Sorry again for the all the delays in posts, it's been a pretty crazy month. I've been really sick, and then we got hit with the hurricane, and I lost power for 5 days. It was inconvenient, but my roommate Sara and I still managed to have a little fun with it, and we went old school and cooked by candlelight. During the four days we were still here, before we ran out of refrigerated food and escaped to Boston, we cooked all our meals using the frozen and refrigerated foods before they went bad. I tried to take as many pictures as I could, so enjoy this compilation of some of my Hurricane Sandy meals.
Before the power went out:
Poached Egg over Swiss, Avocado, Tomatoes and Spinach over Whole Wheat Toast:
My first attempt at a poached egg! I used Mark Bittman's directions here, and it's a lot harder than it looks! I lost a little bit of my yolk, I think because my water wasn't hot enough after I turned it down. I'm going to have to attempt it again sometime soon.
Many people don't know what quinoa is, or they're afraid to try it. Although the taste and texture might take some getting used to, quinoa can be prepared in tons of different ways, so if you don't like it upon first eat, don't give up.
The beauty of quinoa is that it's a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids. That being said, when you mix quinoa with beans or chicken, you get a pretty filling meal. Quinoa is low in gluten and is filled with tons of other essential nutrients like iron, fiber, Vitamin B, potassium, magnesium and zinc. It's a low cholesterol complex carbohydrate that has twice the amount of calcium as whole wheat and less fat than a typical grain.
Isn't quinoa wonderful? I cook with quinoa a lot, so I'll be posting a lot of recipes, but my favorite ways to experiment with quinoa are by mixing it with a ton of chopped vegetables. It also tastes great with lemon or tomato sauce, and I've even made quinoa pizza bites before.
This is my first time trying this recipe, and it was really easy and filling! I think I would add garlic next time though, for a little bit more flavor. I decided to add mango since I had the frozen chopped Trader Joes kind already in my freezer. I thought it added a nice touch.
Spicy Asian Mango Quinoa With Chicken Wontons
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Quinoa
(I prepared a full cup but only used half. If you are cooking for more people other than yourself, use a full, or more).
A couple green onions, chopped
Chopped white or yellow onions
Chopped mushrooms (I used shiitake)
Chopped garlic (I used powder, but I think it's more flavorful with fresh)
Chopped mango
5 Chicken Wontons/Gyoza
(I used the frozen kind from Trader Joes.)
Sriracha
1. Cook the quinoa first. There should be directions on the box, but if not, use two cups of water for one cup of quinoa.
If you want more flavor, you can also cook with chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water.
Combine both the quinoa and the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover, cooking for about 15 minutes.
(Although just as I don't measure, I don't really follow time. I just look to see if it looks ready. The water should be gone and the quinoa should be soft and fluffy).
2. Chop your vegetables while the quinoa is cooking.
4. Heat up your wontons. The ones I used only take a minute and a half in the microwave.
5. Once the quinoa is ready, combine everything! I combined it in the pan, because it's big and some of the flavor sits at the bottom, but you can combine in a bowl as well.
6. Put on hot sauce, as desired. I liked mine spicy, and it actually went really well with the mango and gave the dish a good kick.
