Quinoa Salad

Erm.  Not much to say tonight.  I'm rather tired.. although the salad was pretty good and easy.
I totally meant to add tofu - had it in the micorwave and everything!  Then I forgot.  I had just finished my portion, and then I was like "Oh my gosh, the tofu!"  But it was super good, none the less...

Adapted from HHL

Ok, so:
Quinoa + finely chopped sauteed onion, cooked in half orange juice and half water, mixed with nooch and spicy seasoning + paprika
Shredded carrots, chopped oranges, sliced avocado
Walnuts
Tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon)

Avocado Quesadilla + 300 Posts

Wow.  It's hard to believe this is post #300!!  It really doesn't feel like that many dishes... here's to more cooking, blogging, and eating!

And more avocado... buttery, healthy bliss.

Adapted from HHL

Mash up half an avocado on one tortilla.  Drizzle with maple syrup, sprinkle with nooch, spicy seasoning, and butter extract.  Grill for a couple minutes on a panini press, slice, and serve with salsa.  Fun stuff!

Tofu Quinoa Tortilla

Totally a happy accident that I made this on Cinco de Mayo...
Who cares, really, if the food matches the holiday.  I just want it to taste good.  Don't you agree?

Adapted from HHL

So, first cook ~ 1/2 cup quinoa.  Mix that with wilted spinach, chopped parsley and cilantro, chipotle chili powder, nooch, lime juice, agave, and liquid smoke.
On a tortilla, lay a bit of the quinoa mixture.  Top with salsa, avocado, and tofu bacon.  Wrap and eat.. with a napkin...

Avocado Pesto Pasta with Broccoli

Another quickie, this one to A) use up the pesto and B) use up the avocado and C) to taste good.  It met all of these requirements... very well...

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Cook some whole wheat spaghetti.  Saute broccoli florets and chopped garlic.  Mash avocado, and mix with pesto that was used in this recipe.  And just throw everything on a plate, and stir it up... :)

Simple Flavourful Broccoli + Quinoa

This is one of those simple dishes that you don't think will amount to much, but it does.  Little (or big) bites of flavour.  Mmmm..  Good for a Friday evening.

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life.

Cook 1 cup quinoa with 1 1/2 cups water, and stir in 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 tbsp nooch, and 1 tsp smoked paprika.  Keep warm. 
Preheat the oven to 450, and mix together 6 cups broccoli florets, 2.5 tbsp soy sauce, 2.5 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1/3 cup nooch, and pepper.  Bake for 12 minutes, until broccoli is cooked.
Serve broccoli over quinoa, and top with chopped avocado.

Quickie Lunch Wrap

I've been having these all week, but I have FINALLY reached the perfect combination...

The tofu was cut into thin slabs, marinated in maple syrup, paprika, and vegetarian chicken bullion, then grilled on the panini press.  It was wrapped with shredded iceburg lettuce, avacado, and tofu mayo in a whole wheat wrap.  So simple, so good!

I have to say that iceburg lettuce gets such a bad rep - I've started using it recently, and I l-o-v-e it!  Plus, less of it is wasted than other types of lettuce, and it's faster to prepare.  :)
And yes, those are store bought veggie chips.  What?  I like them...

Summer's Here!

Yup, it's hot.  And I decided the time was ripe to make this crispy tofu salad with avocado and pepitas from WTHDAVEA, with a few changes, obviously.  Wow... that's all I have to say.  Just the right combination of crunchy, flavour, hot, and cold...

The base was shredded iceburg lettuce.  Add-ins were avocado, pepitas, and salad dressing (tofu mayo, orange juice, tarragon).
The tofu was pressed, then sliced into thin strips.  It was then marinated in 1/4 cup beer (for St. Patrick's Day), 2 tbsp alfredo sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, sugar, cumin, and garlic powder.  The tofu was then coated in corn meal and baked at 375 for 30 minutes, until nice and crisp.

Spinach, Broccoli, and Quinoa Salad

Mm... this was yummy!  I didn't expect it to turn out all that great, but it was...

Adapted from HHL.

Boil 1 cup water, add 3/4 cup quinoa, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
De-stem and finely tear 1/2 bunch spinach.  Mix with cooked quinoa to partially wilt.
Saute 1 small head broccoli and 2 cloves minced garlic, and add to the quinoa.
Other stuff to add: 1/2 cup parsley, chopped; 1/4 cup nooch; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1/3 cup tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice); 1/4 cup orange juice.

Serve warm, cold, or room temp, topped with chopped blood oranges and avocado.

OMG Ok, so I found blood oranges for a decent price at Target the other day, so I decided to get one... this is where it went!  They taste like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, and have a lovely deep red colour.  Mmmmm...

Warm Quinoa, Red Kidney Bean, and Veggie Salad

You know, quinoa and avacados are amazing.
You know, I have lots of orange juice to use up - I bought some for recipes, and I don't drink just juice.  So I'm putting it in everything...
Mmm...

Adapted from Oh She Glows.

The salad was 1 cup dried quinoa cooked with 1 1/2 cups water, cooked red kidney beans, and red bell pepper, carrots, and onion cooked on the panini press.  The dressing was a bit of lime juice, lots of orange juice, 3/4 cup each cilantro and parsley, cumin, garlic powder, mirin, and cooking sherry.  All of this was mixed together and served lukewarm, topped with chopped avacado.

Another Tofu-Avacado Sandwich

Um... I'm loving avacados... they're pretty good!  I never knew what I was missing out on...

Sandwich adapted from here.

The sandwich was whole wheat bread, tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice), avacado, tofu, and bell pepper and onion.

The tofu was cut into slabs and marinated in soy sauce, liquid smoke, chili powder, and maple syrup.  It was then grilled with the bell pepper and onion on the panini press.

Quickie Lunch Wraps

So, here's what I made for my lunch today:

A whole wheat healthfied wrap lightly coated with Herbed Toffuti.  The veggies were red bell pepper, grated carrots, olives, and avacado.  Quick yet satisfying.  It seems like avacado is really growing on me...

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life

A Rather Odd Sandwich

But it's sooo good.  Weird how those odd combinations work out so well...

I used this bread, and one half got tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice), shredded carrots, and avacado.  The other half got tofu mayo, apple slices, and almond cheese (pepperjack flavour).  I know, odd.  But tasty, nonetheless!

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life

Cranberry and Tofu Wrap

Yeah, so I figured it was about time to use up the cranberry sauce I made a while ago (I won't say how long ago...) .  So I pulled out this recipe.

For the cranberry sauce, saute I used this recipe, only subbed orange juice for the grape juice, no zest, no salt, and no optional things... and I reduced the sugar by half.
Marinade thin slabs of tofu in soy sauce, mirin, and maple syrup.  Grill on a panini press. 
Grill a few slices of onion as well.
Cube 1/4 avacado per wrap.
Shred some carrots.

So, to assemble: tofu, onion, carrot, cranberry sauce, avacado.  Whew!  Lots of little pieces... but totally worth it!