Operation Pintrest – Cilantro Lime Quinoa

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chef, cilantro, cooking, entertaining, Gardening, home, house, household, lime, mother, parenting, party planning, pinterest, quinoa, recipes

I am a big fan of Quinoa and its possible after 3 years I am finally able to pronounce it correctly. Maybe. I was purchasing white, black, and red quinoa so that I could mix it together for a colorful appearance but now Trader Joes does that for me with their Tricolor Organic Quinoa. I saw this on Pintrest and thought this might make a good way to cut my craving for cilantro rice.

Sorry it was so good we ate most of it before I remembered to take a picture.

Cilantro Lime Quinoa: The Pin The Website

In case you missed it I recently made an amazing Quinoa salad that is based on a pin from Martha Stewart’s page and I have tailored it to my personal preference. Recipe post here. It would be a great way to double batch and use this recipes left overs in a different way.

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Recipe change up: Bulgur Salad to Quinoa Salad

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chef, cooking, diy, entertaining, home, party planning, pinterest, quinoa, recipes

We already know that I am not the greatest at following instructions on recipes.  In my married life I have come to learn that you have to be able to recognize that some recipes you really have to follow measurements and instructions to a ‘T’ or you will get a total mess, like a watery apple pie no one will touch (thank you Thanksgiving of 1999). Since cooking is already a chore I try to make life easier on myself and find recipes that I can easily change according to what I like and what I have on hand.  Plus my taste buds are not the same as everyone elses.  So I often find myself adding or subtracting ingredients after I made them according to instructions the first time.

Here is a great bulgur salad from Martha Stewart that I love in its original form.

Ingredients

• 5 1/4 ounces dried bulgur (1 cup)
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup (packed) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over the bulgur. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand until water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
2. Add cucumber, onion, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss to combine. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. (To chill, cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 day.)

My husband tries to eat wheat free and so I cook accordingly to accommodate this request.  I turned the above recipe into this Quinoa salad and added a few things I like.  It is an incredibly healthy salad that is great for summer since you can eat it hot, cold, or room temp.  Its also a great way to use up left over quinoa.

My version:

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups cooked Quinoa
• 1 cucumber (I like persian), roughly chopped (unless I’m feeding my sister then I skip this)
• 1 tomato, diced or several cherry tomatoes sliced
• 1 red onion, diced OR 1 large shallot minced
• 1 handful of roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro or 50/50 mix what ever I have
• 1 big spoonful of minced garlic from my jar I keep in the fridge ALWAYS
• Juice from 1 fresh lemon or lime or both
• Feta Cheese maybe like 1/4 cup depending on your taste
• Avocado Diced

Directions

1. Cook Quinoa according to package, I use water only for this recipe.
2. Add all ingredients; toss to combine. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. (To chill, cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Please be advised. I made this last night but was out of cilantro and avocado. They were sadly missed.

Original recipe found here

How to cure a Black Thumb

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compost, diy, edibles, entertaining, Garden, Gardening, green thumb, mother, nursery, parenting, party planning, pinterest, plants, snails, worm factory, worms

I have always dreamed of having my own peaceful garden and I would love to work on my new patio but my black thumb scares me.  I am determined to conquer this problem and think positive learning from my mistakes.  I can’t even count the number of plants that have died in my care over the last 12 years but its enough to where my husband is dreading the amount of money I plan to put into a garden he isn’t sure will survive.

Here is where I am at so far.  I decided to add nutrients to my garden by getting a worm composter.  I started composting using the Worm Factory on April 8, 2012.  Tray one is almost ready for the garden.  Tray 2 it being worked through pretty good.  And I just added tray three.

I have started a journal for the garden where I mapped out what is planted there now, what’s to stay, what’s to go and what I want to plant.  The palm and the corner plant I call an elephant ear, even though I KNOW it isn’t an elephant ear plant, are being taken out this weekend. I will also have the rose bush trimmed and reworked onto a new lattice.

I have a blackberry vine ready to go into the ground.   A basil plant to replace the one the local snails ate in 2 days. A spearmint, and a chocolate mint.  Due to the snail problem I will be releasing Decollate Snails purchased at my local Green Thumb. Then I will later work on edibles in containers and raised beds. My front entryway will be worked later so that roses, bulbs and a hydrangea will provide cut flowers for the house.

