Protein-Packed Taco Salad

Lately I've been finding it difficult to stay on the vegan path. Don't be alarmed - This isn't to say I've fallen to my knees in surrender and vehemently ingested a double-bacon cheeseburger with a milkshake to wash it down - I have just been finding it difficult to maintain my personal diet without making the people closest to me feel a little left out.

Case in point: I just recently moved back in with my Mom, who is an unwavering carnivore despite the toll it's taken on her health. In an attempt to reverse heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity, she's actually been very open to the idea of cleaning up her diet - but it's a slow process, as it was with many of us who are now vegan or vegetarian. What I love about this recipe is that I'm able to get a great meal with all the nutritional value I'm looking for, while she can easily incorporate a little extra ingredients to lessen the blow on her taste buds. So if you're a veg experiencing a similar dilemma, it's simple to make a dinner everyone is sure to love - non-vegans can add grilled chicken, cheese, and sour cream for a more traditional "taco."

I love it just the way it is. And I'm Mexican, so that's gotta say a lot.
Anyway - as always, portion ingredients according to demand, get creative and ENJOY!

Ingredients

• Quinoa/Brown Rice Mix
• Black, Kidney, Pinto Bean Mix
• Spring Mix lettuce
• Broccoli Slaw Mix (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot, Red Cabbage - store-bought pre-cut package)
• Sliced Tomato
• Sliced Avocado
• Organic or Homemade Salsa 
• Baked White Corn Tortilla Chips (I drizzle lime juice on mine and sprinkle with salt for extra yum)

Directions

1. Cook the quinoa and brown rice according to package, and mix together. You can season to taste - I used a bit of garlic powder, pepper, and cumin to get a Mexican flavor.
2. Cook beans - You can use your favorite, or make a mix like I did to get some variety.
3. Mix lettuce, veggies, tomato, and sliced avocado in a bowl along with salsa. 
4. Spoon rice and beans onto a plate as a base, then top with salad mix. Add crunchy baked tortilla chips and enjoy this easy dinner!

Guacamole Fettuccini

Because I grew up in Minnesota back in the 40s and 50s, the word "avocado" was unknown to me, as was the fruit itself. Then came the day when an aunt and uncle visited us from The Golden State and nestled inside their suitcases were several large green things they called avocados. I was fascinated with the odd looking produce and even more astonished when I was told they grew on trees.

My aunt cut one of the dark green fruits in half to reveal a seed the size of New York--or so I thought. I was used to berry seeds or even citrus seeds, but nothing I knew came even close to the giant residing inside that light green mass.

My aunt removed the seed and scooped out some of the soft innards. Without any adieu, she slipped the spoon into my waiting mouth. To me, child that I was, it felt slimy and nasty and so mushy I quickly swallowed it. When asked if I wanted more, I shook my head no and escaped to another part of the house.

To my mind, an avocado was the armpit of produce world.

When I was sixteen, my family moved to California. And to my dismay, my mom discovered avocados. I remembered not liking them "way back when" and refused to eat them. Even the rest of the family considered them less than a perfect food. Looking back, I know that mom just didn't know what to do with them. Then one day a neighbor showed her how to make guacamole. Mom bought some tortilla chips and put the two products together on the table.

My sisters and I ate up every last scrap.

Thus began my love affair with the avocado and while there are many brands of the green spheres, the only one I really like is the Haas. These days I can slice an avocado onto fresh bread, add salt and pepper and tomato and sliced onions and eat my way through what I consider to be the perfect sandwich. I slice this lovely fruit into salads or serve it inside my vegan tacos or smear the creamy stuff on a flour tortilla and gobble it up without batting an eye.

So it was one day when I was looking through a vegan cookbook searching for dinner ideas, that I came across a pasta dish with an avocado sauce. I was intrigued. As usual, I tweaked the recipe to suit my own taste buds and served it to my carnivore company. We all had seconds. I guess that means it turned out pretty good. It looked so pretty, I even took its picture.

GUAC-A-CINI

1 lb fettuccine

2 avocados, pitted and removed from skin

1 big bunch of fresh basil

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

4 sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 cup toasted nuts, any kind

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 Tbs. lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil

2 dashes of hot sauce, whichever is your favorite brand

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the fettuccine in a large pot of salted water, according to the directions on the box. Drain and set aside.

