Japanese Inspired Quinoa with Chicken and Green Beans

I came across this recipe looking around on, Chocolate and Zucchini, a site I’ve used before. It sounded good at the time, but when I went to prepare it, it seemed a bit too spartan. I had already planned on adding chicken, but need some veggies. We had some green beans in the fridge, so I threw those in. We also didn’t have shallots, sesame oil, or sake, so I ended up doing a lot of improv on this one. The idea was a nice start though and the meal ended up being really good. This recipe takes only about the 20 minutes or so that it takes to cook the quinoa. It could also be made with tofu for a veggie option.

Japanese Inspired Quinoa with Chicken and Green Beans

Inspired by Chocolate and Zucchine

  • 1 cup Quinoa, cookedJapanese quinoa with chicken and green beans
  • about 1 Tbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 lb Chicken breast
  • 1 lb Green beans, ends removed
  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2-3 Tbs rice vinegar
  • 1 tsb brown sugar
  • Sriracha pepper sauce

Cook the quinoa according to the package. Slice the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in pan over medium high heat, and saute the chicken until cooked through and starting to brown (~5 min). Add the ginger and cook a couple more minutes. Add the green beans, soy sauce, 2 Tbs rice vinegar and brown sugar. Cook until the green beans are the desired tenderness, adding a little more vinegar if needed to keep things from drying out.

Mix in the cooked quinoa and serve with sriracha pepper sauce.Japanese quinoa with chicken and green beans

 

 

Chicken and mushroom pasta

Rondele cheese was on sale last week, so I was looking for a recipe that included that. This Chicken and mushroom fettucini recipe at Just the Recipe looked like a good start. We added some spinach and used whole grain spaghetti instead of fettucini. This is also a fairly fast meal, taking only about 30 minutes or so to prepare.

Chicken and mushroom pastaChicken and mushroom pasta

  • 1 box of pasta, cooked according to box directions
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
  • 5-8 ounces Borsin or Rondele cheese or other creamy herbed cheese
  • 1 package frozen spinach

While preparing the pasta, cube the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in a skillet an saute the chicken pieces over medium-high heat until cooked through and starting to brown (5-6 minutes). Remove the chicken and add the mushrooms. Turn the heat down a bit and saute the mushrooms until they have released their water and started to brown (about another 5 minutes). While that is cooking, microwave the spinach to defrost. Drain the spinach in a strainer, using a spoon to press out the water.

Add the cheese, chicken, and spinach to the mushrooms and stir to combine. Continue cooking until heated through. Serve over the pasta.

 

 

Mint scones

Mint sconesLast February, we found a recipe for Mint scones, and have made them a few times. They are quite good, though I have always liked this scone recipe from Fine Cooking. So when it came to making Christmas breakfast I combined the two and made some delicious mint scones. Turned out we only had 1 cup of white flour, so I used some whole wheat too…still tasted yummy, and maybe a bit healthier!

Whole wheat mint scones

Adapted from Fine Cooking

  • 1 cup white flourMint scones before baking
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup  sugar
  • 1 Tbs baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. table salt
  • 6 Tbs cold unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbs chopped fresh mint leaves
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 6 tsp (2 Tbs) of strawberry jelly

Preheat the oven to 400˚ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix with pastry blender. Use the pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until the largest pieces are about the size of peas.

Separate the egg, saving the whites. Add the egg yolks, mint and cream to the flour. Stir to combine and gently gather the dough into a ball. Place the dough in the center of the prepared baking sheet and pat it out into a disc about 1 inch thick. Slice into six wedges and spread the wedges out.

Using a spoon make an indentation in the wide part of each wedge. Add about 1 tsp jam into each indentation. Put the egg whites into the measuring cup that you used for the cream and mix it up a bit. (The original recipe called for using another egg and a Tbs of milk, but this seems to work fine and is a lot easier). Brush the tops of the scones with the egg white.

Bake for 18-22 minutes.Mint scones

Meals for Dec 3-9

  1. Crock pot pork tenderloin…see below from Dinner a Love Story
  2. Barley Risotto with sausage
  3. Broccoli Cheese Soup
  4. Tangerine Chicken with Baked zucchini fries
  5. Creamy Chicken and Cornbread Casserole

Here’s the Crock pot pork tenderloin recipe from Dinner a Love Story:

This morning, my cow0rker, who lives and dies by her Slow Cooker during the week, did this: She took one frozen pork tenderloin, an ummeasured bag of lentils (about a cup and a half as she sees it), 1 onion (chopped), 2 cloves garlic (whole, smashed), about 4 sprigs of thyme, 5-10 peppercorns, 1/2 cube of beef bouillon, 2 strips of bacon into her slow cooker. She added water about halfway up the pork and set on the 10-hour setting

Sweet potato biscuit ham and cheese sandwiches

Sweet potato biscuit ham and cheese sandwichBella eats had these delicious sweet potato biscuits, and one of the photos featured some ham and cheese, which made me think that that would be a yummy dinner. The biscuits were fairly easy to make and were delicious…though having a stick of butter in them may have helped with that! I am sure you could cut the butter in half and still have a darned good biscuit. The ham and cheese sandwich idea was also a good idea, especially with everything warm and the cheese melting…