Quinoa Pilaf

In the South Arm Community Kitchen, we served the Chicken with Tomato Sauce with a side dish of Quinoa Pilaf.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed a few times
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnut
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Source: this recipe is adapted from allrecipes

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Quinoa Enchilada Casserole

Another Mexican recipe from the South Arm Women Community Kitchen. For this kitchen, Michelle shared a Quinoa Enchilada Casserole.

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We served the Quinoa Enchilada Casserole with sides of chopped tomatoes, avocado, romaine lettuce and cilantro.

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This is a healthy enchilada baked that you can enjoy quilt-free. It is made with chockfull of quinoa, black beans and cheesy goodness which are high in protein. Leftovers taste even better.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 (10-ounce) can mild enchilada sauce (red or green)
  • 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
  • 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
  • 1 Roma tomato, diced
  • head of lettuce, chopped

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Source: damndelicious.com

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Superfoods Salad

This Superfoods Salad was made for last year’s South Arm fund raiser for the food bank and it was sold out very quickly. Michelle decided to make it at the South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club since it has not be made in the kitchen before.

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This Superfoods Salad is good for a few days in the refrigerator. It is great for potluck too. This ecipe makes approximately 8 to 10 servings. For home consumption, it is recommended to halve the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quinoa, rinsed for a few times
  • 3 cups water
  • 3/4 cup green lentils (preferably small French green lentils)
  • 4 1/2 cups water

Vegetables

  • 2 large carrots, grated
  • 1/2 bunch kale, finely chopped
  • 1/4 bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

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Dressing

  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
  • 1 to 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

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Source: via South Arm Cooking Club for Older Adults

Makes approximately 8 to 10 servings.

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Quinoa with Fried Onions

The South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club goal is to introduce economic and healthy recipes to its participants. Here is another healthy recipe with quinoa which some of the participants like to learn more about its usage.

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Pronounced as “”keen-wah”, this grain, native to South America, has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. In fact, it is not a true grain at all, but a relative of spinach and Swiss Chard. Over the past 20 years, it has enjoyed a resurgence on plates across America. This might have to do with its nutty flavour or maybe the fact that it has more iron than other grain around and is a great source of vitamins, minerals, and protein. — from epicurious.com

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 medium onions, sliced thinly
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons chopped chives (or parsley)
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • ground pepper to taste

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P/S: missing from the ingredients photo are chives and Parmesan.

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Quinoa Chocolate Cup Cakes

The last superfood featured in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors is Quinoa.

Benefits of quinoa includes:

  • contains essential amino acids
  • good quantities of calcium, phosphorous and iron
  • high in protein, the complete protein source, similar to meat source
  • high in fiber

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This Quinoa Chocolate Cup Cakes is made without flour; i.e. gluten free.

This recipe makes an 8″ round cake or you can make them as cup cakes for easy portion control. We managed to get 30 cup cakes from this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup quinoa
  • 1 1/3 cups water
  • 2 cups milk or soy milk
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 1/2 cups white or cane sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

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Source: adapted from Quinoa 365 by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming

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Quinoa Black Bean Salad Spiced with Cumin

The second recipe made in the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen is a high fiber salad.

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The Quinoa Black Beans Salad Spiced with Cumin is filing and nutritious.

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This salad is high in protein as 1 cup of black beans has 13g of dietary fiber.

Minoo shared with us some facts and nutritional values of quinoa in the kitchen. I had blogged about it here.

1/4 cup of quinoa has:

  • 170g calories
  • 3g fat
  • 5mg sodium
  • 30g carbohydrate
  • 3g dietary fiber
  • 1g sugar
  • 5g protein

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup corn kernels (frozen or from can)
  • 2 x 15 ounces (540ml) cans black beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil or more for drizzling on the salad
  • chili powder for garnishing, optional

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Source: via Minoo

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Quinoa Burgers

For a healthier option, the South Arm Seniors’ Kitchen also prepared some Quinoa Burgers.

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The Quinoa Burgers are so colourful. We served the Quinoa Burgers with Roasted Cherry Tomato Salsa which I will post next week.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
  • 2 medium carrots, finely grated
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons flour, add more if needed
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

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Source: via Colleen

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Quinoa Vegetable Salad

I had to accompany Ben to the Chinese Visa Office to apply his visa for his next business trip to Beijing. So, I only managed to get to the South Arm Seniors Kitchen just after 11:00AM.

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I was so surprised that the group had finished cooking and had started to eat already. I managed to take some photos of the food before I sat down to savour the food.

Quinoa is said to have more calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and Vitamin E than any other grain. Technically, quinoa is not a grain but a seed. It is very similar to animal-based protein, as it contains all 8 essential amino acids.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of pepper
  • 2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
  • 1 large red pepper, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 stalk celery, finely diced
  • 4 green onions, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced

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Source: via Colleen

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Smothered Chicken in Quinoa

The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors met again after the Christmas and New Year winter break. Michelle, the program facilitator prepared four recipes for the first meeting in 2012. By the way, Michelle has her own recipe blog by the name Mint Green Apron. Go check out her blog for healthy and delicious recipes.

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The main dish for this meeting is an easy, one pot meal with almost all the food groups covered. It’s called Smothered Chicken in Quinoa.

Quinoa is widely considered a “super food” that originated from South America. It is a grain-like crop grown for its edible seeds. It contains essential amino acids and good quantities of calcium, phosphorous and iron. It is also high in protein and is a “complete protein source”- unusual among plant foods. It’s nutritional value is similar to milk. The information above is taken from www.quinoa.net and wikipedia.

You can use quinoa in place of almost any other grain and it cooks in 15 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1″ chunks
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup sherry, cooking sherry or more broth
  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
  • 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Source: via Michelle

Serve: 4 to 6

P/S: Michelle substituted shallots for the onion in this recipe

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Lemon Scented Quinoa Salad

Minoo also incorporated a salad recipe using grain for the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen to complete the meal.

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This Lemon Scented Quinoa Salad is nutty and packed with a lot of nutrition. For me, this salad itself can be a lunch which is quite filling.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly (about 5 times)
  • 2 cups water
  • salt
  • 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced thin

Tahini Lemon Dressing

  • 1 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1 lemon or vinegar of your choice
  • 4 tablespoons Greek style yogurt (make your own by draining organic plain yogurt overnight in a cheese cloth)
  • hot water
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Kevin Turner

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