My Fridge is Full but there’s Nothing to Eat

Have you ever gone to make dinner, opened the fridge and just stared. I know I’m gonna cook tonight, sounds like a good idea, but where do I start? That was me last night…just staring blankly at the cold food. Nope, still nothing. Where is that spark of food creativity that I really enjoy? I know I’m cooking venison that has been marinating for a day but what else. Then it hit me. I have a pot of leftover cooked Kashi grains. Yeah-- I love this stuff but what to do with it. At that point I was on a roll and just started pulling veggies out. Here is the end result.

Spicy Kashi with Veggies

1 small tomato diced

½ onion diced

½ bell pepper (any color) diced

½ c no salt canned corn or frozen

2 c cooked Kashi grains

½ c broth – chicken or veggie

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 t cumin

6-8 shakes Cholula hot sauce or your favorite brand

¼ t smoked paprika

Sea salt and pepper to taste

1 T olive oil

In a med sauce pan sauté the garlic and onion in the oil for a few minutes, add the pepper and tomato and cook for 5 minutes. Now, add the corn and all of the seasonings and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Mix in the grains and cook until heated thru and serve hot.

Other ideas—any grain will work in this, barley, rice, quinoa

- Use your favorite veggies

- Want more heat, add a diced jalapeno

Qunioa and Roasted Butternut Stuffing --gluten free

We eat chicken a lot in our home--it is affordable, it is lower in calories than other meats and it is very versatile. We also are a stuffing kinda household but now with the recent emergence of Celiac disease in the family I am looking for gluten free answers to all of our life dilemmas. Well, OK only the food dilemmas because no matter how hard you try, gluten free cookie dough will not find missing socks.

Recently I was staring at a raw chicken, some raw quinoa and a freshly picked butter nut squash and thinking--I will mash you all together in harmony! So I did and it was a big hit (figuratively of course).

Quinoa Stuffing w/ Roasted Squash
2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 large butter nut squash peeled and chunked
1 fresh onion
1 bunch of fresh sage chopped finely.
1 tb. Olive Oil
1 large clove fresh garlic minced


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and prepare bird for stuffing. In a bowl add all the ingredients together aside from the quinoa and mix well. Add to a baking pan, cover and roast for about 20-25 minutes, you want to just stick a fork into the squash but not have it fall apart under pressure(it has a job to do and now is not the time to crumble!)

Remove from oven and place in a cool dish and set in the fridge to chill out.

When the vegetables have cooled enough to handle mix the quinoa in and blend well. Return to the ice box to let the flavors get to know one another, hope for marriage here! This will only take about 30 minutes--during all this cool down time you can bake some potatoes in the already heated oven to save for double stuffed taters later in the week.

Stuff the bird with the cooled stuffing and bake until the bird is done. The time will vary depending on the size of the bird. This stuffing was so delicious, I loved the outside of the stuffing that had browned in the oven by my husband preferred the softer stuffing from inside the bird. I prefer this now over bread stuffing, the texture is more rewarding and the aroma and taste far fresher than stale bread!

Other good ideas:
--bake stuffing in a baking pan and use to serve with a meal if you prefer out of the bird stuffing
--stuff peppers or even squash with this stuffing
--add dried cranberries and walnuts for a more seasonal stuffing

Quinoa Cakes With Fresh Salsa

I was thrilled with how this recipe turned out. The cakes are very versatile and could be seasoned with most anything. The cakes are very fresh tasting due to the wonderful salsa and have a nice satisfying crunch. Enjoy.

Quinoa Cakes With Fresh Salsa
Serves 4 ( 8 cakes total)

CAKES

½ c quinoa rinsed and drained (red or white varieties work)
1 c water
1 egg beaten
½ c corn kernels
2 scallions finely chopped
¼ c cheddar (Mexican) shredded cheese or any cheese you like
¼ c whole wheat flour
2 T 1% milk
¼ t sea salt
3 shakes hot sauce
1/8 t pepper
2 T canola oil

In a medium sauce pan bring water to a boil then add the quinoa, reduce heat and simmer for 15mins. Allow to cool when done. Combine quinoa and the rest of the cake ingredients except the oil. Set aside while you prepare the salsa.

Use a ¼ c measuring cup to scoop the mix into the oil. (I could make 4 cakes at a time) Flatten with a spatula. Cook approximately 3-5 minutes per side making sure it is browned before flipping. If you are using a red quinoa, it doesn’t change color much when it browns. The color just deepens a little bit

SALSA

1 c pinto or black beans or substitute 1 diced avocado
1 c chopped tomato
2 T green chilies (hot or mild, you pick)or a fresh jalapeno is great too
3 T finely chopped basil or parsley
4 scallions finely chopped
1 T olive oil
½ lemon- juice only
1 T white wine vinegar
Dash garlic powder
1 t honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. While it is marrying flavors you can cook the quinoa cakes. Heat canola oil in a large skillet on medium heat.

Serve cakes topped with salsa YUM!

Other good ideas:

--add slice avocado

-- cook cakes a head of time and use all week