Curry Quinoa

Welp. It's currently 3:30 in the morning and I'm awake. I thought for sure I'd sleep like a baby after a long day at work, my four-mile run and a hearty Curry Quinoa Wrap for dinner. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and waking up in the middle of the night isn't unusual. Ever since getting married I've had a hard time sleeping. I used to be able to conk out as soon as my head hit the pillow and sleep straight through the night. If I sleep through the night now, I seriously squeal "I did it!" when I wake up. I like to believe it will get better, and it has, but I still get these random "wide-awake-at-2-AM-and-I'm-hungry-and-need-a-snack" nights. And since one of my least favorite things is trying to sleep, I've decided to just get up when I feel wide awake and not fight it. Usually after an hour or so, and some food, I'm able to fall back asleep.

I hope it gets better soon, because being awake in the middle of the night can really throw off my schedule. Not to mention I'm exhausted at 9 PM and fighting to stay awake. Good news is I don't have to go into work today and I'm also planning on going to my first ever Yoga class at the gym. I'm excited for some good stretching. Maybe the "Zen" atmosphere will help me sleep through the night tonight.

Enough about my unfortunate sleeping cycle. Let's talk about this easy curried quinoa.

Brett and I are heading out of town for Christmas on Friday, so as is the usual, we're trying to finish off the random food in our fridge. I'm also trying to be better at using all the pantry items I buy, instead of just letting things pile up. This quinoa was perfect for both those goals. Whole wheat wraps, hummus and tahini are a few of the things still left in our fridge so I looked up wrap ideas and came across this curried quinoa wrap recipe from Healthy. Happy. Life. I didn't have all of the ingredients (and obviously didn't want to buy more stuff right before we leave) so I tweaked a few things and simplified it and it turned out great. It's made me excited to experiment more with quinoa and spices.

Curry Quinoa

(Makes 8 Servings)

 Ingredients:

· 3 cups water

· 1/2 cup vegetable broth

· 2 1/3 cup quinoa, unrinsed

· 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

· 2 teaspoons sea salt

· 1 1/2 cup frozen peas

· 1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:

1. Place the water, broth, quinoa, curry powder and salt in a large sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, cover the pot and turn the heat down to a simmer.

3. Let the quinoa simmer for 11 minutes.

4. After 11 minutes, turn the heat off and let the quinoa sit for another 10-12 minutes. Don’t take off the lid!

5. Once it’s ready, fluff the quinoa with a fork and stir  in the peas and golden raisins.

I highly recommend putting this quinoa in a large, wheat tortilla with hummus, green onions and a drizzle of tahini. Wrap it up and enjoy a filling, flavorful meal!

 Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Cheesy Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole

I've made a lot of progress this week in my goal to cook with at least one new ingredient each week. After my half marathon (recap here!), Brett and I stopped at the Winter Park Farmers Market and picked up a bunch of produce. In addition to our regular produce, we got bok choy, fennel and spaghetti squash, three veggies that I have yet to cook with before. 

I sauteed the bok choy with some salt and pepper and put it inside a whole wheat wrap with sweet potato, black beans and tomato. It definitely reminds me of some Asian dishes I've had and made me want to try it again soon in a noodle soup or stir fry.

For the fennel, I roasted the bulb with some potatoes and carrots and used the leaves and soft stems to make a lemon, fennel dressing. This dish turned out great! I'll be sharing it soon.

Lastly, for the spaghetti squash I combined two recipes to make this cheesy dish. I know I'm way behind in using spaghetti squash, but it really was so easy and shredded just like spaghetti.

To cook the spaghetti squash, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and cut your squash in half length-wise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then place the halves face up on a baking dish and spray the halves with cooking spray. 

Then stick it in the oven and roast for about 50 minutes until its tender enough to poke with a fork. After it cools enough to touch, just take a fork and shred the squash horizontally until all the squash has been removed. 

You can use it as a spaghetti substitute or have it act as rice for stir-fries or curries. Or even better, you can make this awesome Vegan Cheesy Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole.

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole

(Makes 6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

· 1 large spaghetti squash, roasted and shredded

· Two cups steamed broccoli

· 1/2 –1 cup green peas (optional)

For the Cheese Sauce:

· 1 1/4 cups water

· 1 cup almond milk

· 3/4 cup nutritional yeast

· 3 tablespoons cornstarch

· 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

· 1/2 teaspoon paprika

· 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

· 1 tablespoon tahini

· Ground pepper and red chili flakes to taste

  

Directions:

1. See above for how to roast and shred a spaghetti squash.

2. For the cheese sauce, place all of the ingredients from water to tahini in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Pour the sauce in a large sauce pan and heat over medium-low heat. Allow the sauce to thicken while stirring occasionally. This should take about 5 minutes.

4. Once the sauce begins to thicken, add in the spaghetti squash, broccoli and peas.

5. Season with ground pepper and red chili flakes.

Notes: The cheese sauce is adapted from Oh She Glows.

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

African Peanut and Potato Stew

I recently went to my first all vegan restaurant in Chicago while Brett and I were on a work trip. It was called Native Foods and everything we had was sooooo delicious. I took one of the menus home to try and recreate some of their menu options.

One of the specials they had the night we ate there was a peanut soup. I searched a little on-line and found one that seemed easy to make and didn't use a lot of ingredients - two things that are still high priorities for me, begin so new to this whole vegan thing. It made a ton of stew, but Brett and I ate it all over the course of the week and it even started to taste richer the longer it was in the fridge. I think letting it sit allowed the peanut butter flavor to become more intense. Unless you're allergic to peanut butter, you should really try this recipe out! It's great in the fact that you can switch up a lot of the ingredients to use whatever you have in your pantry/fridge.

African Peanut and potato Stew

(Makes 6 servings)

 Ingredients:

· 1 medium onion, finely minced

· 3 cloves garlic, minced

· 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

· 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

· 14.5 oz. can crushed or diced tomatoes*

· 1/4 + 2 tablespoons peanut butter

· 2 cups vegetable broth (or water)

· 1 lb. sweet potato (about 2 small or one large), peeled and chopped

· 1 can kidney beans

· 1 1/2 frozen peas

· 2 cups spinach (or other hearty, leafy greens)

· Salt and pepper to taste

*  If you are using diced tomatoes, pour them into a blender and give them a quick blend before you use them in this recipe.

Directions:

1. Using a little water or cooking spray in a sauce pan,  sauté the onion over medium heat until they start to get translucent.

2. Add the garlic and chili and continue to cook until soft.  Stir occasionally so that they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the blended tomatoes and peanut butter and stir until smooth.

4. Stir in the broth and add in the sweet potatoes. Give everything a good stir and then cover and cook until the sweet potatoes are cooked and soft, but not mushy, about 15 minutes.

5. After the sweet potatoes have cooked, add in the beans, peas and greens and let the stew cook a few more minutes until the greens wilt.

6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and if you want your stew a little hotter add some more crushed red pepper flakes.

7. Eat right away or store in the fridge for a few days.

Notes: Slightly adapted from www.vegangela.com.

Chop up your sweet potatoes and mince your onion and ginger before you get started.

Start by sauteing your onion first and then add the red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger.

Stir in the tomatoes and peanut butter until smooth.

Then add in the broth and sweet potatoes and let the potatoes cook until soft.

Add in the bean, peas and greens and cook until the greens are wilted.

How beautiful does that look!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith