Kandi's Breakfast Sandwich!

This sandwich has been done over and over. So I do not get an A for originality, and I can handle that. Because this sandwich makes me happy. Also because I have been sick and not been able to eat. I made my husband one before he left for work (because I rock like that) and decided to make myself one as well. Sadly I wasn't able to finish it simply because I am not ready for a ton of food. BUT, on any other day, that sandwich would NOT have stood a chance. At all. When you combine my 3 fave things, bacon, chipotle and avocado.....you can not go wrong. At all.

So here is my not so original recipe, but it makes me smile and it is pretty.

Kandi's Breakfast Sandwich!

bread to your liking and toasted

crispy bacon

a little bit of mayo, half of an avocado, and a half of a diced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (more or less depending on how spicy you would like it) all mashed together

fried egg (or poached, up to you)....I fry mine in coconut oil

slice of your fave cheese

lettuce and tomato


Layer the way that makes you happy!

Enjoy.

Now back to the sick couch and some hot tea for me. :(  Buh bye!

More Quinoa! Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Dried Cranberries, Pumpkin Seeds, & Bacon

I had you at bacon, huh?

You must try this dish, even if the thought of quinoa and butternut squash sound questionable. If you eat this, you will be way more open minded about the two yummy foods.

This quinoa dish is a variation of a dish that I made on Thanksgiving, and it was a hit.

Leftovers the next day, right out of the fridge, were fabulous. Wow.

Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Dried Cranberries,  Pumpkin Seeds & Bacon

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and cubed (Target sells it already cubed FYI)

1 large red onion, sliced lengthwise into half moons

5 garlic cloves, skins on

1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

coarse sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup red quinoa, rinsed in water

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seeds

crumbled bacon, about 3 slices

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine butternut squash, onion, garlic, and ginger on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast until squash is tender, about 20 minutes.

Press garlic from skins. Mash with a knife or fork until a paste forms. Yum.

Meanwhile, combine quinoa with 2 cups broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender and most of water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.


Transfer quinoa to a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, 2/3 of the crumbled bacon and mashed garlic. Carefully fold in roasted vegetables. Top with the rest of the bacon.

Quinoa for Breakast!

Welcome to my newest love, quinoa. A year ago I was very intimidated by the little seed. I barely knew how to pronounce it, let alone make it. I didn't even know what to make it with!

A year and several recipes later (and simply following the package directions), I am now smitten. Because of it's health benefits (check this link out to read how very good for you this amino acid rich this protein is), I will forever replace rice with quinoa. See, your possibilities just jumped!

Although I am a huge fan of savory dishes (I will hook you up with some savory quinoa dishes soon), I was wanting a filling and hearty breakfast the other morning. Usually this means bacon and eggs, but it was 30 degrees out and I wanted something more.


Enters quinoa. I threw this together (as I often do), but I know that you can make this your own with whatever you have around in the pantry.

You are going to love my measurements here, but I think you will get the idea.

Breakfast Quinoa

Quinoa cooked per package directions (check box for serving size)

a splash of milk (I used no fat milk, but vanilla almond milk would be yum)

a drizzle of agave nectar (or honey)

Dried cranberries

Nuts (I used a mixture from a trail mix I had on hand)

a dash of cinnamon

Now for you quinoa newbies, go try it!

Quinoa novices? I want to know how you eat your quinoa for breakfast!

Garbanzo Bean Pizza Crust (On a Make Your Own Grilled Pizza Night)

I recently grabbed some garbanzo bean flour to make some flat bread. I figured I would incorporate it into our crust on pizza night to up the nutrient content!

It was amazing, and the kids (we had an extra child for the week who piled her goodies on!) loved it.

The Topping choices were:
sauce
shredded mozzarella
smoked diced mozzarella
grape tomatoes
baby spinach
maple roasted butternut squash
sauteed mushrooms
caramelized onions
mini pepperoni
bacon!!!!
Canadian bacon

My version was sauce, both cheeses, tomatoes, spinach, squash, mushrooms, onions and bacon. It was seriously the best pizza I have ever put into my mouth. YUM!


Garbanzo Pizza Crust

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 cup garbanzo flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or grill like we do!)
• Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes (or grill!) 


The Kids' Pizzas!! 

It's Been A While...And Bison Sliders!

Greetings strangers! I have still been cooking up a storm, just not inspired to photograph the food, until now! I am back!

