Balsamic Green Beans with Garlic, Red Onion and Almonds

I love buying local during the spring and summer seasons. There's something about being outside in the sunshine as you stock up on fresh veggies and fruit. Andrew and I recently took a stroll down to Pittsburgh's Strip District, which is home to the famous Wholey's Seafood, various odds and ends shops as well as fresh 

produce and meat markets. We got a little excited about how much fresh vegetables and fruit we could get for a very reasonable price.

One of our over zealous purchases was green beans. I enjoy pretty much all vegetables but green beans was one I was not familiar cooking with. I'm all about steaming with salt and pepper but we wanted to get a little creative with it. Needless to say, we'll be making this dish again soon.  

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2- 2 cups fresh green beans, ends cut off and washed

- About five chopped almonds

- 1-2 tbsp olive oil

- 1/4 medium sized red onion, diced 

- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 3-4 tbsp balsamic dressing

Recipe:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Sautee in a large pan the olive oil, garlic and red onion until lightly browned. Add the chopped almonds and 1 tablespoon Balsamic Dressing and cook for an additional 2-4 minutes. 

Place washed green beans in a shallow, oven-safe pan. Add the sauteed mixture, stir and then add 1-2 additional tablespoons of Balsamic Dressing. 

Bake 10 minutes, remove to stir thoroughly and then bake for an additional 10 minutes. 

A few recommendations: 

- We didn't add Parmesan cheese but I'd recommend it for the cheese lovers. 

- Mushrooms may also be a delicious addition to this dish

- It will compliment a red meat dish well 

Spring Time Quinoa Salad

Quinoa salad is to pasta salad as
turkey sausage lettuce wrap is to hot dog.
Gluten free and slightly healthier.

We thoroughly enjoy cooking with quinoa.  It gives a great texture to our dishes with a flavor similar to pasta.  However, we still have not managed to figure out how much to make for one meal.  It seems that a tablespoon of uncooked quinoa makes about 5 gallons of prepared quinoa.  That may be an exaggeration, but we are frequently faced with an abundance of left-over quinoa, such as after making a quinoa-kale-sweet potato dish.

This leftover presented itself on a Saturday night before heading to PNC Park to watch the Phillies and Pirates play some baseball (if you can call it that).  We had decided to make a turkey sausage lettuce wrap for dinner (even though PNC park has gluten free hot dogs) as a healthy alternative.  What better to go along with a lettuce wrap than a fresh veggie and quinoa salad.  We added fresh chopped red onion, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms with Italian dressing for a quick, easy, and delicious side dish.

Red Bridge (Gluten Free!) at PNC Park

Ingredients
One cup prepared quinoa (chilled)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped tomato
2-3 tablespoons Italian dressing
Veggie-parmesan cheese (to top)
Fresh cracked black pepper (to top)

Recipe

Combine quinoa, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, tomato, and carrots - stir well.  Add Italian dressing, continue stirring.  Plate and top with parmesan and black pepper.

Serving suggestion - add spicy brown mustard and our kick ass relish to your lettuce wrap for a zing.

Quinoa with Sweet Potato, Kale, Onion and Mushrooms

Quinoa is a favorite of ours. It's versatile, quick and easy to make and is a great source of protein. I think it's a lighter grain therefore I enjoy it with usually a heavier sauce, such as sausage and marinara or sweet potatoes and veggies!


While this is not necessarily a difficult recipe to make, I will admit preparing it (specifically the kale) can take some time. We recently prepared this dish on a day we were both home early from work. However, it does only require quinoa, mushrooms, kale, sweet potatoes and onions (as well as your favorite spices). For us, it was garlic and red pepper with a few dashes of salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
- One medium to large sweet potato
- One small yellow onion
- One large bunch of kale, washed and cut with stems removed
- 4-6 chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 cup white wine (preferably dry)
- Seasonings: garlic, red pepper, salt and pepper
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked

Recipe:
We started with cooking the one cup of quinoa, since it takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Nothing special here, just followed the directions on the package.

Next, heat a large saucepan with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Start with sauteeing the onion and sweet potato once the oil is warm. Allow the sweet potatoes to begin to soften, add the chopped mushrooms, stirring occasionally. Once the mushrooms begin to soften, add the chopped kale and white wine. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and stir frequently. I also added more garlic and red pepper flakes at this time.

Keep the saucepan on medium-low heat until all vegetables have softened. Most liquid will be absorbed at this point. Don't forget to check back on your quinoa! I've never experienced burnt quinoa but I imagine it probably doesn't taste too good. The quinoa will most likely be done before the kale and sweet potatoes. I usually put the quinoa in a bowl and cover with a towel or foil until the meal is complete. Add some of the sautee to a bowl of quinoa, top with parmesan if desired and enjoy!

We've made this recipe a few times and enjoy it every time. I've had a glass of Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir with it at different occasions and while both went well, I prefer the Pinot Noir with it.

Spicy Chicken Spring Rolls

Leftover Vietnamese spring roll wrappers from our Mozzarella Sticks night led to this Americanized Asian dinner!

Any excuse for soy sauce to be included in a meal and I'm in. These made for a healthy and light dinner, which was perfect for a warm spring evening.

We made chicken salad with Sriracha, mayo and an onion. Chopped up lettuce, carrots, broccoli and celery. Added a little of everything to each spring roll wrapper and served with soy sauce and extra Sriracha... Delicious!

Chicken Salad Ingredients:


-1 12.5oz can of chicken
-1 tablespoon mayonaise
-1-2 tablespoons Sriracha
-1 small onion diced
-1 teaspoon relish





Spring Roll Ingredients:

-4 Blue Dragon Spring Roll Wrappers
-2-3 stalks of celry, thinly sliced and cut in half
-4-6 small carrots in long slices
-1/4 cup Broccoli sprouts
-1/4 cup lettuce
-Soy sauce for dipping


We first made the chicken salad, mixing all ingredients, adding relish and Sriracha to taste. We placed it in the fridge to stay cold as we chopped the vegetables.

We found the easiest way to prepare the spring rolls was by using a glass and two plates that were large enough to fit each wrapper. The first plate was used to soften the wrapper. We used the glass to pour hot water on one wrapper at a time. Once softened, usually 10-15 seconds of it being immersed in the water, we'd move the wrapper to the next large plate to ensemble the spring roll. It can get sticky so we tried to move fast. We placed a scoop of chicken salad as well as a few celery and carrot slices, broccoli sprouts and lettuce on the wrapper, closer to one side. Fold the wrapper over the ingredients so about a half inch is left uncovered and then fold each side over as well. Place on another plate as you prepare the others. Repeat the process with however many you'd like (we made four).

We enjoyed them with carrots and homemade jalapeno hummus (soon to come) as well as gluten-free soy sauce, Sriracha and a glass of Pinot Grigio!