Whenever I talk about quinoa, I ask myself why I don’t eat it every day!

There’s a good chance you already know about quinoa, which is pronounced KEEN-wa. It has exploded into the public consciousness in the past few years. It’s written about in nutrition magazines, featured on cooking shows, and now it’s found in most grocery stores — including Trader Joe’s — usually near the grains.

Quinoa looks like brown rice; you can also get red quinoa, which looks like festive brown rice. They taste the same:

“The tiny, ancient Peruvian seed … is related to leafy green vegetables and is often used like a grain. Quinoa is as versatile as rice but it has a protein content that is superior to that of most grains, because it contains all the essential amino acids. In particular, quinoa is high in lysine, an amino acid important for tissue growth and repair. It’s also a good source of manganese, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and it has a high iron content.” (NYTimes.com)
(more…)

Green salads are lovely, but just plain lettuce isn’t much fun — and, also, lettuce alone doesn’t really fill you up. So take a look in your fridge and see what you can chop up to make your salad prettier and tastier.

Cut the ingredients up and serve them side by side; don’t mix them up until you are ready to sit down and eat, and they are less likely to get soggy. Giving each ingredient its own container is also a great way to pack your lunch.

This week’s recipe is a perfect medley of vegetables (and avocado) to stir into your lettuce greens. Or go crazy and spoon it over a slice of buffalo mozzarella.
It’s so colorful, it’s like a party for your taste buds!
(more…)

Busy week ahead? Is it the kind of week when, on Sunday afternoon, you are wondering when you will have any down-time at all before the end of the week? Perfect time to make a big batch of white bean soup.

Ingredients

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

Fresh parsley (optional)

Fresh basil (optional)

(more…)

Nowadays you can buy pieces of a turkey and don’t have to cook the whole bird, committing yourself to days of leftovers. And maybe the best cut of turkey you can buy is the tenderloin, a strip of muscle under the turkey’s breast that is low-fat, very tender and easy to make.

Give your springtime dinner a Thanksgiving theme, and serve it with whipped cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. Add a green vegetable and a splash of red; skip the sugary cranberries and choose pomegranate seeds or roasted beets instead. Or make a side dish of red quinoa tossed with green onions and parsley for a super-festive look.

You can use a dry spice rub on the turkey tenderloins or try this balsamic marinade, which tastes a little like Teriyaki seasoning. Agave syrup sweetens the marinade; choose agave over other sweeteners because it’s natural and — more importantly — because it’s low-glycemic, meaning it doesn’t spike your blood sugar the way honey or syrup or cane sugar does.
(more…)