Summer Quinoa Salad

Summer is almost upon us, and it's about that time when you start going to a lot of picnics and barbecues. Such events often require the contribution of a side dish, and let's just be honest. Most of those sides have mayonnaise, sugar or cheese in them.  Summer is a great season to take advantage of for losing weight because the weather is nice and it's easier to be outside and active.  You often drink more water because you're hot and water just hits the spot.  There's a tendency to buy (and hopefully eat) more fruits and vegetables because there's a good variety in season which means they taste delicious!  But then you go to a picnic and you eat fatty, sugary crap because it's there and it's easy (oh yeah, and it tastes so good), and you end up canceling out the good you've done.  Easy come, easy go, right?


Well, here's an opportunity to be the person who brings the healthy side dish and allows everyone to have another option besides the creamy, cheesy or otherwise gooey side dish.  And believe me, it is a tasty option!


Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp olive oil or other oil for cooking
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1 1/4 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (w/out sugar, preferred)
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp coriander


1 mango, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed


How it's done:

Sauté onion and peppers in olive oil for about 5 minutes on med-high heat until soft and juicy.  Add quinoa, chicken stock, curry powder and coriander.  Allow to come to boiling and let boil for 5 minutes.  Then cover, lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is white and glassy.  Remove from heat and allow to cool fully. Set aside.


Mix cilantro and mango, and then store in fridge until quinoa mixture has cooled.  Drain and rinse black beans.


Once quinoa mixture has cooled, stir all remaining ingredients together.  Serve cold as a side salad.


Notes from the kitchen:
For the most part, I measure and cook by sight and feel versus exact measurements, so the recipe I've laid out is as exact as I could get it.  However, in this recipe, you have some leeway to change things up if you so choose.  The main thing to keep in mind is that if you add more quinoa, you will want to add a little more stock.  If you switch out the vegetables, as long as they create some juice while they sauté, you don't need to add stock.
As far as the spices go, you can add more or less according to taste.  If you add 4 tablespoons of cilantro instead of 3, it's not going to ruin the recipe.
You might have noticed that I suggested using half of a yellow pepper and half of a red pepper, so what do you do with the leftover halves?  Chop those up also and use them in an omelet the next morning!



Makes approximately 8 servings.

Healthy Oat Bran Muffins (Flourless Recipe)

Recently I've been thinking a lot about food.  I did a 21 day sugar detox that went really well, and now I really want to continue with healthy eating habits.  I feel much better when I'm eating "clean".

While I was on my detox, I couldn't have these muffins (no oats, agave nectar, fruit, etc), so I really looked forward to having them again.  These are really great to eat for breakfast, and I like making a batch over the weekend so that I can grab them on the go during the week.  I keep them in the freezer or fridge so they stay fresh.

Quick note:  my recipe is a modification of the recipe that is on the Mother's Oat Bran box, so this is not entirely my own recipe.  My contribution to the recipe I'm sharing is about 10%.  Also, though the recipe is flourless does not guarantee it is gluten free.  If you have gluten allergies, you should make sure that the oat bran you are using is gluten free.  Some oats are grown in fields that are also used for growing wheat, so they could be cross contaminated that way.  Mother's Oat Bran does not state on the box that it is gluten free, so I take that to mean that it is not.

Healthy Oat Bran Muffins
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Yield: about 12
Bake time: 12-15 minutes
Serving size: 1 muffin (approx 100 calories - depends on what add-ins you choose)

Ingredients:


2 ripened bananas (brown is ok)
2 eggs
1/2-3/4 cup milk (skim, almond, soy, etc)
2-3 tbsp agave nectar (if bananas are super ripe, this is optional)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
2 1/4 cup oat bran (I use Mother's Oat Bran)

Your Choice (add as much or as little as you want, but 1/2-1 cup total works well):
dried fruit -- raisins, cherries, cranberries, etc.
chopped nuts
carob chips
chocolate chips
flax seed

You will also need a muffin tin and muffin/cupcake paper cups.

Instructions:


Preheat oven to 425º.
1. Beat bananas until pureed and saucy.
2. Add eggs, milk, agave nectar, and vegetable oil. Beat until well blended.
3. Blend in baking powder and salt.
4. Blend in oat bran until the mixture is moist. If it seems really thick, add more milk, but it shouldn't be runny.  It should slowly slide off the spoon when you scoop it into the baking cups.
5. Add your choice of dried fruit, nuts, etc.
6. Scoop batter into baking cups.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes on center rack of oven.

These don't change shape very much as they bake, but if they have little peaks the way they plop in the baking cup, those peaks may be a little golden when they are done.

