"Christmas" Quinoa

Ok, so this isn't really only for Christmas, but I've been told it's reminiscent of Christmas flavors, and I guess it is.

Budget Tip
Quinoa (said Keen-wah) can be found in the bulk section of natural food stores or buy online.  It's usually around $4.00/lb but, if you have a Costco near you, you can get it for $2.00/lb: http://gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/quinoa-bargain-at-costco-gluten-free.html And, let me tell you, one cup of this stuff will last you a full week!

Suggested Ingredients

1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1/3 cup craisens - or slice up an apple and throw it in there if you find craisens are too expensive or sweet

1 cup Quinoa

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1 cinnamon stick

Cooking Method

Toast the almonds in a sauce pan.  When you start to smell the toasty nutty smell, add in the Quinoa and toast that as well until a good bit of it is light brown.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a low temperature, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes.  Take off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then fluff with fork.  Done!

I served this as a side dish with a Caribbean Jerk Talapia fillet, however I bet it would be good with turkey breast too.  Then, I ate it as lunch that week..I still have some left!  A little goes a loooong way :)

Cajun Shrimp & Pasta

 

Budget Tip

All in all, this is a pretty inexpensive recipe.  Feel free to switch it up with whatever is on sale for filler.  I chose portabello mushrooms because they looked awesome and were on sale.  The original recipe called for 2 cups of heavy cream, which I substituted with light milk and fat free cream cheese.  It also called for scallops, which I used mushrooms instead.  I forgot to get fresh parsley so I just used a bit of dried, but originally it asked for 1 cup of fresh parsley. 

Ingredients

Angel Hair Pasta
1 small tub of fat free cream cheese
2 cups lowfat milk
2 large portabello mushroom caps (or about 4-6 oz pkg)
white parts of a scallions bunch
1/2 lb of peeled, deveined shrimp
some fresh chopped basil
some fresh thyme
dried parsley to taste
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese
1/2 cup of some other chesse like Swiss, or an italian mixture

Cooking Suggestion

Cook the pasta to al dente while you are cooking the rest of the dish.

Combine the milk and cream cheese in a large cast iron skillet (or whatever you have with surface area).  Cook on medium heat to keep it from burning until it's just boiling, stiring pretty much constantly.  You want to make sure that the cream cheese has been worked into the milk without any left over blobs. 

Turn down the heat to a simmer and add in herbs and spices.  Meanwhile, in a seperate smaller pan saute the mushrooms and onions in a bit of olive oil until they are just a bit soft - mostly you don't want them to be raw any longer.  While your mushrooms and onions are cooking, go ahead and add your cheeses to the sauce and stir them until they are completely melted.  If you use a type of mozzerella, but be sure to cook it for a bit because it'll tend to be stringy.  I think it makes the dish more fun anyway.  The way to know when it's done is when you can't feel the parmesean in the sauce any longer - taste it and you'll know what I mean.

Ok, now that the cheese is cooked, go ahead and add the mushrooms and onions.  Stir it around a bit and then at the end, add the shrimp.  Since these don't need to cook very long, just stir them around so that they are completely covered by the sauce.  Cook a couple of minutes and just check to make sure they aren't translucent any longer.  For this I cooked the sauce for a couple of minutes and then turned off the burner and let them sit for another couple of minutes while I poured up a glass of white wine and set the table.

Serve over angel hair pasta.  If you aren't a fan of the carbs pasta can pack, searve it over asparagus or some other type of veggie.

Some notes here..the sauce is pretty dang spicy, so if you aren't a fan of the spice, tone down the red pepper flakes and white pepper.  Other than that, this was a REAL hit.