Ok, these burgers had to been the best I have ever made. Ever. Oh my. Totally worth spending a little extra on the buffalo meat, for flavor AND health reasons. Also, it didn't make putting as little cube of cheese and a pat of butter in the middle feel so naughty. Ready for the recipe now?

As always, when I cook, I do not measure. So I am totally guessing here. You adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Bison Sliders (makes 6)
1 lb ground bison
a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce ( I recommend Annie's Organic ...so much flavor and a little thicker)
2 T oats
1/4 C of finely diced onions
1/3 C chipped spinach leaves
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
6 pats of butter
6 small cheese cubes (I used cheddar)
S&P

6 buttered slider buns (I found organic potato slider buns that were yum)

Toppings of your choice....my sauce was equal parts of ketsup, mustard and Worcestershire

Combine bison with everything down to the minced garlic. split evenly into 6 balls. Poke a hole into each ball and put in butter and cheese, then cover it up. Let sit in fridge for a little bit to get happy.

Since Bison is so lean, you need to grill it to medium rare MAX....otherwise you will have hockey pucks. Don't be squeamish here, rare is best. So.much.flavor. Once grilled to desired doneness, let them sit while you grill the buns. Top with your desired toppings and chow down. 

You can thank me later.

P.S. A thank you to my friends Donna Dear and her hubby Jeff for introducing my family to the awesomeness of Buffalo. Really.

 Aren't they beautiful?

Drool

Grape Salad w/Blue Cheese and Walnuts

While planning our Father's Day menu, my daughter was inspired by a grape salad that she saw at the grocery store. She had read the ingredients to me and we decided to try it at home. It was a tangy, sweet treat with a right amount of creamy and crunchy. Yum.

Red and Green Grapes (enough to fill a large bowl)

Crumbled Blue Cheese

Walnuts

4T Honey (more if you like it sweeter)

1.5 T Canola Oil (or veg)

3T White or Red Wine Vinegar (I used a little of both...but apple cider vinegar would be good as well. Or you can get fancy with gourmet vinegars like cherry or pomegranate).

Combine the honey, oil and vinegar (adjust the ingredients to your liking). Pour half of the mixture over the grapes. Crumble the blue cheese into the bowl along with the walnuts. Toss. Pour remaining dressing over the salad. Chill about an hour before serving. Enjoy!

Lemon Linguine w/ Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Pine Nuts Plus Artichoke Appetizer

Wow. Been a while, huh?
This is a recipe that was inspired by a plethora of other linguine dishes with lemon. I didn't measure anything, but I will try my best to give you an idea at least. Yum.
The dish started off because my daughter and I were grocery shopping and she really wanted to get artichokes for me to steam....and we had a ton of lemons. So it evolved from there.
Here we go!

Steamed Artichokes

 (this can be made so many ways, this is just the way I have learned to love it-other than grilled)

2 Artichokes cut (there are a ton of places on the web so see how to do this)

Enough chicken broth/water to cover artichokes (I had one box of broth and used water for the rest)

Herbs (I use rosemary stems and basil stems from garden)

Two peeled cloves of garlic

1 sliced lemon

Bring broth/water to a boil with the lemon slices, garlic and herbs

Place artichokes in liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes

Place artichokes (along with lemon and herbs) in a steaming basket over simmering liquid and let them finish cooking by steaming.  When they are soft enough for the leaves to practically fall off is when I know they are ready. Save liquid in pan for the pasta.

At this point I called the family inside and we devoured the meat on the leaves in about 5 minutes. We usually dip them in a mayo mixture, but this time we dipped in melted butter. Next time I think I will get 3 artichokes...maybe more. It is embarrassing the way my family eats these things.

 Lemon Linguine w/ Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Pine Nuts

I winged this meal....so I am not going to use exact measurements!

Box of wheat linguine

Handful of pine nuts (toasted)

Handful of baby spinach roughly chopped

2 Garlic clove minced

A half of a jar of sun-dried tomatoes chopped(about 2-3 T oil reserved)

Juice of a large lemon plus a teaspoon of lemon zest

Parmesan Cheese (I used asiago because I have it and love it)

2T Sour Cream

Olive Oil

Basil or Rosemary for garnish

Cook the pasta according to directions in the broth mixture left from the artichokes, then drain reserving about 1/3 of a cup to keep pasta from drying out

While pasta cooks, warm a pan and drizzle with olive oil. Saute garlic for about 2 minutes then add spinach. Once spinach is wilted, toss in the sun-dried tomatoes.

