Tag: quinoa

Pear and Apple Quinoa

Melissa King 20 Comments

For those of you that have young children, you are very familiar with the baby food in squeeze pouches. Since my daughters struggled with eating, we went through a lot of them. They travel really well and it’s easy for kids to eat. However, they add up in price pretty fast and you are left with trash to throw away. I have been looking for a refillable squeeze pouch for a while now. Then I found out about a company called Little Green Pouch. They make easy to use refillable feeding pouches.

Olive Little Green Pouch

These little green pouches are:

  • BPA free, PCV free and phthalate-free
  • Freezable
  • Fill-able
  • Dishwasher safe
  • Squeezable (perfect for little hands)

Little Green Pouch is going to give away a large starter kit ($49 value) to one lucky reader. Contest is open to US and Canada residents only. Giveaway will end on November 27 at 12:00am CST.  Winner will be notified via email.  Good luck!

Little Green Pouch Giveaway

I knew when I first got the samples that I wanted to make a recipe to use in them. So I did a twist on my Crock Pot Applesauce.

This is a healthy recipe perfect for babies on soft solids as well as toddlers. My husband and I even enjoyed it and put in in our overnight oats. Great flavors!

Pear and Apple Quinoa

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Prep Time 30 min Cook Time 4 hr

A baby food you would be happy to serve to your child and eat yourself.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Throw all the ingredients except the quinoa in the  crock pot .
  2. Cook on high for about 3-4 hours. Once the apples and pears are soft and somewhat broken down, turn off the crock pot and let cool.
  3. Once cooled, add the quinoa and blend with an  immersion blender . If you don’t have an immersion blender , you can transfer mixture to a  blender and blend well.

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Recipe Notes

If you decide to use a blender, you may need to blend the mixture in 2 batches. It can be refrigerated for a few weeks and frozen for even longer. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Little Green Pouch but the opinions are my own.

Carrot Ginger Detox Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Melissa King 15 Comments

Carrot Ginger Detox Salad.  On Memorial Day, my daughter wanted to have a picnic at the park.  Since it was a spontaneous decision, we stopped at Whole Foods to get some picnic food.

My husband and I shared two things that day they were absolutely delicious.  The first one was a rice salad.  I re-created that for the blog already with my Wheat Berry Salad with Cranberries.  The other thing we had was a detox salad.  So, this is my version of that.

 

carrot ginger detox salad

 

This was amazing!  Super easy too.  I just had to share it with all of you.

 

Carrot Ginger Detox Salad

Carrot Ginger Detox Salad

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Ingredients

    For the salad

    • 1-2 heads of broccoli
    • 3 carrots shredded
    • 2 cups cooked quinoa

    For the dressing

    • 2 cloves garlic minced
    • 2 T toasted sesame oil
    • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
    • 1/4 cup mirin
    • 1 T soy sauce or Bragg's Aminos (for GF) (I used organic SanJ shoyu )
    • 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
    • salt to taste

    Instructions

    1. Steam the broccoli. I used a rice cooker/steamer to do this. 
    2. In a sauce pan , cook the quinoa according to the package instructions.  I already had some quinoa in my fridge.  We always have some kind of grain in the fridge to make our meals stretch longer. 
    3. While the broccoli is steaming and the quinoa is cooking, throw all the ingredients together for the dressing. 
    4. Whisk them in a small bowl . 
    5. Once the quinoa and broccoli are done throw everything together in one big bowl .

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    Recipe Notes

    This should last at least a week in the fridge. I think it tastes great hot or cold. I got about 4-5 servings out of my batch. Enjoy!

    Copycat Mary’s Gone Crackers!

    Melissa King 135 Comments

    Copycat Mary’s Gone Crackers is the recipe today.  When you decide to eat a diet of just wholesome foods, it’s hard to find a cracker that fits this criteria.

    It was quite disappointing to read labels and find most crackers contained added sugar or highly processed grains.  I also keep wanted to find a healthy cracker that my picky toddlers would eat.

    I finally found a good one in Mary’s Gone Crackers.  They are organic, vegan, gluten free and non GMO verified.  I love them and so do my kids, but at $4 a box, they can be quite pricey.

    Since we go through them so fast, I thought I would try making a homemade Mary’s Gone Cracker version.  They came out really good!

    You also should try my Homemade Fig Newtons and my Homemade Nutri-Grain Bars.

     

    Copycat Mary's Gone Crackers

    They are pretty easy to make and you can add in your own ingredients to customize your favorite flavors.  It’s also a great recipe to do with your kids.  Not really a lot of messy ingredients or measuring.

    I find when I get my kids involved in the prep work, they are more likely to eat the food.

