Quinoa Stuffed Artichoke

I have a big bag of frozen cooked quinoa left over from my quinoa pizza, and it falls out of the freezer every time I open the door. One day I walked into the kitchen to see Max, 8, shoving it back in as hard as he could, desperately, saying to himself, "Where does it go?!" I know the feeling.

Today I saw the best looking artichoke and my brain's light bulb turned on. The result: a very simple and far from groundbreaking way to make a stuffed artichoke. Healthy, though, and tasty too.

Quinoa Stuffed Artichoke
1 large artichoke
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
3 Tbsp. diced onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp. fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan

Cook the artichoke in boiling salted water til tender. Cool, then hollow out, discarding the fuzzy choke. Heat a little olive oil in your skillet and saute the onion and garlic until soft, then add quinoa, basil, and salt and pepper. Pile it all in the artichoke, then sprinkle cheese on top and broil until it's melted.


Janet's Notes: Infinitely variable. It might be good with some tomato, and next time I'll try some chopped raw pumpkin seeds to give a little more substance. It was a good simple side dish and could easily be a main course for people that aren't my children.

The Dark Side of My Kitchen

This is what I want you to think my kitchen looks like at all times...

...but the reality is more like this.

I spend a lot of time blogging. I spend a lot of time cooking for my blog. But what you probably don't know is that I spend just as much time cleaning junk mail/dried on food spots/cats off my countertops/sinks/refrigerator, so that when I take a photo, everything is sparkling clean.

Oops! Forgot about the gumbo.

Oops! Forgot about the gravy.

I also spend more time than I'd like to admit doctoring up my food so it looks perfect when in fact, I burned/undercooked/dropped it. When you see gravy or whipped cream covering one of my concoctions, be suspicious.

Does your kitchen ever have a moment?

Momer's Corn Bread

I'm starting a new series here on This is Beige: cooking from the cigar box full of recipes I inherited from my grandma. Since Momer was from the south, I have to start with cornbread. If there's one thing you should know about Southerners and cornbread, it would have to be this: they do not like it sweet (or cakey, but that's two).


How can you bite into a piece of this cornbread and not be transported back to the "old plantation days?"


Digging into this recipe box is going to be highly entertaining and hopefully delicious as well. My favorite line is, "Pour sweet milk over meal and stir till mixed good." And by the way, sweet milk is just milk, as opposed to buttermilk.

Southern Egg Bread
1/2 pt (1 cup) of sweet milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 pt (2 cups) of corn meal
2 Tbsp. lard (I used butter)
2 eggs


Sift meal in pan. Pour boiling water over it, just a teacupful (I used 6 oz.). Next add lard (butter) so that the hot water will melt it in the meal. Pour sweet milk over meal and stir till mixed good. Add baking powder and salt. Always add eggs last. Bake in hot oven about 20 or 30 minutes until nicely browned, serve plenty butter with them. (Serve plenty butter with them? Where is your editor?!)


Verdict and Janet's notes: It would have been easier to melt the butter before adding it. And since the recipe didn't bother with superfluous information like oven temp ("hot oven?") I baked the bread at 400 degrees. Twenty minutes turned out to be enough; I made sure a toothpick came out clean. This was good. The kids liked it with butter and honey.

Friendly Competition: Maple Syrup

Amy of the Grody Gourmet just got back from a vacation to Vermont and has requested maple syrup as the ingredient in this week's recipe contest.

Our concoctions will be posted Friday and I'd love to see your favorite recipe using maple syrup as well. If you send it, I will post...along with a link back to your blog or shop.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Today I posted for the CCCOE (California Crafters of Etsy) blog, with some great finds from members of that team.

Pet Peeves: Grammar

You have no idea how much I enjoyed reading the pet peeves you all mentioned in your comments to my post a few days ago. It's been so fun, I'm going to do (at least) a couple more, starting with a subject close to my heart, grammar.

And to get the party started, here's a gem from Frances at il*mostro:

"Just this morning I read a comment saying "another words" instead of "in other words" which bothered me more than I care to admit, but #1 on my list is when people type "should of" "would of" or "could of" instead of should've, would've or could've. It drives me nuts!!"

Here are some of mine:

Misuse of the word "literally." This one is so hilariously annoying that my brother Ducky and I regularly email each other with the latest ones we've heard. I'll do a whole post about this one soon, but for now, two of my all-time favorites:

He literally wore his heart on his sleeve.
He was literally the black sheep of the family.

It's sales, not sells. You don't make a sell, you make a sale. It's extremely common in the Etsy forums and makes my teeth hurt.

Alot. This one bugs me. A lot.

Misuse of Apostrophes--where to begin? The one that comes immediately to mind is "The Johnson's." The Johnson's what?

Oh, and along that line...misplacement of apostrophes. You have to put the apostrophe in place of the missing letter, not just any ol' (see how that works?) place.

Correct: Y'all
Incorrect: Ya'll

And finally, irregardless is not a word.

What are your grammar pet peeves? (And if you tell me your driving pet peeves too, I'll include them in next week's post, along with a link to your blog or shop.)

Vietnamese Noodle Salad (Bun)

Sunny San Diego--already 75 degrees at 8:30 a.m.

Get a job, losers!

It's a scorcher! 85 degrees at the coast and thank goodness I don't live inland. My walking partner Kelly tortured me today with a 2-hour walk that included hills and all the beach access stairs. I love her.

Came home dying from the heat and craving my favorite Vietnamese dish, Bun (pronounce it "boon"). Light and fresh and not an ounce of fat except for the egg rolls which I baked, so cut me some slack, Jack. You can use any meat you want or leave it out altogether.

Things I cannot live without

Bun with Grilled Shrimp and Egg Rolls
For the dressing (nuoc cham), I've adapted about 10 recipes into the one that suits my taste, though you can easily add or reduce anything you want.


Nuoc Cham
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp. fish sauce (Don't leave this out!)
Juice from 1 lime
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce

Whisk all ingredients together and chill.


Bun
1 package thin rice noodles
1/2 lb. shrimp, marinated in 2Tbsp. soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. chopped onion, 1 clove minced garlic, then grilled
Egg rolls (I used Trader Joe's brand), cooked and sliced
Thinly sliced lettuce, carrot, cucumber, and bean sprouts

Prepare rice noodles. To do this, place dried noodles into a large bowl, then pour boiling water over them and let soak for about 2 minutes, until they're tender but still chewy. Drain and chill, then put about a cup of cold noodles into the bottom of your serving bowl. Add veggies on top and then top with shrimp and egg rolls. Pour nuoc cham over everything.

There you have it! A healthy, fresh lunch or dinner that's perfect on a hot day (or any day, for that matter).