Tag: grain free


Jul
2013

Mexican Style Quinoa Salad

categories: Recipes

Well Dined | Mexican Style Quinoa Salad

This vegetarian/vegan meal that I made with Melissa of Smells Like Brownies is perfect for summer.  It is light and fresh (but still filling), takes advantage of summer produce, and is packed with protein.

Well Dined | Mexican Style Quinoa Salad

All you have to do is combine the ingredients – corn, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, scallions, jalapeno, black beans, cooked quinoa.

Well Dined | Mexican Style Quinoa Salad

Then toss with a dressing of lime, olive oil, honey, and cumin.

Well Dined | Mexican Style Quinoa Salad

Top with some fresh cilantro (or parsley if you, like me, are not a fan) and your perfect summer lunch awaits!  You can serve it warm, cold, or room temp – doesn’t matter.  The ingredient list is also totally flexible, go with whatever ratio of quinoa to veg you like, take out the stuff you don’t like, add in something you do, make it yours. (more…)


Feb
2013

Spiced Carrot Soup with Crispy Chickpeas and Tahini

categories: Recipes

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 I don’t know about you, but I am not a huge fan of raw carrots.  Warm spiced carrot soup with tahini on a cold day, though?  Yeah, I’m a big fan of that.

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 This is another dish brought to you by my vegetarian lunches with Melissa at Smells Like Brownies.  She pulled together a couple of recipes to come up with this one.

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Carrots, onion, garlic, coriander, and cumin all go into the pot with vegetable stock. (more…)


Jan
2013

Ratatouille

categories: Recipes

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Ratatouille – a delicious french vegetable dish that is usually kind of like a stew.  I found a recipe from WendyinKK that was inspired by the more upscale version presented in the Disney film.  Beautifully sliced veggies layered in a casserole – this is so gorgeous and hearty.  It is time consuming though, so be prepared.

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Eggplant, bell pepper, roma tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini.  You will probably want to bust out the mandolin slicer for this one, unless your knife skills are really good.

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Such beautiful slices!  You will need to saute the eggplant and squash slices to release their moisture and enhance their flavor. (more…)


Jan
2013

The Hunger Games Stew – Food ‘n Flix

categories: Recipes

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Holy Mockingjay, Batman – I am so excited about this post!  Food ‘n Flix and Cook the Books have teamed up to do a double post for The Hunger Games, with Heather from girlichef hosting!  Announcement post is here.

The Hunger Games is the first book of a trilogy about a dystopian alternate timeline where war has reduced America to 12 Districts ruled by a Capital.  As punishment for a rebellion, all 12 Districts must offer up 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 12 and 18 as a tribute to compete in the Hunger Games each year.  These children must then fight to the death in a televised spectacle with only 1 survivor.  To make things even worse, all of the Districts are purposefully kept in a state of starvation except for the District of the winner – which is given ample food for a year until the next Hunger Games (hence the name).  Food, therefore, is extremely important and a focus throughout the series.

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The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, is an extremely tough teen who would do anything to protect her family and especially her little sister, Primrose.  When Prim is selected as Tribute (a death sentence for the timid 12 year-old), Katniss volunteers to take her place.  Before being entered into the death-match proper, the Tributes are primped and pampered and paraded around the Capital.  It is here that Katniss experiences luxury and an overabundance of food for the first time in her life.

Her favorite dish is a Lamb Stew with Dried Plums – it is mentioned frequently and even sent to her as a present when she is fighting for her life.  I decided that the stew would be the perfect dish to make for this post, served on some wild rice that seemed fitting for the setting.  I also served it with goat cheese rolled in herbs (inspired by the cheese that Primrose makes from her prized pet) and rustic seed bread (inspired by Peeta – Katniss’s love interest and fellow Tribute, whose family owns a bakery). (more…)


Nov
2012

Salt Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

categories: Recipes

I LOVE roasted beets – sweet and rich and beautiful, like healthy edible jewels! One of my favorite ways to serve them is in a salad with watercress and fresh mozzarella.  But I have made that so many times that I wanted to try something a little different.  This version uses goat cheese, a slightly more complex dressing, and a different method of roasting.

Usually I just wrap the beets in foil and roast them.  This method involves first placing the beets on a bed of salt and herbs.  It imparts just a little bit more flavor to the beets. (more…)


Sep
2012

Hard “Boiled” (Baked) Eggs

categories: Recipes

I discovered this method of hard cooking eggs (attributed to Alton Brown) via Pinterest and Greetings from the Asylum.  The concept is that baking them instead of boiling them is more consistent and results in less gray, less smelly, more creamy eggs.

As you can see, the eggs will sit perfectly on most oven racks and it doesn’t matter how clean the rack is, because you will be peeling the eggs.  Bake them at 325 for 30 minutes.

As soon as you take them out (with tongs), plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking (and prevent that grey ring around the yolk that happens when they cool too slowly). (more…)


Sep
2012

Shaved Market Vegetable Salad

categories: Recipes

I was so inspired by this shaved vegetable salad at Simon in Las Vegas that the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was to make my own version.

So I went and bought the vegetables I wanted to use – carrots, celery, beets, fennel, and asparagus.

Then I sliced them up using the slicing blade on my food processor (a mandoline would also work) and tossed them with high quality olive oil, lime juice, and sea salt.

I actually stored the vegetables like that in the fridge and throughout the week or so that they lasted I would take out what I needed and add it to raw kale massaged with olive oil (which takes some of the bitterness out) along with watercress, grapes, pepitas, and fresh mozzarella for a delicious summer salad.

It is so healthy and fresh and keeping the vegetables raw means that you are getting the full nutritional value from them, plus they keep you super full.  But this seriously tastes so good that you will not even be thinking about how healthy it is.


Feb
2012

Mediterranean Salad

categories: Recipes


This salad is packed with a ton of flavor, and all the vegetables make sure that it is actually a healthy salad. For those who don’t know – it is easy for a salad to get out of control with cheese and dressing and restaurant salads can have well over 1000 calories. This salad doesn’t need a whole lot of dressing, b/c the ingredients have a lot of flavor. Also – Feta cheese is low-fat and it has a strong flavor, so you don’t need to use much. (more…)