Into a food processor bowl put everything from the avocados to the salt and pepper. 

I love one dish meal recipes. They make
being the kitchen bearable.

Pulse until the mixture is well blended, but not so much that it is an indistinguishable mess. There should still be some minuscule chunks visible as in the photo above.

I prepared a few ingredients that might be added, should the guest wish to add them to his plate: a small bowl of finely minced sweet onion, minced tomato--flesh part only, vegan Parmesan cheese for those who wished to sprinkle it on top of the pasta dish.

My guacamole. I changed the recipe
around to turn it into an avocado pesto.

I gave serious thought to using cilantro instead of basil, but came to the conclusion that it may be too spicy to go with the pasta. If I had been making true guacamole, I'd have used cilantro only.

Because the main course was a meal in itself, I served only garlic bread alongside.

Serves 4-6

Depending on how many you're feeding, cook the fettuccine accordingly as
this recipe does not keep well. I had a lot leftover and it quickly went to
a muddy color that was most unappetizing. Since I was feeding only
three, I should have cooked only a half pound of pasta, though I
would have still made the whole recipe of avocado pesto. It would
have made the fettuccine all the more flavorful.

Grilled Avocado

Dudes, not having my own computer is seriously the pits. And to top it all off, yesterday was one of the busiest days of my life, so I haven't been home much to cook. I mean, I made dinner the other night but it was stir fry again because that's basically what I live off of.

That and copious amounts of fruit. No joke.

So all that to say this: I'm sorry that I have no new incredibly exciting thing for you to read about today and try a new recipe. I do however have an old standby - grilled avocado. But I don't have pictures for you to gawk at and drool over, sorry pals. I think you all know what an avocado looks like though, right? Right. If you don't, you can go google it. I'll wait. :)






Okay, all caught up? Good. I just start by cutting my avocado in half. Sometimes I grill both halves, and sometimes I only grill one - it just depends on how hungry I am and if I'm cooking anything else at the same time. (Like stir fry. I have a problem.)

So I have this square flat pan that I use when I grill things - but the BBQ works just as well, especially if you like that smokey barbequed flavor (which I do!). Usually I start by turning the burner on high to warm up the pan and then I turn it down to med or med-low after I grease it with coconut oil.

Then (hold your breath!) I just plop the avocado on the pan. And then I let it sit. I wander into the living room, down the hallway, sometimes I sit on the couch. Two - three minutes later I meander back into the kitchen and I pick up my face down avocado half and I flip it over. It usually looks a little browned, but not black and shiny from the coconut oil. At this point, brown or not, I flip it over and let it sit for longer than I let the first side cook. This is because I don't peel the avocado, so it still has the skin to get through.

The skin starts to discolor the longer it sits on the heat. This is a good indicator for when it's warm on the bottom. I usually just go by whether I feel like I can live with how warm it is. When in doubt I let it sit a little longer. Then I flip it back over on the flat side if I don't feel like it's quite brown enough for me. And to zap a little more heat into after letting it breathe for so long while I cooked the other side.

Once it's all warm enough the way you like it, put it in a bowl. I sprinkle on a tiny amount of salt and a good amount of pepper. If I have limes or lime juice I squeeze a little bit all over the top. Then I eat it with a spoon. So good!

Vegetable Stir Fry

As a college student, eating healthy is not the cheap way to go about living. It's certainly much easier to buy a box of Ramen noodles than it is to pick out fresh fruit. Personally I'd rather be eating grapes and apple slices over sodium rich packaged food any day and the best part is that my grocery bill only went up ten dollars when I started buying more fresh fruits and veggies and less packaged food.
 

 My name is Natalie and I'm a senior at a state university in the pacific northwest. I started classes four years ago, majoring in food and nutrition. What foods are 'good' for you and which ones are 'bad' was always an interesting concept to me. I was fascinated with how changing your diet could affect your behavior, your disposition on life, and your energy levels! However, what I didn't take into account was the fact that I would be expected to pass classes like organic chemistry and advanced algebra. Some people got the skills and some people don't.

So I switched to art education and now I paint for a grade instead of calculating complex math and science problems. That didn't mean that my interest in food disappeared, however. I put it on the back burner for a while, but everything resurfaced in the fall 2011 semester for me.