Combine drained pasta with spinach mixture, lemon juice, drizzle of olive oil, reserved sun dried tomato oil (awesome flavor), and reserved broth mixture if it seems too dry (white wine would be good here too). At the end add in sour cream, pine nuts, and asiago or Parmesan.

Garnish with lemon zest and fresh herbs. Add s&p (and red pepper flakes if you like...I do!).

That was wordy but the best I can do with describing my thrown together meal. :)

Enjoy!

xoxo

Kandice

P.S. Bacon would SOOOO rock this meal, but since yesterday I promised myself I wouldn't have any, I didn't. Haha.

Greek-Style Penne w/Chickpeas

I found this recipe in Eating Light Magazine. I thought it would be good for a healthy busy night meal. I cut the recipe in half because it would have been way too much food for our family of 4, plus I switched it up a little. It was a great, light meal with plenty of flavor. Chicken would be a nice addition to it, but I kept it a veggie meal.

Here is my version:

8oz penne pasta

1/2 can chickpeas drained

1/2 jar roasted peppers, drained and sliced

1/2 jar quartered marinated artichoke hearts, undrained

1 green onion chopped

a handful of sliced and pitted kalamata olives

sprinkling of feta cheese (I used low fat)

half a lemon

freshly ground pepper

1. Boil Penne as package directs, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water before draining

2. Meanwhile, toss chickpeas, roasted peppers, artichoke hearts, green onions, and olives until hot

3. Toss with drained pasta, squeeze juice from lemon over the top, add feta cheese, pepper and cooking water as needed.

(if it needs more kick, Italian seasoning adds a touch)

A Santa Fe Beef Salad Un-Recipe

Un-Recipe because it was kind of thrown together after I couldn't find the ingredients for the original recipe I was going to try. I wanted something pretty light and good clean flavor. I have still been eating in vacation mode, ya know?

Here is the gist of the salad:

Flank Steak: marinated in a mix of oil, minced garlic, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, cumin, and maybe more. Haha. The husband mixed it together, so I am not certain what all is in it. We like to keep it simple so you can actually taste the meat. After it was marinated for a couple of hours, it was slapped on the grilled to mouth watering goodness. Then we squeezed a tad of lime on it while it was still hot. After letting the meat sit, we thinly sliced it.

Green leaf lettuce: You know...wash it....chop it....arrange on a platter or in a bowl

Diced tomatoes: I wanted plum, Target didn't have plum....so I used on the vine

Thinly sliced red onion because it is pretty

Avocado: ours was mangled due to a little girl who wouldn't stop eating the avocado slices. I couldn't cut it fast enough.

Homemade Tortilla Chips...cause they are good. Just don't make too many...because you can't stop eating them. You should only make a handful. And when I say you, I mean me.

Black beans: rinsed and drained

Arrange it all in a pretty fashion and add a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Use dressing of choice, but I kept it light and just used lime juice. You can also top with your fave salsa and cheese.

That was fancy, huh? :)

Making Use Of Leftovers! Crostata with Mushrooms and Pancetta

Every few weeks we do homemade pizza. We don't aways make our own dough (didn't this week), but we sometimes do. The kids made their own crazy pizzas, and my husband and I sauteed some things we had sitting in the fridge. Shallots, mushrooms, garlic. Then added on random toppings that sounded great at the time. Then we sliced up a ball of mozzarella and he grilled the pizzas. (We have a Big Green Egg). I tell you what, grilled pizzas are so much better than baked pizzas. Doing so makes DiGiorno taste like the bomb on those lazy nights! Ok....so the pizza was great. But we had left over veggies. Hmmmm...what to do? (ahem, scroll down)

After watching Food Network, I was inspired by the oh so lovely (okay....okay...smokin HOT) Giada! So I picked up some pancetta (and a couple of other things needed for the crust) and went to town on Crostata w/Mushrooms and Pancetta. Oh my. The crust was TO DIE FOR. It was awesome. Like really really good. Since my kids don't dig the mushrooms, I think next time roasted root veggies would be very nice. So if you make this, don't hold strong to the mushroom idea. Add in any roasted or sauteed veggies. But don't leave out the pancetta. It made the dish! Enjoy!

P.S. I plan on trying the other recipes from that episode. They looked yum.