Quinoa Salad

This is a recipe I got from a friend which ultimately came from here. I made quite a few adaptions that made this amazing recipe below.

Ingredients
3 1/2 C quinoa, cooked (about 1 1/4 uncooked)
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 C fresh cilantro, chopped
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
Juice and zest from one medium lime (1-2 TB juice, adjusting for taste)
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp minced garlic (I use the kind in the jar)
1 avocado, diced
chips



Directions
To make the quinoa: In a large saucepan add 1 1/4 C uncooked quinoa, 2 1/2 C water, and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat off and cover with a lid for at least 25-30 minutes. I usually prepare this step a few hours in advance and just leave it on the stove until I'm ready to mix everything together. Fluff with a fork and you're ready to go.

Add all the rest of the ingredients to the quinoa and stir well. Add the avocado just before serving and enjoy with your favorite chips! Ours are Juanitas tortilla chips.

One hour bread

This bread is so quick and tasty!

4 C warm water
3 TB oil
3 tsp salt
1/4 C sugar
9-12 C flour (I usually do a few of whole wheat flour)
3 TB yeast

In a Bosch or stand mixer, mix the first four ingredients together well with five C flour. Add four more C flour with the yeast and then continue to add flour until the dough starts to clean itself from the bowl and you can touch the dough and have your finger come away clean.

Form the dough into four loaves (I usually make two round and two oval) and place them on two large greased cookie sheets. Let the loaves rise until double. Slash the tops of the loaves and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Rub the tops of the warm loaves with a stick of butter.

Refried Beans

My friend taught me how to make these authentic Mexican refried beans. The flavor is simply amazing. She doesn't follow a recipe, so I just took some notes and practiced a few times to create one of my own. These are pretty simple and simply delicious. I couldn't get my husband or kids to eat beans until I learned this recipe, and now they request them. Even my three-year-old will clear her serving of beans and ask for more. 

Ingredients

4 C dried pinto beans

Water

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, or 1 tsp minced (I use the bottled kind that is already minced)
oil
4-5 serrano peppers

1-3 TB tomato bouillon  (we like 1 rounded TB)

salt to taste (we like 1 tsp)

Directions

Dump your beans on a clean counter space and sort through them to make sure there are no small rocks. Rinse the beans and put them in a large stock pot. Add the water, onions, and garlic. The amount of water should be 1/2 the height of the stock pot (about 15 cups in mine). Heat to boiling and reduce the heat slightly to maintain a lightly rolling boil (on my stove that's about heat level 7 out of 10 on the dial). Cover with a lid tilted in so it vents a little bit.

Every 20 minutes or so, add another cup or so of hot water to maintain the water level to 1/2 the stock pot. You want to end up with about the same amount of water in the pan as when you started. Cook for a total of 2 hours. The beans should be tender with the outsides splitting off a little bit. 

Saute the serrano peppers in oil until they are white all around. Remove from the pan and fill with half of the beans and water. Mash the beans with a potato masher and season with the tomato bouillon and salt. Start on the smaller end of the amounts and add more to taste. These make a fabulous side dish or chip dip.

Pico de gallo

I originally found this recipe here, and the only change we make is it to add avocado to it (an idea we got from a friend who makes amazing authentic Mexican food). We eat this with tortilla chips (our favorite is the Juanitas brand), and also as a garnish for enchiladas.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Cilantro, rinsed, drained, lower part of the stems removed, and roughly chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 lb ripe tomatoes (about 3 cups), diced small
1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
1 avocado, diced small
2-3 TB lime juice, or to taste
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt

Directions

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and toss until combined. Taste test with a chip and add more salt or lime juice if needed to your liking.

Mexican Rice

This Mexican rice is easy and delicious. I make it with enchiladas, but it goes well with any Mexican dish.

Ingredients

Oil

2 C rice, uncooked

1/4 C onion, diced finely

1 TB tomato bouillon 

1 C chicken broth (I use 1 C water + 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon) 

3 C water

Directions

Saute the onion and rice in oil until the rice starts to turn brown. Add chicken broth and water. Cover and simmer for about 12-15 minutes or until the water is gone and holes start to appear on top of the rice. 

Caribbean Zucchini Banana Coconut Bread

This is a fun bread with a unique and delicious flavor. A great recipe to use up all that garden zucchini! Adapted from here.

Ingredients
1 C brown sugar
3/4 C white sugar
1 C oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 C flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 TB cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 C grated zucchini
1/2 C shredded coconut

In a large bowl or electric mixer, mix together the sugars, oil, vanilla, eggs, and mashed bananas. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well. Finally, mix in the zucchini and coconut.

Pour into two greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 25 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Cookie Granola Balls

These are healthy, delicious, and only take 5 min to make! This week has been super hot, so I've been avoiding the oven. We were looking for a healthy snack to eat, so I looked online and found this delicious no bake treat. The kids ate them and came back for 2nds and 3rds. We will definitely be making them again. :)

Ingredients

2 C oats
1/4 C wheat germ or flax seed
1/4 chocolate chips (mini work best)
1 C Peanut Butter
1/2 C honey

Mix well and roll into bite sized balls. I sprayed the plate and my hands with Pam before rolling and they didn't stick at all.