Once you have removed them from the oven, allow them to cool a few minutes before removing them from the pan.  You can move them to a baking rack to cool further if you want.

Enjoy!

My Christmas Plugs

Dare I even touch on the fact that I haven't blogged in 9 months? Nah.  Long story short, I haven't had much to blog about and I haven't gotten around to it.  I'm hoping to get back into it in 2012, but that's only my intention, not a promise. :D


To be honest, the reason I'm blogging now is because my husband got me an amazing Christmas present, and I wanted to post pictures to my Pinterest account.  I figured I would pin them from my blog, and should I start blogging more regularly again, I could gain readers from Pinterest.


A while ago, I had told my husband how awesome it would be to get custom plugs made using star rubies.  I've always liked star gems; in fact, my engagement ring has a star ruby as the center gem instead of a diamond.  Not that I'm concerned about being fancy, but because of my gauged earlobes (7/16 gauge), I can no longer wear dangly earrings or regular posts, so I don't really have any "dressy" earrings.  That being the case, having some cool custom gauges to match my engagement ring (which I wear with my wedding band now) would be a great way to get dressy in my own style.


I had no idea that my husband has been planning this since August.  He won't tell me how much, but apparently he spent a pretty penny on them, too!  I was completely astounded by how much trouble he went through to give me the coolest Christmas gift ever!!


I could go on about how wonderful my husband is, but I'm sure what you're interested in is seeing pictures, so here they are!! (Please accept my apologies for the poor quality of the images.  I took the pictures with my phone.)

One Less Lonely Glitter - Nicole by OPI

I really didn't think I was going to cave in to the Justin Bieber nail polish collection, but I happened to be at Walgreens and they caught my eye. And I'll admit, the colors were all pretty nice. Since they are still sort of pricey ($7.99 a bottle, I think), I only bought one - One Less Lonely Glitter. It has chunky, circular lilac glitter as well as regular lilac glitter in a sheer, medium purple base. This can be used by itself or over a solid base. In the picture, I used it over OPI matte Russian Navy. There's no reason for using a matte; it's just what I happened to have. I had swatched it over various colors, and I liked how it stood out against the darker colors. As for wear, it definitely seemed to chip quickly despite using a top coat. I'm not sure if that was due to the base polish or the glitter coat. The other downside is that chunky glitter is a pain to remove. All in all, I like the look of it enough that I'll continue to use it despite glitter being a pain. I don't have any other chunky glitter polishes, so I guess it's good that the one I do have is purple!

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A Blog from my Droid

It's Friday night, and I have just taken a shower. Naturally, I have tweeted about it, too. I'm lying on my bed with one of my kitties at the foot, and I'm thinking about everything I would like to accomplish this weekend. I want to finish painting the guest room. I want to clean up my makeup/craft room, which will entail organizing my sewing and craft stuff. These will be my tasks on Saturday. On Sunday, my friend and coworker Emily will be coming over, and we are going to film some tutorials and reviews!! Yay!
I am finding lately that I am more likely to accomplish my goals when I have someone with me when I'm working on them. It's too bad my husband doesn't enjoy playing with make up. I'd be all set!

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It's Been a While...

Once again, it has been such a long time since I posted anything.  I'm a loser, and I know it.  I wish I had something interesting to post right now, but I've been sort of busy as of late.  My mother-in-law came to town for a few days, so my husband and I needed to focus some time and energy on cleaning up the house.  I wanted to finish painting the guest room, but that didn't happen, unfortunately.  The bright side is that I got it all primed and started with the main color.  I need to get a second coat on that and then tackle the trim.  I can do it, yes I can!!


I'm going to try to get on some sort of a schedule with making posts and videos.  I would like to film on Sundays and then post on Mondays or Tuesdays, depending when I go to my parents house to do laundry.  (Haha, once again, I'm a loser!)  I use my dad's iMac to edit video.


So, I'm making no promises, but my hope is that I will start to get my act together.  Just throw something at me if I don't get something posted in the next two weeks!

LOTD: Sexy Smoky Gray

I did this look today and thought it turned out pretty well, so I thought I should share!  It's a basic smoky eye, and I used mainly MAC products.  Eyeshadows used were Smut, Copperplate, Cork and Vanilla, as well as Virgin (Urban Decay Naked Palette).  On the lips, I used the lip liner from MAC's To the Beach collection and the Viva Glam Gaga lipstick, and on my cheeks I used Ripe Peach Blush Ombre.  I used false lashes from Ardell, number 45, I think.

Would anyone be interested in a tutorial for this look?  Leave a comment and let me know!!