Eat Our Blog

What an incredibly healthy and easy dish to make. I like to eat it as a main course with some lemony Greek yogurt and a green salad. But it would also be great as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. It can keep at room temperature (the patties, not the yogurt), so pack it for a picnic or long car ride.

This is a recipe I made out of my Super Natural Everyday cookbook by Heidi Swanson. I know I promised to cook my way through the book, but soon after I made that statement I got pregnant! And then the extreme nausea came. I could barely look at anything other than saltines, cheese tortellini in chicken broth, and bagels for a while. I am happy to say that I am out of that phase and back into the cooking realm. Thankfully! How horrible to love food and cooking and be doomed to bland foods! My poor husband suffered with me because I couldn’t fathom the smell of very much at all – especially onions which seem to be at the heart of so many things that I cook. And frankly I still can’t deal with the smell of raw onions, but I just hold my breath as I chop. Oh the sacrifices a cook makes…ha!

For the yogurt dip, I just put some plain Greek yogurt in a bowl with a good squeeze of lemon, salt, and a dash of olive oil. The proportions should be to your liking. The lemony the better for me, as it gives a nice flavor contrast to the quinoa patties.

Quinoa Patties
taken from super natural everyday, by Heidi Swanson

Ingredients

2.5 cups cooked quinoa, at room temp
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh chives
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup whole grain bread crumbs
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Combine the quinoa, eggs, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the chives, onion, cheese, and garlic. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a few minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, form the mixture into twelve 1-inch thick patties.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add 6 patties, if they’ll fit with some room between each, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply browned. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes and continue to cook until the patties are browned. Carefully flip the patties with a spatula and cook the second sides for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. You can also put the patties in a 200 degree oven to keep them warm while you prepare the rest.

According to Heidi, the quinoa mixture keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days and you can cook patties to order. I’ve never tried that but just wanted to put it out there.

To cook quinoa: Combine 2 cups of well-rinsed uncooked quinoa with 3 cups and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, decrease the heat, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curlicues. You will have plenty leftover to use at a later time.

I discovered a version of this soup on one of my favorite food blogs, Cannelle et Vanille. This soup captures a warmth that comes from the spicy sausage and earthy lentils. The addition of the sweet potato gives it a heartiness and slight sweetness to balance the spice in the sausage.

This is now one of our go-to soups. I choose to use turkey kielbasa in my soup, but you can use spanish chorizo, andouille, or any other pre-cooked spicy sausage in its place.

One of the great things about this soup is that you can mold it around what you have available in your pantry. While certain ingredients like lentils and sausage make the soup what it is, you can easily add things like parsnips, turnips, and butternut squash to it. I wouldn’t suggest using JUST parsnips or turnips, but if you add them in with sweet potato or a butternut squash, it would be really good. I just never remember to buy those items when I’m at the store but I almost always have some sweet potatoes.

If you wanted to make this vegetarian, just use vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth. If you don’t want to use a veggie sausage, then just add some spices to give it the kick it needs (paprika/cayenne/red pepper flakes).

Play with this soup! Make your own! There is no science to it…Oh, and one more note, the tomato paste in this soup just MAKES it. I don’t know why, but it just adds a necessary depth to it. Another bonus – the soup is gluten free and so easy to make!

Hearty Winter Soup
adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

Ingredients

3 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
optional – other root vegetables (1 parsnip, 1 turnip, 1/4 butternut/acorn squash)
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 qt chicken stock
2 cups water
1 cup French/green/puy lentils
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
5 springs of thyme

Directions

*Make ahead* Rinse the lentils under cold water and place in a bowl with water for 2-4 hours to allow for a shorter cooking time later when you make the soup. I’ve also heard they digest better when they are pre-soaked.

Once you are ready to make the soup, heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the carrots, onion, and celery and cook on medium for about 5 minutes until they have sweat a little. Stir in the tomato paste and then add the sweet potatoes and chorizo. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Next add the lentils, chicken stock, water, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are tender. If you did not presoak the lentils the cooking time will probably be closer to 45 minutes. If that is the case, you may want to wait and add the root vegetables halfway through so they don’t get too mushy. Taste and add more salt/pepper as need.

Place in serving bowls and serve with some good bread or cheese toast*.

To make cheese toast, you have a couple of options. You can pre-toast the bread slightly in the toaster or oven, place grated cheese (whatever you like) on top of each slice, and place in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes or so until the cheese melts. You can also heat up a nonstick pan on medium-high, pre-toast the bread (so it has a bit of a crunch), put grated cheese on top and place cheese side down on the pan for a few minutes until the cheese melts and adheres to the bread. (if you try to take it out to early the cheese will stay in the pan)

Do you love Nutella? Look for any excuse to eat it or use it in a recipe? This is an incredibly easy way for you to do that. We wanted to make a “light” dessert to go with our Turkey Bolognese for dinner this weekend. While this dessert isn’t light in fat, it is light texture. So at least you can pretend like you aren’t eating anything too heavy. The textures of the banana with the mousse, along with the chopped hazelnuts, make it a perfect bite in your mouth.

Note, the first batch I made became a little grainy looking because I tried to whip it longer than it was supposed to be whipped. So, the second time around I listened to the directions of asking for soft peaks, and it worked out much better!

This is a must try dessert and will become one of your go to desserts in the future!

Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Mousse
slightly adapted from Michael Symon’s recipe 

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso
1/2 cup Nutella
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
1 cup whipped cream
Sliced bananas

Directions

Combine the heavy cream and espresso granules in a small mixing bowl. Stir until dissolved, about 5 minutes. (You also have the option of just putting the cream and espresso directly into the standing mixer to avoid dirtying another bowl)

Add the espresso mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer, along with the Nutella. Mix with the whisk attachment on medium for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and continue beating until very soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Placed sliced bananas at the bottom of each serving dish. Top with the Nutella mousse, whipped cream and chopped toasted hazelnuts.