A Quinoa Salad for People Who Hate Quinoa… like me!
A bunch of make ahead veg heavy recipes & a new way to embarrass your kids
I was on a photoshoot this week that had a rare combination of circumstances. The shot list was light, I was in a beautiful studio with a big kitchen (Sugar Studios Brooklyn) and some extra room in the budget. So I proposed to the crew that rather than production ordering out or getting catering, let me cook everyone breakfast and lunch. If the circumstances allow, I love to do this. I emailed everyone to find out food preferences, allergies, etc. Some vegan, one dairy free, so the meal was essentially both those things. The breakfast and lunch I made had such rave reviews that I figured I’d write to you about it!
The Best Quinoa Salad
The Quinoa & Beet salad drummed up the most chatter. Mainly, “I really don’t like quinoa, but I can't stop eating this, would you share the recipe?”. I’m in the same boat, I don’t really like quinoa. But this combination is something different. It is stained pink from beets, and has a tang from cider vinegar. I put bowls of it out for breakfast with an optional slice of avocado or a jammy 6 minute egg - an ideal savory breakfast. And as per usual here, it’s perfect to feed to the MiniMouths. I’ve been sending it to school for Dean with some crumbled goat cheese on top. His Polish teacher was telling me how in Poland they eat tons of beets and how nutritious they are for kids- and of course the resulting wild colored diapers!
That recipe will be going out to subscribers later today. It’s one of those recipes that you’ll make over and over again for all sorts of occasions. Best of all it keeps great for leftovers. If you’re not subscribed, click the button below. As a subscriber you’ll get all the recipes each week plus access to the archives. For the equivalent of 1 latte a month or 1 cookbook a year, it’s a pretty sweet deal!
A Colorful Veg Heavy Lunch
For lunch that day, I made my Spicy Squash Soup (left out the fish sauce for my vegan theme, but I recommend you add it, it brings it to another level) and an adapted version of this Bon Appetit Miso Pesto. Both recipes are packed with colorful vegetables and flavor. If you’re making the soup for MiniMouths, what you need to adjust is the heat level (leave out the chilies, or not haha) and the texture. You’ll find more info on that if you click the link above.
Welcome!!
This week, I received a bunch of new followers both here and on instagram. I want to say Welcome! And Thank you! What you’ll find here is a glimpse into my week of cooking for my family that includes Dean (10 months old). My focus is on recipes that are realistic for the home cook who wants delicious and healthy family food. Most of what I make works for the baby/toddler with slight adjustments that don’t include more dishes or extra ingredients. I cook professionally for a living, so I definitely have a leg up in that department. But my main goal is to share what I know in the hopes that you might get inspired by some of it. If anything I send out, gets one person in the kitchen cooking, then I consider it all a success. Cheers to cooking more food at home!
What I’m Loving This Week:
Pasture Raised and/or Heirloom Eggs: If you follow along on Instagram, no surprise that I’m crazy for really good eggs. But recently I’ve been buying some eggs that are out of this world. Super deep orange yolks and the taste is .. well, eggy! These one’s were pasture raised and came from heirloom breeds of chickens. The result of that combination are shells in shades of pale blue and brown. There’s a lot of terminology out there on labels that is confusing and unregulated. And frankly hard to keep up with if you’re job doesn't revolve around food. Here’s how I think of it. Organic overall is good: the chickens are fed feed that has (hopefully) no pesticides sprayed on it. The next level is pasture raised. These chickens are allowed to go outside and eat things that are not just grain: hence why the yolks are so deeply colored and flavored. What about “Cage Free”? Well here’s where it gets tricky because any word like Pasture or Cage is unregulated, unlike Organic which is regulated by the USDA. But from what I know, Cage Free only means that they have a bigger caged in area, not that they are allowed to roam around outside. I look for Organic, Pasture Raised. And for me, the brand Vital Farms has been consistently on point. Then for the next wrench in my made up theories… farmer’s markets. Above all, you’re better off getting your eggs from a small farm even if there’s no label like Organic or Pasture Raised. Because the odds of the chickens being healthier and more nutritious is higher than in a supermarket with all the labels. Okay, well that’s the egg rant that no one asked for. You’re welcome!
Long Bright River By: Liz Moore: This is the book I’m reading right now. Well… the crime fiction book I’m reading. I have plenty of self help/spirituality books that are in various stages of completion at any given time. But I love crime/mystery novels, but good ones. This book came out in January 2020 and has a lot of success. It’s “One of Barack Obama’s favorite news books” So, it’s good enough for him. It’s a crime novel told in the perspective of a female cop in Philadelphia. What I love about it so far is that it has all the trappings of a page-turner mystery but it’s well written. But not too well written that it’s above my head. I have no shame in admitting that plenty of books out there are too well written for me. Every night I’m jumping into bed to get into it.
Alone Time in The Car: Yeah, another free, seems like a no-brainer, but as a mom it's a hard to come by suggestion. I’m basically just reminding everyone that time alone in the car, with loud music can be VERY therapeutic. I don’t get a lot of alone time these days. And I certainly don’t have a lot of places to listen to whatever I please (Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, right now) very very loudly. With SoulCycle closed, no dance cardio group fitness classes, and now having entered real adulthood this scene is the closest I’m probably ever going to get again to the dark dance floor of a Soho nightclub. That might not be the vision for everyone as stress relieving but you get my point. If you see some mom in a 2012 Subaru, with the music way too loud, embarrassing herself… c’est moi!
Wishing everyone success in the kitchen and more zen time XO Liv