You see, I work as a barista for a local coffee shop so I spend a lot of time around lattes and mochas. I started noticing that I would feel sick after drinking a delicious caffeinated beverage, so I switched over to a non dairy milk. Suddenly I wasn't so sick anymore. That seemed to be the only thing that affected me for a while, too. And then I noticed I would feel the same way after eating pizza and lasagna and cake.

So I just adjusted my diet. No more dairy for this girl anymore. But I still wasn't feeling all that great after a meal in general. I was intrigued by my grandmother, who turned vegan in her early 70s. She felt great! Her skin was glowing. Her body didn't fight her anymore. And thus began my transition into the world of the meatless.

The change hasn't been as easy as I would have liked it to be. It's a little more spendy to eat a diet consisting of mostly fruits and vegetables, but for me it was worth it. As soon as I changed my diet I had more energy throughout the day. I slept better. My skin has cleared up a lot, and I just generally feel better. I'm still on this journey, learning new things every day. Tofu still scares me, but I'll get there.

Stir fry is something I have found super simple to make and it tastes awesome. Plus, I can live on the left overs for days, since I always make too much.

What you need:
Quinoa (I use 1/4 cup because I just make it for me, but you can use however much you like)
White Rice (again, the amount is up to you)
Carrots, quartered
Broccoli
Avocado, halved
Eggplant, cubed
zucchini, sliced
Salad Greens
Garlic
Pepper
Salt

I start by cooking the quinoa and rice because they take the longest - about 15 minutes to absorb all the water. Then in a separate skillet I scoop in a small amount of coconut oil, just so nothing sticks to the pan.

I cut up the carrots, broccoli, zucchini, and eggplant and toss them in the skillet to fry with the garlic (I used garlic powder and just sprinkled it over the veggies) along with some pepper. Next I slice half of my avocado and chunk it up. A pinch of salt and in to the pan they go.

Once all the veggies are good and warm I add in the salad greens. I don't want them to get limp, so I don't let them cook very long - just enough to get a little garlicy and mixed in with everything else. Then I pull everything off the heat to serve.

In a bowl I spoon the quinoa and white rice and over the top I dish the vegetables. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Live Avocado Soup

I entertained five family members last weekend. It was a veritable Dutch invasion! I showed them the Santa Barbara points of interest: the wharf, State Street shopping, the Mission, the Botanical Gardens, etc. Pictured above is the youngest and fairest on her way back to her college via SB train station. The famous Morton Fig tree in background. Once left alone to nurse my cold and weariness, I flipped to Andrew Zimmern's Bizarrre Foods.

His show was taped in Arizona and featured the vegetarian restaurant D'lish in Sedona. I watched them make an avocado based raw soup, which was my inspiration for this recipe. The concept of eating live or raw foods, is that when you cook plant food, you diminish their nutritional value. Now, I like the taste of vegetables. I even find wheat grass juice palatable. Whereas, my husband was afraid of a raw cold soup, and didn't appreciate the subtle flavors. I thought it tasted great. This would be a classy first course when entertaining, served with tortilla chips, of course.

If you can afford to, buy organic kale, parsley, cilantro, avocado, garlic, and lemons. Fill a basin with cold water to soak out any bugs and soil from the greens, spin dry or dry with towels. Get out your food processor and maybe even your juicer too. You'll need to cream your avocado, but if you juiced the greens and garlic, you would have a perfectly smooth soup. I put my handful of greens into a little food processor to chop very finely. When I added these to the avocado, I could feel and almost chew the texture of the vegetables. The tartness of the lemon juice and hot pungent taste of garlic balance the creamy coconut milk and avocado flavors.

Live Avocado Soup

3-5 leaves of kale

a handful each of parsley and cilantro

1 small clove of garlic
1 large ripe avocado
1 small lemon
1/2 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce to taste

Juice or chop very fine your washed greens. Pour into your soup bowl or simply add the garlic, avocado, and the juice of lemon into the processor and puree. Mix this into your green juice. Add enough coconut milk for a good soup consistency. Spice with salt, pepper, and soy product. Garnish with a cilantro leaf. Serve with tortilla chips

Fajita Fiesta--Baby Bella Style

I love fajitas. I especially like ordering them in a restaurant because the food comes to the table on a cast iron plate that sizzles all the way from the kitchen to my table. I know that for sure. I've heard it sizzle time and again.