    For starters, I just did a multi-seed cracker.  I really love their herb flavor, so that will be my next batch.  I also threw some chia seeds because they are so good for you.

    I try to toss them in everything from baked goods to smoothies and in between.  To help keep costs down, I bought all of the ingredients out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods.  Here is my recipe.

    Copycat Mary’s Gone Crackers!

    Homemade Mary’s Gone Crackers!

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    Prep Time 15 min Cook Time 30 min Serves 25-30 crackers     adjust servings

    Ingredients

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350.
    2. In a food processor , combine the quinoa and rice into a mushy consistency.
    3. Add in all the seeds and salt with a bit of water and pulse until you have a mushy ball.
    4. Get out a sheet of parchment paper about the size of a baking sheet and lay it on the counter.
    5. Take half of the mixture and place it on the parchment.
    6. Using a rolling pin and some plastic wrap, roll out the mixture, putting the plastic wrap between the rolling pin and the mixture. That way, you can roll it out without it getting stuck.
    7. Roll as thin as possible and then transfer the parchment and rolled mixture onto a baking sheet.
    8. Repeat the same steps with the second half.
    9. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
    10. Pull them out and carefully flip them and bake for another 12 minutes.
    11. When they are done, carefully break them into bite sized pieces and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the pieces are crispy.

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    Recipe Notes

    I got about 25 – 30 crackers out of my batch. They should keep for a week or so. Enjoy!

    Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets

    Melissa King 15 Comments

    I have been trying hard to get more beets into my diet.  They are so good for you.  I tried blending them up in my vitamix, but couldn’t get them down.  It was not very good.  Maybe they are one of those things you have to get used to?  Coconut was like that for me.  I used to hate it,  but now I can’t get enough!  I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest.  It’s from Gluten-Free Goddess and it was amazing!  Check out her blog if you get a chance.  Lots of yummy recipes and many are vegan.

    beet salad watermark

    I have made roasted beets in the past and I thought they were delicious.  So I decided to give this a go.  I am so glad I did!  I did change a few things in the recipe, but I mostly kept it as is.  I am not a fan of oranges in salad, so I omitted those.

    Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets

    Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets

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    Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 1 hr

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups cooked quinoa
    • 2 beets peeled (greens removed) and cubed
    • 2 T avocado or coconut oil
    • salt to taste
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • Juice of half a large orange or 1/4 cup orange juice
    • 2 tsp soy sauce or tamari (I used organic soy)
    • 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
    • 1 T raw honey or maple syrup
    • 3-4 handfuls of baby spinach
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 375.
    2. Place the beets on a lined baking sheet and drizzle with the 2 T coconut or avocado oil.
    3. Sprinkle with sea salt.
    4. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes.
    5. While the beets are roasting, you can cook the quinoa according to the package instructions. I actually cooked the quinoa the day before.  If you buy your quinoa in bulk, cook it 2 parts water per 1 part quinoa. 
    6. Once the beets are done roasting, let them cool.
    7. Once cooled, combine the beets and quinoa in a large bowl. 
    8. In a small bowl, combine: olive oil, orange juice, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic and honey.
    9. Whisk into a dressing.
    10. Pour over the beets and quinoa.
    11. Fold in the spinach.
    12. Now salt to taste and that’s it.

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    Recipe Notes

    We got about 4 servings. Enjoy!

    Stir Fried Quinoa

    Melissa King 24 Comments

    This is my husband’s go to meal to use up whatever we have in the fridge.  Well we were out of rice too so he subbed quinoa instead this time.  It came out so good!  I actually liked it better with the quinoa.  This is a great dish for vegans because quinoa is a complete plant based protein.  We added tofu to ours.  If you want to make the tofu, just cut it into cubes and bake it at 400 for about 30 minutes.  Or you could add your favorite protein and you have a great little meal.

    Stir Fried Quinoa

    This is a super easy meal to whip up quickly.  We almost always have a container with cooked rice or quinoa on hand to make meals last longer so the quinoa had been cooked ahead of time.  If you have never cooked quinoa, it is a 2:1 ratio.  I part quinoa to 2 parts water.  Bring to a boil and then cover, turn down and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

    Stir Fried Quinoa

    Stir Fried Quinoa

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    Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 15 min

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups quinoa cooked
    • 3 carrots diced
    • 2 stalks celery diced
    • 1/2 yellow onion rough chopped
    • 3 T soy sauce or bragg's aminos
    • 1 T mirin
    • 2 tsp garlic powder
    • 2 T toasted sesame oil
    • salt to taste

    Instructions

    1. In a sauce pan , saute veggies for 5-7 minutes in toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, salt and garlic. 
    2. Then add the quinoa and saute for another 6-7 minutes. 
    3. The veggies should still retain some crunch.  Enjoy!

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