Mexican Quinoa Casserole

If you've never had quinoa before, you're missing out.  It's actually the seed from a grain-like crop, and it's similar to brown rice, but looks more like couscous.  What's great is it has a lot of protein and fiber, which makes it super filling. It's easy to cook, exactly like rice, and it's very versatile, making it great for dishes of all kinds.

This recipe makes a hearty 9x13 casserole and will go a long way.  Great to bring to a party or dinner at someone's house too.  It's really easy with only a little prep work.  And you can definitely make it up ahead of time and bake when you are ready to eat it.

Mexican Quinoa Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed for 2 minutes under cold water (otherwise can be bitter tasting)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 TBS plus 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped or minced
• 2 small zucchinis, cubed
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 4 oz can diced green chilis
• 1 can yellow corn, drained
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• juice of one small lime
• salt to taste
• 1.5 cups shredded cheddar, monterey jack, or mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat, then add the quinoa and stir for about 1 minute while the quinoa dries out a bit.  Add the chicken stock, stir and bring to a boil.  After coming to a boil, turn down to low and simmer covered for 18 minutes. 

While the quinoa cooks, get a large skillet and heat 2 TBS olive oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes.  Add onions and green bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, about 7 min, then add garlic and zucchini and cook 4 more min.

When quinoa is cooked, take off heat and let sit about 5 minutes covered, then fluff with a fork.

Take skillet off heat as well and if your skillet is large enough to use, start adding in all the other ingredients (except shredded cheese), including quinoa and mix everything together.  Otherwise use a large bowl to do this.  When well mixed, pour into your casserole dish and bake at 375 for 30 min.  

Take out of the oven and top with cheese, then bake 10 minutes more or until melted and bubbling.

If desired, top with a little sour cream to serve.

Nutritional facts:  10 servings.  243 calories, 10 g fat, 5 g sugar, 444 g sodium, 5 g figer, 10 g protein.

Olive Oil & Rosemary Bread

This was my second attempt at making a yeast bread, and I found it a little harder than the rolls, but not too bad.  The kneading is really the worst part!  One day I'll have a mixer to do the dirty work for me... a girl can dream can't she?



Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 C hot water - see below for temp
• 1 TBS honey 
• 1-2 tsp salt
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp or 1 pkt. yeast
• 3 - 3 1/2 C flour, more for dusting surface and hands

Baker's note: I used a little whole wheat flour, and the rest all purpose, but you can really use anything you want, including bread flour.

Measure your water in a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup, microwave about 30 seconds until it's the temp of hot bath water, about 102-108 degrees.  Pour the water into your large mixing bowl, and drizzle in your TBS of honey, mix with whisk.  Sprinkle your yeast on top of water, do not stir though, let sit for 5 minutes so it activates (it will puff up on top of the water).  If using rapid rise or instant yeast it will not puff up, just let it dissolve in the water for 5 minutes.

If you're confused about the different types of yeast like I was, and wonder what the difference is, or whether they are interchangeable, see this link for helpful reading!

Bread & Yeast facts

Next add in 1/2 C whole wheat flour and mix with whisk until frothy.  Or like I mentioned before, any kid of flour you want to use really.  Add in 1-2 tsp salt, depending on your taste.  Add in your 1 TBS olive oil and continue whisking this all together.  Start adding in the rest of your flour in 
1/2 C increments.  If you want to add in rosemary or anything else, do it after you've put in 1 C of flour total to mixture.  I added rosemary from my rosemary bonsai bush!  Isn't she cute? 

But you can really do anything here - rosemary, basil, sun dried tomatoes, raisins, pumpkin puree, etc.  Or you can leave it plain.

If you want chewier bread put an egg in now also.  I did not do this step.

Keep adding your 1/2 cups of flour, then use wooden spoon and mix until you can no longer use the spoon.  

Flour your work surface & hands, then dump out dough onto it and start to combine with hands, if it's sticking to you use more flour, push it into dough with hands, keep folding dough from outside in. Knead 100 times and keep adding flour if still sticky to the touch.  

Form dough into a smooth ball.

Use a clean bowl and put a drizzle of olive oil in it and rub around with fingers, put your dough in and swirl the ball around on both sides to cover w oil.  Cover with a clean towel or cling wrap and rest for 40 min in a warm, draft-free environment.  I put mine in either the oven or microwave, with them turned OFF of course.

After the 40 minutes check the dough, it should've about doubled.  Punch it down with your hand, it'll deflate, then cover again for it to rise another 40 min.

After the second rise, flour surface and dump out dough again, knead it to get air out, adding flour again if sticky.  You only have to knead a few minutes this time.  

Now cut or separate into rolls or loaves, or make one big loaf.  You can cut slits for a decorative touch.

Set tray of loaves or rolls aside to rest while your oven preheats to 375.  You can brush an egg wash (one egg scrambled with 1 TBS water) over top of each loaf/ roll if you want, to get that shiny crust on top.

Bake on parchment paper for about 35 minutes, less for all rolls, more for one big loaf of bread.

After allotted bake time, check to make sure the bread is cooked by tapping the underside to see if it sounds hollow.  Store in an airtight container after cooling completely, put in refrigerator or freezer if not eating within a few days.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did!

Easy Dinner Rolls

This is the first yeast bread I ever made and it was a LOT easier than I thought it would be!  With a few texts and pictures sent to my dad (bread-baker extraordinaire) to make sure things looked like they should, it was a breeze.  I think he might have been a little proud of me when he tasted the finished product...I hope!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbs butter
• 2 cups all purpose white flour, plus another 1/2 cup or so for kneading
• 1 pkg rapid rise yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Warm milk water and butter in small pan on stove.  Warm only to a temp of 90-100 degrees, warm to the touch, not hot.  If your butter is cold you may have to melt it a bit in microwave beforehand.  If you get the liquid too hot, let it cool down, this is crucial, because too hot will ruin the mix!  

While liquid warms, use a large bowl and combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar, salt and mix with wooden spoon.  Add heated liquid mix to dry mix and stir with wooden spoon.  Then add remaining 1 cup flour and mix more.  At this point my dough was crumbly and not mixing with the spoon and I thought I'd messed up.  But I started using my hands to mix and it all started sticking together beautifully.  So I mixed and then kneaded with my hands for 5 min.  Form dough into a ball and leave in bowl covered by a towel to rise for about 45 min- hour.  It should about double in size.  Then divide dough into 8 or 16 rolls, depending on size, I made 16 smaller ones.  Roll them into a ball with hands and place in a greased round cake pan.  Let rise 30 more minutes in pan then bake for 20 min at 375.

From start to finish you can make these in about 2.5 hours, with down time for dough to rise.  Enjoy!!

Nutritional facts: 73 calories, 1 g fat, 2 g sugar, 4 g sodium, 0 g fiber, 2 g protein.  Based on 16 rolls.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Rebecca for sharing her mom's roll recipe with me!