But woe is me. Now I'm a vegan and sticking to it. Not only has the intestinal disease I've battled for at least 15 years subsided, but I've lost 45 pounds in the process. In addition, my 70+ year-old skin has never looked fresher or dewier. People who have known me for a long time stop and look, then look again, then just plain stare. One of my doctors told me I looked like a whole different person. Another doctor told me that obviously the vegan diet was just what I needed. Acquaintances not only stare but outright ask me what I've done to myself.

When I tell them I've given up eating meat or dairy, they grimace like I've just forced a lemon down their throat. Then they insist they love meat and cheese so much they could never give it up. I just smile. I refuse to argue the points of being vegan. After all, I was an omnivoure all my life till recently. And I'm still not a dedicated vegan, for I wear leather shoes and carry a leather bag. Yet healthwise, I'm in far better shape than I was in my younger years. Last week a long-time friend insisted she would never become vegan because she liked her fried foods and sauces and butter too much. My sister said she liked steak and fish and couldn't even think about going without. My neighbor suggested being vegan was too expensive and she didn't know any vegan recipes anyway.

Now mind you, I'm not the one bringing this vegan business up in conversation. It just happens when I mention that I'm now a plant eater. I'll be honest and say it was hard to make the change. I had no idea how to put a meal together that would satisfy and nourish me. But I learned by scouring the net for vegan blogs and websites and Googling "vegan recipes" till my fingerprints no longer existed. I've learned how to make my own vegan dishes and gotten good enough to create some new ones. All this from a person who really hates to cook. Figure that one out.

As I was saying, I was in the mood for fajitas so I took my favorite chicken fajita recipe and tweaked it. Then I had the nerve to serve it to guests--all without first tasting it myself. By the raves I got, I guess everyone liked it. I know I sure did. Let me know what you think.

My recipe made four overstuffed fajitas. I served home made refried beans alongside and then had to roll into bed because I was too stuffed to walk.

FAJITA FIESTA

Use a resealable plastic bag for the marinade and put into it:

1 pound mushrooms, sliced. I used baby portobellos

2 Tbs. neutral vegetable oil

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Dash of hot sauce, I used Frank's

Salt

Black pepper

Let set for at least 20 minutes.

Preheat a large cast iron skillet until it is sizzling hot.

Add 2 Tbs. oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red  bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced--I used a fresh jalapeno

Cook till the vegetables are translucent.

Add the marinade ingredients to the skillet and fry everything together, still at a high heat so you get that sizzle.Stir fry till all the liquid evaporates.

Warm 4 flour tortillas in the oven or the microwave.

Stuff 1/4 of the fajita mix into each tortilla.

Top with chopped cilantro, guacamole, a drizzle of lime, red salsa, vegan sour cream, and vegan yellow cheese, shredded.

As a side, serve refried beans or red rice or a bean/corn salsa. 

Enjoy!

Posole--Mexico In A Bowl

Try this authentic
Mexican recipe and I
bet you'll feel like
dancing too.

I've told you before that I have a housekeeper who comes to help me every week, largely because osteoporosis and arthritis in my spine have made it incredibly difficult to walk. Every so often I take advantage of her cooking skills and ask if she'll create something wonderful for my supper. She always agrees.

Because she's seen me grow so slim and healthy by eating vegan, she has done the same thing and while she's lost weight, it is her teenage daughter who has really slimmed down. All by eating vegan with only a few exceptions, such as family parties or church picnics.

To be honest, I've never eaten Posole. Yet I knew if Irma cooked it, it would be great. She grew up in Mexico City, taught to cook by her mom, and knows how to make original Mexican food that teases the tongue with spice and tickles the back of the throat with heat. Because I'm a sissy, she doesn't make the food she cooks for me as spicy as she would for her own family. If you're a diehard heat fan, add more chili powder and some jalapenos when you make this dish. I like it as is. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

POSOLE--MEXICO IN A BOWL

In a large soup pot, combine:

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large poblano chile, chopped (sometimes called pasilla)

Cook until the vegetables are soft and the onion is translucent, about 8-10 minutes.

Add:

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. ancho chile powder (regular chile powder can be substituted)

1  24 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice

1  15 oz. can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1  15 oz. can of white hominy, drained and rinsed

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. lime juice

1 Tbs. browning sauce--I used Kitchen Bouquet

black pepper to taste

Simmer the soup on a back burner, uncovered, for at least an hour so  the flavors have time to marry. 

