Quinoa with Pesto and Toasted Almonds

I had some pesto leftover in my fridge so I figured I would try it with quinoa. I came across this recipe on Oprah's website and it was perfect.

1 tsp. Olive oil
2 cups quinoa
2 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup dairy free nut free pesto or whatever pesto you like
1/2 cup sliced almonds , toasted

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in quinoa. Cook until golden, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally during the first 5 minutes and more frequently during last 2 minutes of cooking. Add chicken broth and salt; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until quinoa is just tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork; stir in pesto. Transfer quinoa to a serving bowl and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with toasted almonds.

If you don't know how to toast almonds all you do is preheat the oven to 350°. Spread almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until golden and fragrant about 6 to 8 minutes.

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Breasts

I found this recipe in the Passover By Design cookbook. I never got around to making it on Passover but did try it after. The recipe is for chicken tenders on skewers but I was too lazy to make it that way so I kept it simple. The original recipe also has a raspberry sauce to serve it with but I wasn't interested in serving it with a sweet sauce and knew nobody in my family would enjoy that. I served it with a mayonnaise based sauce but any sauce/dressing will do. It was a big hit and I will be making it again both during the year and on Passover.

4 Bonesless skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
1 C. White Wine
1 C. Shelled Pistachio, coarsely chopped

Flatten chicken. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place them in a bowl and add wine. Marinate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roll piece of chicken in nuts, pressing them so the nuts adhere to the chicken. Bake 13-15 minutes, turning once.

Cabbage Salad With Red Pepper, Cilantro, Peanuts and Dijon-Ginger Dressing

I found this recipe for Napa Cabbage Salad with Red Bell Pepper, Cilantro, Peanuts, and Dijon-Ginger Dressing on one of my favorite websites- Kalyn's Kitchen.
Right off the bat I used regular cabbage rather than Napa. Otherwise I pretty much stuck with the recipe and it was wonderful.

5-6 C. Chopped Cabbage
1 Red Pepper, very thinly sliced into same-length slices
1/4 C. Green Onions, thinly sliced
1/2 C. Cilantro, chopped
1/3 C Dry Roasted Peanuts, chopped

Dressing:
2 Tbls. Rice Vinegar (use unseasoned vinegar without added sugar)
1 frozen ginger cube OR 2 tsp. grated ginger puree
2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1 tsp. Sesame Oil
1 Tbls. Splenda
salt and black pepper to taste
3 Tbls. Canola Oil

Stir together all dressing ingredients. Let the dressing sit to develop flavor while you chop the salad ingredients.

Toss together the chopped cabbage, red bell pepper strips, sliced green onions, and chopped cilantro in a medium-sized salad bowl. Add desired amount dressing and toss to coat the salad. (You may not need all the dressing if you like your salads on the dry side.) Put salad in individual serving dishes and top each serving with chopped peanuts or toss peanuts into salad before serving.

Granola

I got this recipe from a friend who adapted it from a recipe she got from a friend. It probably doesn't resemble the original recipe at all but isn't that how it goes? If you like your granola a little sweeter I would add more silan. I used 1 Tbls. of cinnamon as my kids aren't huge cinnamon fans. I didn't add any fruit as I thought my kids wouldn't be likely to try it but if you like fruit in your granola then by all mean, add it. The only other thing that I am on the fence about is the whole almonds. I find them kind of clunky and am not sure but perhaps next time I would replace the whole almonds with more sliced almonds. So if that is something you would find bothersome then I recommend switching the whole almonds with more sliced.

This is really good and I have to keep myself from gobbling it all up.

6-7 C oats
1 C. Sunflowers Seeds
1 C. Whole Almonds (or more slivered almonds)
1/2 C. Plain Coconut
2 Tbls. Sesame Seeds
1/2 C. Slivered Almonds
4 Egg Whites
1/4-1/3 C. Silan
1-2 Tbls. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Vanilla
Craisins, Raisins or dried fruit, optional



Combine oats, seeds, nuts and coconut in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs, silan, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over oat mixture and mix until all ingredients are wet. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (it took me 2 sheets to make a single layer of oats). Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour. Rotate the pan and continue baking until cooked through and crunchy- about 5-10 minutes. After it is done baking you can add craisins, raisins or whatever dried fruit you like.

The Breakfast Dilema

Since I began this whole health food revolution in my house I have been struggling with breakfast. Since my family has a serious addiction to cereal and particularly sugar cereal I knew this would be a struggle. Someone suggested that I buy some healthy cereals and offer them to my family. I knew this wouldn't fly so I thought that perhaps if there were other food options in the morning then perhaps they wouldn't notice that there was no Cocoa Pebbles or Honey Nut Cheerios. I decided to try this recipe for Whole Wheat Muffins. I decided to try making them with strawberries since I thought they would be good and I had some strawberries that were going to get bad soon.

Also I didn't include the nutmeg as we don't like nutmeg.
Josh tried them last night and did not like them. I know they aren't the sugary treats he is used to so I decided to try them today and I think that perhaps the strawberries were not a good mix in for this recipe. I think I will try them again with nuts or bananas and maybe a little more honey. Let me know if you make them and find a better mix in.

For dinner I made Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers. I liked that they were oven baked and only a drop of oil. Of course Jordy ended up eating pizza at a friends house for dinner and once again Nadav wouldn't touch what I made but everyone else loved them. They were crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside and flavorful. I doubled the recipe but ended up with a lot of extra egg whites so next time I would use less egg.

I served them with whole wheat couscous and salad. I didn't dress the salad and was really proud that Danya ate it without asking for dressing.