Adapted from here.

Yogurt!

 

For my birthday this year I got a yogurt maker, and we have loved it! I've been looking at items we buy a lot of and seeing if I can make them on my own. Steve likes to take yogurt in his lunches, and yogurt can be quite expensive, not to mention full of sugar. What I describe below costs about $.07 per yogurt cup and has 4-6 grams of sugar in each one.

I looked on amazon.com and chose this yogurt maker based on the ratings. I especially like that it comes with individual cups (for the lunch-on-the-go). I did find some websites that explained how to make yogurt without this (like in your crockpot), so if you want to explore something like that before spending $30 that's another possibility. I'm really happy with my yogurt maker though and glad to have it. The first batch took a while since I didn't know what I was doing, but now I can make it in just a few minutes. Here's what I do:

1. Put 5 C milk in a pan. I whisk 1 C of powdered milk in a medium sauce pan with 5 C of water. You can also use 5 cups of regular milk, but powdered milk will be half the price (I get mine at the local LDS home storage center) and it makes a really nice consistency for the yogurt. 
2. Bring it up to 180 degrees (I would recommend using a cooking thermometer, but boiling point is about 212 degrees to give you an idea of what 180 is). 
3. Put it in the fridge until it cools down to at least 110 degrees (30-45 min). You have to cool it down enough though or it will be too hot and kill your starter. 
4. Add starter and any desired flavorings. I stir in 3 TB plain yogurt (This is your starter. Mix it with a tsp of milk so that it's a good pouring consistency), 3 TB of vanilla, and a few TB of sugar. You could also leave the sugar out and add honey before you eat it if you want to sweeten it. Each tsp of sugar is 4 grams, so if you add 8 tsps of sugar, each cup of yogurt will have 4 grams of sugar in it. That's WAY less than the 20-40 grams in store yogurt.
5. Pour into yogurt cups and follow manufacturing directions to start the process. I set mine for 9 hours and it comes out great for our tastes.  

So that's how I make it. There are instructions with the yogurt maker that I followed, and then I just explored ways to flavor it how we like it. Here are some of the things we do with our yogurt.

Add a spoonful of homemade strawberry jam and send it in a lunch.

Serve it as a delicious snack or side to a meal for the kids!

Use it as a sour cream substitute in ANY recipe, such as this delicious sour cream lemon pie or these amazing thick, soft sugar cookes. I also made this melt in your mouth chicken recipe last week that called for mayo when I realized I was out. I used a cup of yogurt instead and it was delicous!

Sprinkle some homemade granola on top for breakfast.

Put it in a fruit smoothie I adapt from here. You can mix and match any kind of fruit really,  I especially like pears. Makes about four 8 oz servings.

• 2 C frozen fruit (I usually use a frozen banana and 1 C of frozen grapes)
• 1 C milk
• 1 yogurt cup
• (A squirt of honey if your fruit isn't sweet enough)

Blend and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread

This has been my favorite bread recipe, ever since I learned to make it about a year ago from my neighbor next door. I think it's very easy and most important, amazingly delicious! If you have any questions after reading this or if it doesn't turn out like you thought it would, let me know and I'll do my best to answer any questions.

I use a Bosch to make this bread, which I love because it does all the work for me and is big enough for me to make four loaves at once. I have also used a Kitchen Aid and that works great too, but I only make two loaves with it because it isn't quite as big.

I've also included a few tips from my neighbor at the bottom, so you may want to read them before you begin.

A quick note about yeast: I use instant yeast and I keep it in the freezer so it lasts longer. With instant yeast, you add it with the flour when called for in the recipe. If you use regular active yeast, you can “proof” it first in some of the warm water and honey or just add it to the first 5 ingredients when you mix them and use a full 2 T of yeast. If you try and proof the instant yeast, your bread may not rise like you want it to.

That all being said, here's the recipe. Have fun! 

Mix together until well blended:

5 ½ C hot tap water

2/3 C oil

2/3 C honey

2 TB salt, slightly rounded

8 C whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground red wheat)

Add:

4 C white flour

2 scant TB instant yeast mixed in with flour

Continue mixing 2-4 C whole wheat flour one cup at a time until dough is still a little sticky, but spongy, and cleans itself from the bowl. Let it continue to knead on speed 2 for 5 minutes or speed 1 for 10 minutes.

During this time, grease four large bread pans or five medium bread pans. Oil hands and the counter. Remove dough from bowl and divide into four loaf sizes. Pound or knead dough, drawing in four sides to the center, shaping a loaf. Place in greased pans and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Rise until bread is just over the top of the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 26 minutes. When bread is done, remove promptly from pans. Rub a cube of butter across the top of the bread to moisten and keep soft.

Tips:

1. Measure oil first, then the honey in the same measuring cup. The honey will just slip out.
2. After bread is cool, place in plastic bags and freeze the portion you won’t use within a couple of days, then thaw when ready to use. It will keep its fresh baked feel.