

Here's what I used:

• a little leftover ground sausage (maybe 1/2 pound?)
• an onion, large slices
• 3 garlic cloves, finely cut
• deep dish pie crust from the freezer section (couldn't manage making my own!)
• a little leftover cooked brown rice
• a handful of fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• 3-4 ripe tomatoes, sliced into circles
• goat cheese to taste
• fresh basil, cut into strips 

Here's what I did:

• browned the sausage, then turned the heat down and threw in the onions followed by the garlic and let them cook a LONG time (maybe close to 30 minutes?)
• preheated oven to 400, put fork marks all over the pie crust, and baked it for about 7-10 minutes
• took pie crust out of oven, then layered brown rice on the bottom (it absorbs all the tomato liquid!), chopped spinach, and tomatoes.
• put it back in the oven for about 15 minutes.
• add goat cheese and bake until barely browned on pie crust and cheese.
• add fresh basil strips and serve

Savor every bite, because there will be no leftovers!

Tomato Raspberry Vinaigrette

A chef friend shared this amazing recipe with me recently. Heavenly for summer tomatoes.

1. Take a sheet pan and cover the bottom with a very thin layer of olive oil.  Place the pan in the oven (350 degrees pre-heated) and let the pan warm up for about 3 minutes.
2. Carefully place 6-7 ripe red tomatoes on the pan in the olive oil cut into halves.  Remove the stem from the top of tomatoes beforehand. 
3. Lightly salt and pepper the tomatoes to taste.  Pour raspberry vinegar on the top of the tomatoes (and onto the pan).  No more than 1 cup of vinegar is needed.
4. When the tomatoes have roasted, the skin will begin to darken and separate from the tomatoes.  Roast until the tomato has cooked through to the middle. 
5. Pull pan out of oven and let rest for 10 minutes (to cool).
6. Pinch the tomato peel off (this should be fairly easy since the peel has separated from the juicy middle).  Take the now peel-less roasted tomatoes and place them in a food processor or blender.  Pulse until fully incorporated (until fully reduced to sauce-like consistency). 
7. Add fresh basil strips and sea salt and pepper to taste. 

For my husband's birthday, I layered brown rice, garlic sauteed spinach, and baked chicken. I poured the vinaigrette over the top, added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and basil strips. OMG--now, it's a birthday classic.

This week, I used it to make a pasta sauce by adding it to some local ground sausage, onions, garlic, and spinach. Again, super yummy.

Tonight, I plan to make an egg scramble with it. I also plan to scavenge for tomatoes the next couple of weeks, make this recipe in quantity, and freeze it to get me through the winter. Oh, I will be so in love with myself in December!

Shoots, Greens & 'Shrooms

Is there anything better than fresh greens in the spring after a long winter of nothing leafy from the farm? Ok....so maybe the first ripe tomato of summer is equally as exciting....or the deep rich sweet taste of roasted
winter squash in the fall....and then there's that blueberry pie full of juicy purple deliciousness....but spring greens are pretty high up on the list.  The Wednesday farmer's market in Chattanooga is back in full swing and the gettin' is good right now. Dinner tonight was delicious, quick, easy and almost all local. I picked up some pea shoots (my 14 year old son asked me to please NOT call them pea tendrils because it sounded like tentacles) from Williams Island Farm, some fresh beautiful spinach from Sequatchie Cove Farm, some Shiitake mushrooms from Crabtree Farms and some fresh milled grits from Riverview Farms. Spring food has so much flavor it doesn't need much seasoning- especially those crisp sweet pea shoots!

Shoots, Greens & 'Shrooms

I sauteed the shiitakes with a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil, added in the pea tendrils and spinach at the last minute (it only takes them a couple of minutes to wilt down to perfection). Added a couple of splashes of tamari and some cracked black pepper. I cooked the grits in water and added a bit of half & half after they were done for some richness. I served the greens & shrooms over my grits and topped with a little shaved parmesan and some cracked black pepper. We also had some left-over black beans in the fridge (with Sequatchie Farm sausage) that we added on the side. This dish would also be delicious topped with a poached egg. It was some kind of yum.

Thank you farmers for a spectacular and nourishing meal!

Search for a farmer's market near you here: http://www.localharvest.org/

Glorious Greens!

Last night was our Whole Food Creates Whole People class, and we focused on dark, leafy greens. It was a great reminder that I need to be extremely intentional about getting at least one serving of greens each day, especially this time of year. They are full of vitamins and minerals that help boost immunity (stay away H1N1!) and depression (a nice perk during gray January days). I know that my best days are the ones that contain greens at every meal and sometimes in-between, so today, just for fun, I did the following:

Almond butter, muscadine jelly, spinach sandwich.

Yep you read it right--I put spinach on my almond butter sandwich! It was actually quite tasty. I tried this radical idea back in September when I had some fresh arugula by putting a few leaves on my p-nut butter and honey wrap and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the flavors together. Now it's a given that some sort of dark, leafy green goes on any sandwich I make. At least once. Give it a go yourself and see how you like it!