Pesto Quinoa Salad

I'm constantly on the hunt for recipes that I can make and bring to social events. I found this pesto quinoa salad recipe and modified it a bit.  It's often hard to find something tasty, IC-approved, and normal to bring to a gathering.  This salad fits the bill even if it is a little hippie/girly.  I say this because all of the females raved, and my dad said, "Good thing I love you, because I do NOT like your salad." Just proves you can't please everyone! However, I did get two requests for this recipe, so I call it a success.  And might I add that I love having it in the fridge for a quick, no prep (once it's made!) lunch.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! 

Pesto Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 can chickpeas 

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 cucumber (leave on the side if you have picky, non-cucumber-loving guests)

1 cup crumbled feta cheese 

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 cup pesto 

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa (this evidently makes it taste less bitter.) Put quinoa in medium saucepan and cover with 2 cups water.  Heat on stove over medium high heat. When it comes to a boil, turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and fluff with a fork (all water should be absorbed. If it is not, return to heat, cover, and cook a few more minutes.) Put quinoa in large bowl and stick in fridge to cool.

2. Chop up peppers and cucumber. 

3. Combine all ingredients and store in fridge for a few hours to chill, serve, and enjoy! 

Notes: if you want a bright green salad, follow all the previous steps, but do not mix in the pesto.  Prepare the pesto and mix into the salad right before serving.  Once the pesto sits on the salad for a few hours, the salad turns a brown-ish color... The flavors come together and it tastes better (in my opinion,) but it doesn't look as appealing. You make the call! 

Roasted Red Pepper "Pimento" Cheese

Summer says vacation, summer says beach, summer says pimento cheese.

  

On my yearly vacation to the beach (before IC) there was always a large container of pimento cheese in the fridge.  You would come in from the beach, take out some bread, snag the pimento cheese, make a sandwich, grab some chips, and head back out to the beach.  Its just what you did, no questions asked.  

Last year's beach trip was right after being diagnosed.  I missed my pimento cheese, but I was in SO much pain that I went without anything that was a risk just to feel better.  This year, I feel like I am journeying through happily living with IC, learning day by day how to make great IC-safe food.  So, here I was at the beach, dying for some pimento cheese.  (Well, not really.  If I would have eaten some of that peppery, seasoned, sharp cheddar, and mayo, I would have been dying.  Thank you, IC. But I digress.)  So, here I was on a beach break at the heat of the day just wanting some of that creamy, cheesy, summery perfection.  And I had it!  The day before I had played in the kitchen for a while and came up with this recipe.  I'm happy to report that it had my screaming, jumping up and down, smiling in excitement and wonder.  It was like seeing a long-lost friend!  (clearly, I am a foodie. Geeze.) Anyways.  I also need to say that my family also loved it.  A winner all around!  

Nothing says southern summer like Pimento Cheese.  Enjoy it on a sandwich, atop a burger, on a cracker, whatever your preference, this version of IC-safe pimento cheese will quench your craving, and, if you are anything like me, it'll make your day.  

4 cups fresh grated mild cheddar cheese

6 oz. cream cheese, softened (make sure to get the blocks, the containers sometimes contain unsafe preservatives)

1/2 cup cottage cheese

*1 roasted red pepper and juice, peeled, seeds removed, chopped 

1/4 tsp garlic powder

**1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp salt

**1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients and squish/mix together with your (clean)hands. Refrigerate and enjoy!

* onion powder and pepper are "foods worth trying" on the IC Diet list- they should be fine in this small amount, but know your limits and try a small amount first if you are unsure! 

** Red Peppers are a completely safe food, don't worry the stars are for another reason! This is my method for roasting and preparing them.  I roast my peppers in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes turning them once in the middle of cooking.  Cool them in a paper bag after removing them from the oven- this allows them to steam and the skins to peel off super easily.  Before peeling, poke a little hole in the bottom of the pepper and squeeze it over the bowl to save the juice from the pepper, this keeps the seeds from getting mixed in the juice.  Then peel, remove the seeds, and chop.  This can be a time consuming process but its completely worth it.

Last note, I promise. Pimentos are not listed on the IC-diet list, but being that they are a mild, sweet pepper, they are likely safe.  If you can find fresh pimentos, try them and see how things turn out, I know I will. Unfortunately, my spastic "I want to make pimento cheese" self could not find them at the farmers market at the beach.  However, you might have luck at your local farmers market.  The jarred pimentos that I found all contained citric acid, which my IC cannot handle.  The roasted red peppers make quite an amazing substitute in my opinion, though! 

Hummus: The Greatest Staple Ever

Before getting IC, I would buy hummus at the store occasionally, and I enjoyed it. After getting IC, I realized how awesome this stuff really is!  There are tons of recipes on the internet with different hummus recipes.  I recommend you go check them out... with a few changes, the different varieties of hummus can keep our taste buds entertained and satiated.

This post contains my favorite basic hummus recipe.  While I like to change things up and add different things now and again, this is my favorite go to.. its quick to make and stores in the fridge just fine for a few weeks. I also love it because I can serve it as an appetizer at a family get-to-gather or a party with friends and everyone enjoys it!