Serve piping hot with avacodo slices and fresh cilantro as garnishes.

Irma warmed flour tortillas over an open flame so they had a slightly charred taste, which went great with the posole. 

The whole masterpiece was good to the last drop.

If you don't have ancho chile powder, do yourself a favor and buy some. The depth of flavor this spice brings to the party is so much more than that of regular chile powder.

Spring Has Sprung



An early Mother's Day surprise came to my door this week. A lovely gift from two of my adopted troops serving in Afghanistan. Each has a mom of his own, yet they teamed up to make sure I knew how much they enjoyed being part of my family and reading all the dorky letters I send them every couple of weeks. I've written them for what seems like eternity and love each of them dearly. I pray every day for their safety and that God bring them home soon.


Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz.
I wonder where
The flowers is?



I'll tell you where the flowers is. All over my yard, all over town, all over Southern California, and also sitting on my kitchen table. The glorious colors of spring. They make me happy just to look at them. My iris's are in bloom, so are my amaryllis, so too the azaleas, and even the invasive poor man's orchid is boasting a large crop of look-alike cymbidium orchids. The red geraniums are spashing color against my brick wall, the verbena is spilling over the edge of my herb pot and the daylilies are budding. It's just plain exciting to go outside and walk the yard each day, snooping to see what's new.

But this is a blog about food, right?

This past week I poked around three different grocery stores. Since the frig was pretty much empty, it was a chore I had to do, whether I felt like it or not. Turned out to be an eye-opening adventure. The shelves were full to overflowing with fresh greens, peppers of every color, cucumbers so fresh from the field I swear I could still see early morning dew on them, all manner of summer squash and local strawberries, so big and fat and red and affordable that customers were hauling them away by the box fulls. The winter avocados are plentiful, Hass by name, and the only one worth paying for in my estimation. Right now the Hass is inexpensive enough to lead me to believe California must have produced a bumper crop this year.

Was all this magnificence the result of so much rain this winter? Or sunny days of warm temperatures? Were farmers fertilizing more often or planting seeds meant to produce the jolly green giant of crops? I can't remember a time when the shelves were so full of lush vegetation good enough to eat. Even with California's year around growing climate, the stores seemed unusually full of plump, juicy things fresh from the earth. Just walking the aisles was as good as opening the door to The Secret Garden, albeit filled with veggies rather than flowers.

As I inspected each store and its bulging produce, I found that I wanted some of everything. However, sanity reigned as the farm kid in me knew that a week's worth of fruit and veggies wouldn't remain fresh and tantalizing sitting in my refrigerator. But what to choose? I was now hungry for it all. That was when I began thinking about how many of those veggies I could actually pile into one sandwich. A Dagwood kind of sandwich. I practiced unhinging my jaws, but to no avail. I would have to content myself with a mouth-size veggie experience. I didn't think it would be easy. I was wrong.



I should have taken the photo before I cut the sandwich. I should also have left the toothpicks in to hold the whole thing together. But alas, I didn't. This sandwich is messy to eat, but most tasty--which makes having to use about six napkins worthwhile.

 Everything But The Kitchen Sink Vegan Sandwich


2 slices grainy wheat bread, fresh and pliable so it can bend without breaking
1/4 cup hummus. I used regular but it's your choice
1 buttery avocado, preferably Haas
1 red onion, sliced as thin as possible
1 red bell pepper, roasted, with skin and seeds removed
1/2 of a cucumber, sliced long ways into strips
1 fresh tomato, sliced
Kalamata olives, sliced thin
Sprouts. I used Daikon radish sprouts for their puckery tang

Spread hummus on both pieces of bread. Use it all as it's the protein I chose for this sandwich
Slice the avocado and lay it atop the hummus on one piece of bread
Add as much red onion as you wish.
One whole red pepper goes next
Now add as many strips of cucumber as you wish. I used a lot because I love cucumbers
Add the sliced tomatoes
Toss the sliced olives atop the tomatoes
Add the sprouts. As many as you wish. I put about an inch worth atop mine
Lay the other piece of bread/hummus atop the whole creation. Use toothpicks to hold it together.

