Southwestern Quinoa

I may be a bit late to the game, as I only discovered quinoa in the last several months, but I am a wholehearted convert. The stuff is wonderful - plus, it's one of the few plant-based protein sources that is a complete protein, and it's a good source of fiber to boot! It's like rice, but better, and it's another one of those versatile bases that serves as a canvas for culinary creativity. I came up with this combo recently, and I think it's my favorite. Add in a touch of chipotle powder and cumin, plus some roasted corn, peppers, and tomatoes, and extra fiber and protein from black beans, and you've got the makings of a fast, tasty, and healthy dish. This is great as a side dish with some cilantro and lime as a garnish, but I found that it's equally delicious piled on top of a freshly baked corn tostada (as illustrated below; I sprinkled a little cheese on it, but without that, it's 100% vegan). I suspect it'd also be good wrapped in a burrito with extra beans.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups corn, freshly shucked or frozen (thawed)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 cup quinoa, rinsed (otherwise it'll have a bitter taste!)

1 14 oz can low-sodium vegetable stock, or ~2 cups

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

2 medium sweet bell peppers, rinsed & roughly chopped

1/2 pint grape tomatoes, rinsed
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed

fresh cilantro, for garnish

lime wedge, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add corn, and cook, with stirring, until corn starts to brown (about 10 min).

2. Add quinoa, and stir until quinoa starts to pop (about 2 min).

3. Pour in vegetable stock, then stir in garlic, chipotle powder, and cumin. Allow mixture to come to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until quinoa becomes tender (you'll see little "curlies" come off the quinoa when it's done - after about 15 min).

4. Meanwhile, drizzle a small baking pan (9x9") with olive oil, then add peppers and tomatoes and stir to coat. Roast in oven (or toaster oven, which is what I did) at 425 degrees F, stirring every 5 min or so, until vegetables start to brown (about 20 min).

5. Once quinoa is tender, stir in roasted vegetables and black beans, and stir on medium low heat for a couple of minutes, until beans have warmed.

6. Serve warm, topped with cilantro and spritzed with some lime juice as a garnish. 

Serves 4-6

Rainbow Pepper Hamburgers with Oven-Baked Fries

I'm usually not a fan of beef, but every once in a while, a hamburger is a delicious thing. If I'm going to eat a hamburger, though, I'm not going to settle for McDonald's or Burger King - I really want to have it my way. There's nothing more satisfying than preparing a meal that is usually highly processed and contains goodness-knows-what additives, completely from scratch, knowing exactly what's going into your food.

My husband and I recently got around to buying a food processor, and it hasn't taken long at all to see that it was a good decision! There really is nothing better than grinding meat for hamburgers yourself, and it takes almost no time (you can also slice up the peppers that way, too, although I'd do that before the grinding the meat). This meal was a special weekday treat, but it did take a little teamwork to save time. My husband is a bread-baking fiend, so he created some delicious hamburger buns, and when I got home from lab, I ground up the hamburger patties. I found some sweet bell peppers on sale, so I took the opportunity to make a colorful and unique burger. You really can create any sort of meat burgers you want, or you can forget about the meat altogether and opt for black bean burgers (which I'd like to try myself sometime). And, of course, what burger is complete without fries?

Serves 4

Hamburgers 
(makes 4 burgers)

1 lb chuck roast, excess fat trimmed

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 clove garlic, minced

dash salt

dash pepper

2 sweet bell peppers, sliced in thin rings

 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

4 slices gouda or provolone cheese

spinach or romaine leaves

condiments

Buns 
(makes 8 buns - freeze half for later!)

~3 cups bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 package active yeast

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter

1 1/4 cup low-fat milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

Oven-baked fries 
(makes 4 servings)

2 large Russet potatoes, washed

extra-virgin olive oil

salt & seasonings

Fresh Hamburger Buns:

1. Sift together 2 cups of flour and yeast in a medium mixing bowl.

2. Heat milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small saucepan on low heat, just until butter is melted.

3. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients; add egg and mix well.

4. Beat in as much flour as you can.

5. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead for roughly 5 minutes, adding flour until dough is stiff but elastic.

6. Grease a bowl with olive oil, then put dough into bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place, or until double.