Classic Hummus

2 cups chickpeas/garbanzos (preferably fresh, but canned is okay too)
1-2 Tbl tahini (not pictured!)
1 1/2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tsp garlic
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
3-5 Tbp water (start with 3 and add more water if hummus is too thick)

Put all ingredients into a food processor and mix until creamy!

FYI- tahini is ground sesame seeds. It adds a bitter flavor to hummus. I sometimes include it, and sometimes leave it out all together just depending on how I am feeling. Try including it and leaving it out and decide your preference!

Cooking the Perfect Chickpeas/Garbanzos

So I've got to be honest here... I am by no means an expert at cooking chickpeas/garbanzo beans.  There are tons of awesome blogs out there with perfect pictures and tons of details.  If you want to want to know the science, look at gorgeous pictures of a bean, or read a comparison of different cooking methods, then go to Google and find just that.  No hard feelings; no bitterness.  This blog is simply my awful pictures and my preferred method of cooking garbanzos.  (I know my enthusiasm for my own blog just compels you to read on!)

Before having IC, I never would have thought about or taken the time to cook chickpeas.  The only way I consumed chickpeas was in store-bought hummus.  IC put a stop to the store bought hummus (yay, citric acid!), and I started to experiment with making my own.  My first batch of hummus used canned chickpeas.  They work just fine, but trust me, they are nothing compared to fresh cooked.  So, one day when I had some time, I tried cooking dried garbanzos.  I will never go back.

I want to share this method of cooking chickpeas/garbanzos, because I use them in tons of my recipes.  They are the backbone of amazing hummus; they are delicious to snack on, and they are an awesome way to add protein to a salad.  All that being said, enjoy my photos, glance through the directions, and finally, give it a try.  Honestly, I think its really difficult to mess up a batch of these babies.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans (for the record, they are the same thing)
Water

Method:
Rinse chickpeas in cold water.  Place all chickpeas in a container or large bowl, with plenty of water covering.  You want the bowl/container to be large, and there to be about 3 inches of water above the beans.  Cover and stick in the fridge overnight to soak.
Take beans out of the fridge and dump into a strainer.  Once all of the excess water is drained, place beans in a large pot taking time to check that there are no green/discolored beans.  Cover the chickpeas with at least 3 inches of water and bring to a boil over medium heat.  As the beans heat up, you will likely hear popping coming from the beans- this is okay, don't freak. Bring the water to a boil.  At this point, there will likely be lots of foam in the pot- scoop this out with a large spoon.  Reduce the heat to medium-low.  You want there to be a bit of a simmer, but not boiling.
Cook the beans for an additional 2-3 hours.  Taste test after 2 hours to see how they taste.  Are they too crunchy for your liking?  Let them cook a little longer.  If a good amount of the water evaporates during cooking, then add more water- just make sure it is hot! (Experts probably recommend against this, but I've done it more than once, and the beans still wind up delicious.) Once the beans are cooked to your liking, remove from heat, drain and enjoy! I've found that the chickpeas will keep in the refrigerator for 2+ weeks without a problem.

Notes:
I often cook a ton of chickpeas at once- I just never seem to be home long enough to remember to soak them all night and then have time the next day to cook them.  So, when I do remember to make time to cook these, I cook a ton just to make my life easy.  I then freeze 3 cup batches in freezer baggies.  Each batch allows me to make hummus and have some leftover to throw on salads and pop in my mouth as a quick snack!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Breakfast is a great meal to enjoy with IC.  So many of the ingredients are IC-friendly to start.  With the addition of newer all-natural foods like this bacon, which is preservative free, naturally wood smoked, uncured, no added MSG, gluten free, and delicious, breakfast gets even better. This is a completely "friendly" food, so enjoy it! 

There is, of course, the option of going to a butcher for bacon like this, or Trader Joes might sell some for cheaper.  However, I find great joy in being able to walk into a normal grocery store and find all the fixings for one meal. 

So after finding this bacon, I thought that breakfast for dinner sounded just about perfect.  I served the bacon, scrambled eggs, and some delicious buttermilk biscuits.  I also had some homemade crockpot apple butter... didn't even miss the jam!  Don't worry, I'll be sharing the recipe for that apple butter soon!

I do want to caution this recipe... buttermilk is listed as a "food worth trying cautiously" ingredient.  When buttermilk is made, there is a build up of lactic acid which is what gives it the sour taste.  I was able to enjoy it without a problem, but you might want to try a small amount first before going hog wild. (Get it? with all the bacon talk earlier, I couldn't resist.)

Anyways, onto the recipe!  

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups self-rising flour

1 Tbls white sugar

1 Tbls baking powder

2/3 cups shortening

2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder; stir until well mixed.  Cut in shortening until shortening is broken up... the mixture should look well mixed and pea-sized lumps only remain. Add 2 cups buttermilk and mix just to moisten.

3. Roll out dough to 1-inch thickness and cut into biscuits. Place biscuits on baking sheets.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.

The original recipe said it yields 18 biscuits.  I got closer to 14... Perhaps I could have rolled the dough out a bit more, but in my opinion, the biscuits were perfect.