Turkey, vegetable and rice soup recipe

Check out a new, delicious recipe for turkey, vegetable and rice soup on my Lakewood Cooking Examiner page! Comments welcome!

Different squash varieties and tips

If you are interested in trying squash, or incorporating more squash into your diet, then check out this new article on my Lakewood Cooking Examiner page - http://www.examiner.com/x-32492-Lakewood-Cooking-Examiner~y2009m12d31-Squash-varieties-recipes-and-tips

Easy hot chocolate recipe

I just posted a super simple hot chocolate recipe on Examiner.com. Why use that icky powdered stuff when you can make a delicious cup of hot chocolate from scratch???

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-32492-Lakewood-Cooking-Examiner~y2009m12d24-Easy-hot-chocolate-recipe

Pomegranates

A refresher course on how to open a pomegranate: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-32492-Lakewood-Cooking-Examiner~y2009m12d22-How-to-open-a-pomegranate

Lakewood Cooking Examiner

As some of you may know, I got accepted to write as a Lakewood Cooking Examiner for Examiner.com. Please check out my page here. I will be posting new recipes, tips, and tricks on here! Check often and become a subscriber. Also, feel free to share the link with your friends!

Ancient Food, Modern Twist

Today's recipe is for my friend Tammy who requested a dish using Quinoa. Quinoa is such a wonderful food. It originates from South America way up in the Andes mountains. It is still an important food, just like it was over 5,000 years ago. The Incas regarded this crop to be sacred. It is extremely nutritious for a number of reasons. It is very high in protein and its amino acids are well-balanced, unlike rice and wheat. It also is high in fiber, magnesium, iron and phosphorus. Another great thing is that it is gluten-free, so it is a fantastic food source for those allergic or avoiding gluten. Read more about it's history and importance here.

I find it fascinating that this grain has such historical importance and is such a complete protein source. It not only tastes good, it is good for you! It has a texture unlike anything else. It is soft and crunchy at the same time. I find it rather delightful to eat!

There are a lot of different things you can do with Quinoa, but one of my favorite things to make is a cold Quinoa salad.

You need:

1 cup of Quinoa
2 cups of water
1 red bell pepper
1 small red onion (give or take depending on how much you like onions)
1 English cucumber
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 cup Feta cheese
2 TB Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 TB fresh dill
2 large lemons
3 TB EVOO
1 clove of fresh garlic minced finely or grated
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a medium pot combine the water and Quinoa (add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the water), and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes on low heat. Leave the lid slightly elevated in order for some of the steam to escape and keep the pot from boiling over. When the Quinoa is done, it would look a slightly transparent. Take off the heat and pour into a large bowl. Let cool on the counter for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times to help the cooling process. You want to Quinoa to be around room temperature before you start assembling the salad.

While the Quinoa is cooling, you can begin preparing the other ingredients. Cut the red pepper, onion, and cucumber up into small chunks. I like to cut the cucumber into quarters so you have little crisp wedges. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Set all the veggies aside.

To make the dressing, combine the fresh lemon juice, EVOO, dill, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and whisk or shake to mix. You can also make this dressing ahead of time which will allow the flavors to expand (it tastes great over regular salad too).

When the Quinoa is cooled to room temperature, add the diced vegetables and Feta and toss together. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss again. Let the salad marinate for at least 15 minutes before serving to help the flavors develop. It will serve 4-6 people. I can usually just eat this salad by itself for lunch or dinner, but it also goes great with grilled chicken or fish.

Until next time, happy eating!

Unexpected Poison - Sugar

I am one who LOVES sweets. I love cakes, cookies, candy, soda, and anything else that's sweet. I don't have a sweet tooth, I have sweet teeth ...

But, coming from a background where very little, if any, sugar was permitted growing up, I know that sugar is not good for you. It's a battle that I have struggled with all of my life so far, but I think that I am finally getting the message. A lot of this information I already knew from my nutritional research over the years, but it never hurts to take a refresher course.

Here is a video that I have found to be very inspiring and it is the final nail in sugar's coffin. It's a long video, but well worth the watch. I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Also - I am going to work on developing more healthy sweet treat recipes utilizing healthier sugars. Because face it, without some sweets in my life, I'm going to be a very sour person. And I'm sure I'm not alone!