This is a long term project and I have already investigated many items from Pinterest to try and use.  It will be exciting to share this with you and have something to look back on that will either prove if a black thumb is curable or a disorder for life.

Operation Pinterest – Cake Batter Cookies (using Cornstarch and Simple Sugar Glaze)

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cake, cake batter, chef, cookies, cooking, diy, entertaining, glaze, mother, parenting, party planning, pinterest, recipes, sugar

One of my girlfriends couldn’t stop talking about how she wanted to bake something and she was craving the cake batter cookies from Pinterest.  I told her since we were already getting together with her and her fiance for dinner lets bake the cookies that night.  We went to the store and gathered the few things we didn’t have in our mutual cupboards.  At the store she told me that she had also read a second pin that said that cornstarch in place of baking powder made fluffier cookies.  I thought well let try it and see what happens.  We then found that they didn’t have the type of sprinkles the recipe called for so we got the little nonpareil dots.  This would be our second adjustment to the recipe before even making it home.

Once home I started to put together the recipe by gathering all our needed items, the left over chocolate sprinkles I had, and a bowl to make it, a spatula, spoon and a whisk.

I mixed the dry in the large bowl, used the cornstarch where the recipe said baking powder, and wet in a separate bowl.  We then added the wet to the dry and got this:

In went 1 (yes I said one) bottle of sprinkles and the half bottle of chocolate sprinkles and got this:

That looked like a lot of sprinkles to us so we decided to not add any more sprinkles even though the recipe called for a full cup, which would have been 3-4 bottles of the nonpareil.  I must warn that we did use different sprinkles so before you start tailoring your recipe keep that in mind.  In the interest of your budget these bottles were on sale for $2.99 a bottle so add slowly until you get the sprinkle ratio you want.

Onto the pan they went, using a soup spoon from my cutlery set (I think that’s what the large of the 2 spoons that comes in your sets is.)  The recipe says it yield 30-32 and we got 28 cookies.

On to the Silpat and into a oven set at 350 degrees (I have a convection oven so it automatically resets to 325)

While they cooked I got a brilliant idea to make a sugar glaze for an icing.  I Googled simple sugar glaze and picked the first one listed.  Got out my pot and saw it needed powdered sugar and water and took everything to the stove.  It said to use a cup of powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of water.

Well I put the sugar in the pot glanced back at the recipe and saw it required no cooking.  Lovely, I must learn to read instructions BEFORE starting. So I used the pot as a bowl, added a tablespoon of water and got this:

I slowly added a little bit more water at a time (I’d say 1/4 tsp- 1/2 at a time) until I got this:

Looked good to me.  Cookies baked for 10 minutes I pulled them out added glaze to half of the first batch.

In went the second batch and we tasted the first.  They were perfect for my girlfriend but seemed slightly undercooked to me so I decided that 14 minutes for the next batch would be perfect.  Welllllllllll, the cookies stayed in for 18 minutes.  I’m a mom who is entertaining people and a 5 month old so cut me some slack. The top cookies are batch #1 bottom is batch #2:

At 18 minutes they were a bit crispier and had a golden color to them.  I LOVED THEM!  I would probably set them for a 15 minute cook time in the future but these were really easy and so good!!

Cake Batter Cookies:  The Pin  The Website

Cornstarch Tip:  The Pin  The Website

Simple Sugar Glaze:  The Pin  The Website

Operation Pinterest

Tags

chef, cooking, diy, mother, parenting, party planning, pinterest, recipes

Ahhh Pinterest, the never ending boards of things I love and want to do but will never end up doing.  Ok screw that, my new mission is to try to recreate the things I have pinned. Whats the point of having a Pinterest if I never take those ideas and put them to use?

According to Pinterest I can become an amazing chef, a crafty interior designer, a creative gift wrap expert, party planner on a budget, all while wielding a saw and making my own bed frame.

Did I mention that I once screwed up instant mash potatoes?  INSTANT.  Like from a box. No joke.  (I partially blame my family for that, who serves instant on a holiday?????)  I have come a long way since then but just to warn you what we are working with here.