Quinoa pudding in the rice cooker!

You may sense a trend here.

I’m having a season of stomach problems, and frankly all I want is to eat things that make me happy. Rice pudding makes me happy. 😉  However, when I posted my last rice pudding post, a friend who can’t eat rice asked me if it could be made with quinoa… so last night I tried it. I tried it in the rice cooker, because a couple of the quinoa pudding recipes I sought out used the words “bain marie”, and nothing makes me run faster than those two words. Shudder. I thought to myself, I bet it would work using the rice cooker, and so it did. Life is good, my friends. I BANNED THE BAIN MARIE!

It tastes good, although quinoa doesn’t soak up as much liquid as rice, so it was a little sloppier. However, I wanted to try the recipe with only one substitution, so I was prepared for that, and frankly, I don’t mind a bit. This morning it’s solidified and is properly “puddingy”.

If you’d like to make your own, follow the directions from the last post (linked above in the text) and just substitute 1 cup of well-rinsed quinoa. (In the interests of full disclosure, I did a typically crummy job of rinsing it, frankly: just swished it around in a colander lined with paper towel for a few rinses, then plopped it in the cooker. Just to be honest.) It doesn’t taste exactly the same as rice pudding, because the quinoa will contribute its own nutty taste (I often think of it as green), but it’s a very nice substitute if you’re looking to get more nutritional value out of your desserts or if you can’t eat rice.

Enjoy!

 

 

What’s In The Oven: Greek Potatoes

I’ve got a lot of potatoes. I mean, a lot of potatoes. And I need to use them soon. And I love oven-roasted potatoes. So this happened.

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes from Food.com

I made them almost exactly like the recipe said (for once), and they’re in the oven now… starting to smell delicious. I forgot to take a photo before putting the pan in the oven, and they’re not out yet for the “voila” photo; so here’s a photo from the recipe on Food.com. I can’t wait.

Not my photo… this photo is of the same recipe potatoes, by Sackville. nomnomnomnomnom

What’s In My Belly Right Now: Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables

I don’t, as a general rule, like root vegetables. Their flavors are too “earthy”, or too sharp, or too strong. Parsnips and I have a particularly acrimonious past.

However. Yesterday, I decided to pull up my big girl pants and try some. So I ran to the grocery store and bought a bag of carrots (I do love carrots!! But who doesn’t? Carrots and potatoes hardly even count), a celery root, a potato, a yam, a turnip, ginger root, and an onion. Obviously, I didn’t have the highest hopes, as evidenced by my buying just one of everything. lol

If you’re curious about root vegetables: http://ohmyveggies.com/a-guide-to-root-vegetables/

This was the recipe that got my mouth watering: http://www.theroastedroot.net/balsamic-roasted-root-vegtables/ — great ideas here.

As always, my implementation was a little “creative”, because I forget to read steps and sometimes just add crap because cooking is an adventure. I found certain of the vegetables much more difficult to cut than I would have thought, so my arms got a workout too.

This is how difficult it was to cut the celeriac (celery root). What you see before you, RIP, are the broken remnants of the cutting board I’ve had for over twenty years. “It was the celery root what done it in.”

So here’s the edited version of the recipe I used, which is linked to above, at the Roasted Root. (I’ve had Rusted Root music going through my head all day, lol) Needless to say, I did not cut my veggies into lovely rounds and cubes. I was lucky to get them all cut; some didn’t want to Go Gentle Into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas was my sous-chef) and fought terrifically (or at least were exceedingly grumpy for inanimate objects). Here it is!

Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables

Ingredients

1 turnip, chopped into ½” cubes
1 medium-sized yam, chopped into ½” cubes
1 big ole celeriac, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into ¼” rounds
3/4 yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons grated ginger (I totally forgot this. lol OOPS)
2 tablespoons olive oil (I doubled this because SO MANY VEGGIES)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I doubled this for the same reason)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Splash Worcestershire Sauce (because it is my friend)

The chopped vegetables. It took two pans. Apparently, just one of those veggies apiece was enough… the recipe actually called for rutabaga, which I didn’t have. Thank heavens… I don’t think I had a third pan clean.

Sorry about the blurry photo. I didn’t check it before I put them in the oven, and now it’s too late, so you’ll just have to squint, I’m afraid. 😀

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Put all chopped veggies into a large, deep casserole dish (this may require 2 casserole dishes).
3) Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grated ginger. Pour over the vegetables and mix using a fork.
4) Sprinkle the salt, cayenne pepper and cumin over the veggies and mix again with a fork to be sure everything is coated.
5) Bake 25 minutes and then remove casserole dish from oven to stir the vegetables well.
6) Increase heat to 415 degrees, place vegetables back in the oven and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes until the sweet potato is softened and al dente, but not mushy.

So I didn’t read the directions particularly well and just added the spices to the sauce because, what? It’ll all get on there. Probably.

After the first 25 minutes of baking at 350 and stirring.

They’re delicious and this completely supports my theory that Everything Is Better With Balsamic Vinegar. (Well, almost everything.) In fact, I think I’ll go have a second bowl.