restaurant review - urban solace. and my visit to san diego

1. I got the quinoa burger at Urban Solace in San Diego. No bun, cheese, or fries of course.. so I got sautéed mushrooms, half of an avocado, and a side of greens instead. That's how I usually replace everything on the menu. It's getting easier! Anyway, it was delicious, and I'd recommend that beautiful restaurant to anyone :)

2. What was I doing in San Diego? Visiting my cousin! And, I decided.. that I like it there.

3. For dinner later that night, we made:
- Roasted butternut squash: oven! 350. Cut squash into pieces, top generously with cinnamon and honey. 45 mintues.
-Monkfish: oven! 350. cubed. marinated in lemon juice and olive oil. sprinkled with red pepper and other spicy things. 20 minutes.
-Roasted veggies: oven! 350. Brussels sprouts, zucchini, mushrooms, and onion. Tossed in evoo, with salt, pepper, and herbs. 45 minutes.

4. Taking the Pacific Surfliner Amtrak back to LA. A beautiful, beautiful train ride.

restaurant review - M cafe

I taste tested M Cafe on my last night in Hollywood, CA. (This was in early November.. I'll probably be back in LA before I finish catching up with old photos!) The food was.. good. Maybe I didn't choose the food they make - or maybe my taste buds are getting more and more demanding. They serve "Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine" so I was pretty much able to choose anything on the menu. None of the dishes contain any refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat or poultry. There were also many many gluten free choices.. my favorite being dessert. It's not often I get to order dessert at a restaurant (but this was more like a deli..) Anyway.. They sell Babycakes NYC's desserts there. It was my first time trying any of their sweets.. and unfortunately there is no photo of the smile on my face. It was big.

restaurant review - blossom

I was treated to Blossom, another organic vegan restaurant in Manhattan, by my cousin Eric. Kosher for him and allergen friendly for me, the place was perfect. And we got to sit outside, which I think is important.. no need to waste good weather. This place gets 5 stars from me :)

We started out with all different colored beautiful fruit and vegetable juices.. I looked on their website, but they aren't listed there.. shucks. I should have taken a photo of the menu after all! I remember I had a "pink lady," Paul had something red, Benjamin something orange, and Eric something green.

The second photo was my Red Quinoa Salad:
with red quinoa, navy beans, julienne peppers, watercress, toasted seeds, mango guacamole, and lemon vinaigrette. Simple and delicious.

For dessert (my favorite meal of the day) I had a little scoop of green tea "ice cream" made from cashews, with a dehydrated gf cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookie. yum!!!!

pineapple & coconut quinoa

I've been eying The Spunky Coconut's pineapple coconut quinoa recipe for over a week now.. and I finally collected and readied all the ingredients I needed. You can check her recipe out - but mine's a little bit different.. I changed the proportions a bit, and soaked the quinoa for over 12 hours, so it changed the amount of liquid I needed. This was SOO good. I'm going to make it for a bigger group of people next time..

Serves 4-6
You will need:

1 1/2 cups quinoa (soaked in water for at least 12 hours to remove the outer coating of saponin, which gives it a bitter taste. After soaked, rinse rinse rinse then strain to remove all the soapy sud like bubbles. Now you'll have about 2 1/2 cups of prepped quinoa.)
1/2 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp coconut oil
2/3 cup pineapple, chopped
1/4 cup whole coconut milk
1/4-1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne, how hot do you like it?

1/2 tsp Herbamare or slightly less if you use plain sea salt
1/8 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chopped pineapple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts ooh! or cashews.. man. I wish I thought of that before. Cashews would be so good..

2 cups fresh finely chopped spinach (I used butter lettuce - any leaf will do)

optional: hemp seeds - for nutritional, not taste value

Ready?

1 - Sauté the onion in the coconut oil in a medium pot.
2 - Purée 2/3 cup pineapple with coconut milk and chicken/veggie broth
3 - Add the liquid mixture to the pot and bring to a simmer.
4 - Add the pre-soaked, rinsed, and strained quinoa. Simmer with lid on for about 14ish minutes.
5 - Remove the lid and let it rest for a few minutes.