7. Punch dough down. Let rest for 10 minutes, then divide dough into 8 equal pieces.

8. Let pieces rest for 10 minutes.

9. Fold dough inward to form tight, round buns.

10. Lightly sprinkle a pizza stone with cornmeal; arrange buns on stone (if you don't have a pizza stone, you can arrange the buns on a lightly greased baking sheet).

11. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 20-30 min, or until buns are golden brown.
12. Allow buns to cool on a wire rack. After cooling completely, extra buns can be stored in an airtight container in a freezer for 1-2 months.

Oven-baked Fries:
1. Cut potatoes into squared strips (you may want to cut the potato in half first if it's big enough).
2. Place fries on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt, and desired herbs or seasonings.
3. Bake fries at 375 degrees F until crisp and slightly browned (20-30 min). Be sure to turn fries about 15 min into baking to ensure even cooking.

Home-ground Hamburgers:

1. While chuck roast is still cold, roughly cut into 1 inch pieces.

2. Dividing into two batches, place chunks in food processor, and pulse until roughly ground. Put both batches back into food processor, then add garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper, and pulse until meat is ground to the right consistency. Note: watch carefully while processing, otherwise you'll end up with meat puree!

3. Divide and gently shape meat into 4 patties.

4. Cook burgers on grill or broil to desired doneness.

5. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add peppers, and sauté until crisp-tender (about 3-4 min).
6. Slice hamburger buns; top with burger, cheese, peppers, spinach, and desired condiments.

Tropical Granola

It's important to me to be able to sit down for dinner at home with my husband, particularly without having to go back into the lab afterwards. However, being a grad student in organic chemistry, that means that some compromise must be made, and 8 pm is a late dinner (thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who cooks during the week, otherwise it'd be even later!). Between that and working up an appetite during my afternoon runs, having a snack in lab is an absolute must. We've got a candy bowl in our group room, but I prefer something that's healthier and will give me some real energy and satisfaction to get through my day.

Granola is one of my favorite snacks - it's chock full of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and protein, plus minerals and vitamins from the nuts and dried fruits. Store-bought granola is either flavorless or prohibitively expensive (at least for a poor grad student!), but it turns out that delicious homemade granola is super easy to make, and allows for infinite variety. It's fun to explore the bulk food bins at the local natural foods store for new flavor combinations. I've recently hit upon my new favorite, and I'm excited enough about it that I thought it'd be worth sharing. The secret to this granola is the touch of ginger and orange zest to complement the tropical fruits, combining to make for a snack that's so flavorful, it doesn't even matter that it's healthy. You could easily replace the almonds with macadamia or Brazil nuts, and pick any dried tropical fruits that you can get your hands on. This stuff is great eating by the handful, and would be just as delicious sprinkled on top of some Greek yogurt.

Tropical Granola

6 cups rolled oats

1 cup sliced almonds (or macademia or brazil nuts)

1 cup pistachios

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups flaked unsweetened coconut

1 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

1/2 cup real clover honey

3/4 cup dried unsweetened mango, diced

3/4 cup dried unsweetened pineapple, diced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix together oats, nuts, coconut, ginger, and orange zest in a large mixing bowl. Note on the coconut: you can use storebought flaked coconut if you're really crunched for time, but given that this is a tropical granola, I like having good and chunky coconut flakes to really impart their texture and flavor. To do this, remove the flesh from the shell (the thin brown outer layer is edible, so don't worry about trying to peel it off). I flaked the coconut using the slicing side of my four-sided grater; a vegetable peeler or mandoline will also work.

3. Heat honey in the microwave just long enough to thin it; about 20 sec will suffice. Pour honey over oat mixture and mix well.

4. Spread granola mixture onto an ungreased rimmed baking sheet (to reduce mess, I cook it in two batches in a 13x9" baking pan).

5. Bake for 25-30 min at 350 degrees F, or until granola is golden brown. Stir granola frequently, about once every 5 min, to ensure that it cooks evenly and doesn't burn.

6. Remove granola from oven and mix in dried fruit. Spread out onto newspaper and allow to cool completely.

7. Once cooled, transfer to an airtight container, and enjoy! Stored properly, granola will last for months.