Remember to salt and pepper lightly as you build the sandwich. Each level should be full of flavor. I drizzled a smidgen of a really good extra virgin olive oil over the top of my sprouts. Don't get heavy handed; it will make the sandwich greasy. No olive oil on hand? Use a good Italian salad dressing.

I ate every single bite and enjoyed it all. For dessert I peeled two tangerines, so sweet they were just short of being candy. A cup of tea finished it all out. I rolled into the kitchen to clean up, decided I was too full to move, and left everything in the  sink for another day. You can do stuff like that when you live by yourself because the dog and four cats never complain.


I LOVE LIVING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WHERE WE HAVE SUPER FRESH PRODUCE ALL YEAR LONG AND MOST OF IT LOCAL!

Tostadas

Since my experimentation with soy "meats" started, my husband has been afraid to come to the dinner table...And I can't say I blame him. I'm sure there is an art to serving soy replacement meats, but I would rather share my successes here rather than bore you with failures. I also couldn't risk my man's trust and faith in my culinary vegan adventure either. So I fell back to an old stand by, tostadas. What could go wrong when you fry any ingredient? Here corn tortillas, but the longer you fry it, the more crispy it gets; better tasting than bagged chips even! Warm up a can of refried beans (vegetarian of course). Saute onions and mushrooms. Buy your favorite olives, salsa and green salad mix, and HOLA! Comida es claro.

VEGAN TOSTADAS

corn tortillas

4-6 tablespoons frying oil

refried beans (canned)

1 medium onion

3 green onions

8-12 ounces mushrooms (1/2 pkg)

2 tablespoons olive oil

fresh salsa

olives

green salad mix

avocado (optional)

1. Chop medium onion, mushrooms and green onions and set aside.


2. Heat small heavy skillet on high heat a few minutes, before pouring the frying oil to cover bottom of pan by one inch depth. You know when the oil is hot enough to fry when the tortilla bubbles the second it touches the oil. I always lay a piece of tortilla in the cold oil, and when I hear the sizzle, I discard it. Use tongs to flip tortillas, cook one or two minutes per side, depending on you desired crispness. Collect fried corn discs between paper towels and keep warm in covered dish or oven.


3. Heat another medium skillet on medium heat. Put olive oil in pan, add red, yellow, or white chopped onions. Cook 3-4 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook together 5-7 more minutes until the mushrooms are almost done, then add green onions last, and turn down to low heat.


4. Heat through refried beans on the stove or microwave.


5. Set out salsa, olives and green salad on table.


6. Layer the beans thinly on the tortilla first. Then spoon the onion, mushroom mixture on top. Let your family and dinner guests put the rest of the ingredients on from the table. These tostadas have plenty of flavor without avocados, in case they are out of season. By the way, my husband displayed great gluttony with mucho gusto!
   

Dr Oz and the Incas

Out my front door, avocados hang green and hidden behind long elegant leaves, the tree branches reaching over the fence in a neighborly gesture of generosity.

In my backyard, 18 parsley plants thrive in the rain.

Green. Parsley and Avocados. Hmmmm. Green. Dr. Oz comes to mind. Green apples, parsley, spinach, lime, lemon, celery, ginger...... will inspire today's dinner - a variation on a theme. Not exactly Dr. Oz's green drink. Not exactly tabbouleh. Bring on the Quinoa from the Incas for a complete protein.

Quinoa and Parsley with Avocado

Garnished with grape tomatoes, sliced sweet onion and baby salad greens.

1 1/2 Cup water

3/4 cup quinoa

This is where you can be very generous. More of any of these ingredients will disappear in the salad quite nicely.

2/3 cup chopped parsley

1 green apple, chopped about 1 cup

1/3 cup chopped celery with leaves

Dressing:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp salt

pepper

Bring water to a boil. Add quinoa. Bring back to a boil, then lower heat and cook about 12 minutes.

Take off burner and let it absorb any water in pan. Cool.

Chop vegetables and apple.

When quinoa is cool, add vegetables and apple. Pour 1/2 of the dressing over the quinoa and stir gently to mix everything together. Cool covered in the refrigerator 2-4 hours or overnight to let the flavors blend.

To serve, plate individually (or on a big platter for a crowd) - for each person:

Put a small bed of lettuce and fresh whole leaf parsley on the plate.

Then half an avocado, sliced sweet onion and grape tomatoes.

Pile on the quiona.

Pass the dressing.