6 - Mix in the spices, walnuts, chopped pineapple, green leaves, and optional hemp seeds
7 - Enjoy!!

**I'm making an addition to this post! I'm having leftovers right now for dinner.. and I heated it up with some more chicken broth, plus some chicken shredded up from the broth I made yesterday. AND I also added a handful of chopped up green onion. YUM.

soaked quinoa with carrots, mushrooms, and fresh herbs

mmmmmm! This turned out good! The recipe was inspired by this one on the Gluten Free Goddess.

I can't remember if I've talked about soaking quinoa before.. It's important to soak quinoa for at least 12 hours. Then rinse and rinse and rinse. This removes the saponins. Saponins produce a soap-like foam in the water, and you'll know when you've rinsed the quinoa enough when the soap-like suds are gone. (fyi - saponis are found in certain plants, and their job may serve as anti-feedants, and to protect the plant against microbes and fungi. I know you have the internet too.. but - hey. Now you know) If you don't have a fine mesh strainer.. I would recommend adding one to your kitchen collection. I use mine almost everyday.

So - once you've decided the day before that you want to make this.. add your quinoa to jar and fill the rest with water. Mine sat for around 18 hours..

1 1/2 cups quinoa
water
jar

the next day..
quinoa, rinsed and strained
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cup water (If you're only making 1 cup quinoa, use 1 cup of water... etc. It needs less water than other recipes call for because it's soaked)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt

Pour the oil in a pot, heat over medium heat. Add the quinoa to toast a little bit. Then after a couple minutes, add the water, garlic, and salt. Simmer covered until all the liquid is evaporated (about 15 minutes.. ok actually I don't remember how long this took.. but the quinoa will be translucent, and you should be able to fluff it with a fork.)

While that's going on.. you'll need:
olive oil, as needed

1/4 red onion, diced

2 clove garlic, minced

1-2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 big carrot, chopped

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Heat a tbsp or 2 of olive oil in a large skillet and over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and stir for a minute or too. Add in the garlic; stir. Add the mushrooms. Season with sea salt and ground pepper. (Add a splash of white wine. optional) Stir and cook until the vegetables are tender.

When the quinoa is cooked, fluff with a fork and add it to the skillet mixture. Now add:

Fresh chopped parsley

Fresh chopped mint

Fresh chopped curry (I just got this plant from the farmers market.. it's an awesome addition to the standard herb garden)

Serves 4-7. (Depends whether it's a side or the main course) Enjoy!!

quinoa stuffed acorn squash

So many posts in one day! And there's more to come! I served quinoa stuffed acorn squash for dinner tonight. A friend was on her way out of town, and neither of us felt like we had ingredients worthy of a dinner party nor did we want to shop for any - but we pulled it off. With her squash and quinoa, and my onion, spices, and broccoli.. we enjoyed a delicious dinner for 4.

Step 1. the bowl.
Oven! 350.
2 acorn squash (or 1/2 per person)

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, put face down in a baking pan, poke with a fork, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes.

Step 2. the stuffing.
1 cup quinoa, rinsed (pre-soaked is best)
2 tbsp olive oil (may need more)
1 med size red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups water
1/2 cup broccoli florets
salt to taste

Use fine mesh filter to rinse the quinoa with cold water. (Quinoa is coated with a natural substance called saponin that protects the grain by repelling insects and birds. Rinsing the quinoa is important to avoid a raw or bitter taste. You can tell if there is saponin by the production of a soapy looking "suds" when the seeds are swished in water.)

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions and garlic for four to five minutes.
Next add the grated ginger and quinoa. Cook for one minute stirring constantly until a fine, white spiral appears around each seed. Then stir in the turmeric, coriander, and cinnamon and cook for another minute. You can add the salt here, or at the end.. or not at all, and allow people to add their own amounts at the table.
Finally, add the water, bring it to a boil, then add the broccoli, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Scoop the quinoa into the acorn squash bowl and enjoy!