Mediterenean Quinoa Salad

Here's a fresh, simple, healthy and delicious salad, perfect for a hot summer day!
(No need to say more...just enjoy!)



For 2 approximately servings:
1/2-3/4 cooked quinoa
1 zucchini
3-4 mini peppers
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half or whole if really small
1 cup green peas
2-3 green onions
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
Salt&Pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil, or more

Cut the zucchinis in whatever shape you feel like(rounds, half-moons, or quaters, you decide!).
Chop the peppers into small pieces, as well as the green onions.
Cut the tomatoes, and sprinkle with salt so they release their juices and flavor!
If you use frozen peas, thaw them nicely in the micro-wave...(did I mention this salad is sooooo easy??!)
Mix all the veggies together, add the quinoa, basil, lemon juice and oil, salt and pepper to taste and that's it...



Add a nice crusty bread on the side if you wish and bon appetit!

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti

Yes, this is a new post...
I really have to apologize, again, for being so distant...it's not you, it's me...

So. Yesterday I actually COOKED! Well, it was a quick, under 30 minutes easy meal before running out the door, but still. Last time I made a plate of pasta...I don't even know.
This is not really a "recipe", per say, but all things that match so well thrown together for a fresh little lunch:



Cooked spaghettini
Different colored tomatoes, cut in 4(or half if they're small...)
Garlic
Button mushrooms
Fresh basil(yes, the plant is still alive!!! and H-U-G-E!)
Olive oil and butter

Sautee the garlic and mushrooms in the butter and oil until it's semi-cooked. Preferably on medium heat and stir often so the garlic doesn't burn...Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, cook for a few minutes until soft but not totally mushed. The idea is to keep the tomatoes chunky and looking like tomatoes, rather than sauce. Add basil at the end, throw in the pasta, stir to combine and voila. It's easy isn't it? Oh, and if you'd like you could drizzle a little olive oil on top, but I was a little generous with the oil in the beginning so I passed on the drizzle...



I should really start cooking again...

Red Pasta Sauce almost like Mom's.

When it comes to pasta sauce, mom's always the best. It's comforting, familiar and when you're a kid what's funner than slurping a spaghetti and getting sauce all over your face?!
Today being Mother's Day I decided to make a spaghetti sauce the way she used to make it(and still does I'm guessing...it's been a while since last time I had some...hint hint for my next visit;)) Of course mine NEVER tastes the same as hers, even though I use all the same spices...I know she makes it in a pressure cooker, I don't have one of those so I just cook it slowly on the stove. But I doubt that makes a difference...
Anyway, so whenever I make this I try to re-create the sauce I grew up with, it comes pretty close but not quite. I have to admit I sometimes throw in stuff that wasn't part of the "original", like in this case a green chili pepper(partly because the thing was dying in the crisper...it needed to be used!).
Alright, here are the ingredients:

1 big onion
1 branch celeri
1 carrot
2 cloves garlic
1 green chili pepper(optional, if you don't like heat used green bell pepper, or none at all)
1/2 cup mushrooms
Lean ground beef, about enough for two small burger patties(sorry, didin't weigh it..)
1 big can whole or diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
salt, pepper and paprika
1 bay leaf
dried chili flakes(however much you think you can handle...)
1 TBSP sugar
dried herbs: oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, tarragon.



Cut all the veggies really small, or pulse in a food processor. Sautee the carrots, celeri and onions in a little bit of oil, for about 2 minutes, and salt and pepper right away. I like to season every layer of new flavor I throw in, as it comes along...Next add the mushrooms, pepper and garlic, season with paprika. Sautee for another 2-3 minutes...
Add the beef and brown nicely.



This is where a lot of people deglaze with red wine, and I sometimes do so as well, but I don't really keep wine in the house that much, and Mom never used it so this is how it is.
Pour in the can of tomatoes, sauce and season with more salt and pepper, sugar, dried chili flakes and the bay leaf. When it starts bubbling turn down the heat and simmer for AT LEAST one hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so. In the case of a nice spag sauce, the longer it simmers the better.



Add the tomato paste and the dried herbs near the end, about 15-20 minutes before it's done(it's a guessing game, I know, but it's pretty easy to tell...).
Adjust the seasonnings if you need to, cook some spaghetti and enjoy your comforting bowl of pasta!......well tonight I realized I was out of regular spaghetti so I used soba noodles.



And as usual, it wasn't quite like Mom's, a tad too spicy because of the green chili and the load of chili flakes, so I added a bit of milk, slowly while stirring, to tone it down. I know it sounds weird but it worked...cream would do too!

Oh and don't forget the parmesan or top!!

Easy Chili.

I don't know much about chili. It's never really been part of my growing up and I don't often order it in restaurants. But once in a while I like a nice bowl of spicy chili. Today, I happened to have ground beef in the fridge, ready to be cooked, and I had no idea what to do with it. Spaghetti sauce? Burger? Meat balls? meh...But as I was watching the Food Network, Jamie Oliver's show came on about chili peppers. Mmmm..., there's an idea. But I don't really buy chili peppers either. I usually keep bell peppers in the freezer cause I don't use them often. Ok, I have green peppers, not quite the same but it'll do...So I was going through the ingredient list and procedures it seemed like something I could make. I should mention this was my first ever chili, so for those of you purist out there I'm sorry if I'm breaking any chili rules of forgot something major... ;)
Here's the "recipe", it makes about 2-4 bowls, depending how big the bowl...:

1 onion
1 branch celeri
1 carrot
1 clove garlic
1/2 green pepper
1 1/2 cup diced tomatoes(canned of course...)
Ground beef(i had about the amount for 1 big burger patty, not sure of the weight...)
1/4 cup red lentils
1/2 cup corn niblets.
salt, pepper, chili powder(or flakes...)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP molasses
2 bay leaves
1 TBSP tomato paste

Chop all the vegetables roughly. Sautee the onion in a little oil(no more than a teaspoon)for about 2 minutes, add the meat, season with salt, pepper, cinnamon and as much chili powder as you care for. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes, but don't brown the meat. That way it'll remain moist and you won't have to simmer it all day! Add celeri, carrot, galic, pepper and tomatoes. Mix it all well.(here it seemed too thick so I added 1/4 cup of water. if i'd had tomato juice it would've been tomato juice.) Add lentils; this is the thickening agent, as well as extra protein!! Add molasses and bay leaves. Simmer on low-medium, add tomato paste and corn after 30 minutes. By then it should be almost done, I think all together for this one it took about 45-50 minutes.
Of course then all you gotta do is shred some cheese on the side, toast a nice piece of indian flatbread and dig in!