New Favorite Summer Salad!

I love quinoa. Healthful, variable, and flipping delicious!! You can use it where you might otherwise use pasta or rice and the result is a nuttier flavor that works with so many things!! (can you tell I am a little excited about this one?...) Veggie burgers, anyone?!

So I had some broccoli in the fridge left over from one of the pizzas Kyle and I made earlier this week (oh my goodness...that will be a whole post in itself so have no fear...can I say sourdough crust?!) and there is always quinoa in the pantry. Sooooo I google it and find a blog by a public radio producer in the Pacific Northwest (Mostly Foodstuffs is the blog title) with the kind of salad I dream of. Quinoa salad with broccoli, feta, and avocado. Bam. I adapted it to what ingredients I had on hand and to take out the step of making a broccoli pesto, and it is becoming a standard summer salad for me. It is light, cool, refreshing, healthy, delicious, and satisfying! Even Kyle likes it :) And I must unfortunately say that I don't have pictures of this one...we ate it too fast..

Quinoa Salad with Broccoli, Avocado, and Feta (adapted from Mostly Foodstuffs)

2c salted water

1c quinoa, well rinsed

3-4 c broccoli, stems and florets in bite-sized pieces

2 cloves garlic, pressed 

1/2 c toasted Marcona almonds, chopped

1/4c lemon juice

1/4c olive oil (fruity types are great for this!)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 avocado, cubed

1/4-1/3c feta, crumbled

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add quinoa, reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and add broccoli bits to the pot, stirring into the quinoa. Cover and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Adjust to your personal taste. Toss in with quinoa and broccoli. Allow to cool covered in the refrigerator.  

Before serving, scatter avocado cubes, feta and freshly cracked pepper over the top of the bowl  If you are serving one bowl at a time over a few days, I dice the avocado and crumble the feta for each bowl, rather than for the whole batch. This keeps the avocado from browning and going bitter.

I had this for a light dinner with a banana and peanut butter after a run in 90 degree Minnesota summer, and I couldn't have been more satisfied. This would also work well as a side dish that will impress everyone at the potluck/cookout.

Happy Eating! :)

Three Times The Charm!

Sourdough is so cool. Like, really flipping awesomely cool.  You start by putting flour and water together, let the natural yeast spores grow, acids develop, bacteria grows, and it all works together to make a fantastic loaf of bread.

It will never get old for me. Ever.

Since I started working with breads more intensely (trying more recipes to learn and get a handle on what is going on, rather than 'just winging it' to hopefully get something I can eat), I have had a book stare me in the face; Tartine Bread. If you don't know about it, find it. It is a bread bakery in Northern California and is worthy of every bit of national attention it has gotten. The book intimidated me. It was my ultimate "if only I could do it" book of bread inspiration. Not only is the cover stunning, the words, recipes, and pictures are inspiring, motivating and drool worthy.

I have done it. Thrice.

The first time I made it was for a Fall Gala I threw for coworkers last fall. There was autumn-inspired food, drink, and merriment along with stories and laughs we all needed with each other. It was my sourdough debut.  Not perfect, but it was a start.

The second time I made it was just a couple of weeks ago. I had let the book sit (still inspiring) until I had my sourdough starter going for a good month. I made two loaves from my Tartine book and another (less unsuccessful) loaf from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I used the same starter for both and it was fun to have a whole-wheat sourdough. It tasted wheaty with a sourdough aftertaste (something to keep in my repertoire just in case the need for such a thing comes up...).  It was the Tartine loaves that made me fall in love.

Today was the third time. I made one loaf and am going to make pizzas with the other half of the dough. I can't describe my excitement for the possibility of such a beautiful, delicious blistery crust coming out of my oven. I also have the baguettes on my to-do list in the next week or two (honestly, it just might have to be tomorrow...)

Tartine Bread has recipes and variations of their Basic Country Loaf. If you bake bread or even if you just like eating it, this book is worth having. It is a story filled with pictures and recipes that inspire. The way Chad Robertson talks about bread is romantic and dreamy. The bread he has created is the same.

All in all, I have a bread book love affair.

Duh-Duh-Duh (If you have ever seen Reading Rainbow, I feel like one of the children giving a synopsis and review of a book.)