Quinoa, Corn, and Tomato Salad with Chive-Infused Oil

I have been making the effort lately to clean up our eating.  Not that we eat bad, but we should probably be incorporating more whole grains into our diet.  David is against rice (really, rice?) and claims he doesn't like couscous (but eats pasta - can't figure that one out).  I've been seeing recipes for quinoa for a few years but never made the plunge.

Most of the recipes I've found online that appealed to me were salads.  Yeah, I'm not ready to form the stuff into a burger, for which I am sure my family is grateful.  I skimmed through the recipes I found and simply went with the one for which no trips to the grocery store were needed.

From what I've read online, if you didn't purchase pre-rinsed you needed to rinse it or else it could taste bitter from the coating left on it.  Since I purchased mine from a bulk bin I went ahead and rinsed it thoroughly and discovered in the process my mesh strainer wasn't as fine as I needed it to be.

This recipe was quick and easy to put together.  I made it after lunch so it would be nice and cold by suppertime.  I really liked the way the chive oil tasted and was happy to find another use for my overgrown chives plant.  I only made 1/2 the oil recipe and have enough to make this salad again.  I'm thinking it would be good for lunch with some grilled chicken or beef mixed in.

Quinoa, Corn and Tomato Salad with Chive-Infused Oil

Brightly colored flavored oil coats the quinoa grains and lends the salad fresh chive flavor. Refrigerate leftover oil to use as a dressing to drizzle over grilled fish or summer vegetables. Garnish with whole fresh chives, if desired.

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons Chive-Infused Oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced

Combine 1 1/2 cups water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Combine quinoa, corn, tomatoes, and parsley in a medium bowl. Combine Chive-Infused Oil and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over salad; toss well to coat. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup)

Calories: 179

Calories from fat: 34%

Fat: 6.7g

Saturated fat: 0.7g

Monounsaturated fat: 4.1g

Polyunsaturated fat: 1.3g

Protein: 5.2g

Carbohydrate: 26.1g

Fiber: 2.4g       

Chive-Infused Oil    

3/4 cup extravirgin olive oil
1/2 cup (1-inch) slices fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients in a blender; pulse 6 times or until chives are very finely minced. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard solids. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Yield: 3/4 cup (serving size: 1 1/2 teaspoons)       

Calories: 63

Calories from fat: 100%

Fat: 7g

Saturated fat: 1g

Monounsaturated fat: 5.4g

Polyunsaturated fat: 0.6g       

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes & Basil

It has been hot hot hot here and the last thing I want to be doing is heating up the house cooking.  I dug around the freezer and found a few salmon fillets and remembered the recipe I tried out last summer from Eating Well magazine at the height of tomato season. 

Well, we certainly aren't at the height of tomato season at my house (my plants are so pathetic this year) but my basil plant was in desperate need of a trim.  I dug out some cedar planks to soak (although I don't know why I bother since they always go up in flames) and the rest was a snap to put together.  The tomatoes came from the local farmer's market so they were grown locally by somebody - just not me.  As always I used extra garlic and they took about 15 minutes on the grill.  The *corn man* has returned to the 4-way stop by our house, so I soaked and threw a couple ears on the grill as well.  David complained at the lack of carbs but I told him if he wanted to HE could heat up the house making some sort of side dish.

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes and Basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 whole wild salmon fillet (also called a “side of salmon,” about 1 1/2 pounds)

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil, divided

2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat grill to medium.

Mash minced garlic and 3/4 teaspoon salt on a cutting board with the side of a chef’s knife or a spoon until a paste forms. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in oil.

Check the salmon for pin bones and remove if necessary. Measure out a piece of heavy-duty foil (or use a double layer of regular foil) large enough for the salmon fillet. Coat the foil with cooking spray. Place the salmon skin-side down on the foil and spread the garlic mixture all over it. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup basil. Overlap tomato slices on top and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Transfer the salmon on the foil to the grill. Grill until the fish flakes easily, 10 to 12 minutes. Use two large spatulas to slide the salmon from the foil to a serving platter. Serve the salmon sprinkled with the remaining 1/4 cup basil.


Per serving: 248 calories; 10 g fat ( 2 g sat , 5 g mono ); 80 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 35 g protein; 1 g fiber; 367 mg sodium; 799 mg potassium.

Storm Damage

About 2 o'clock this morning a thunder storm started getting closer.  Thunder, lightening and then the pouring rain started.  I was laying there trying to fall asleep, when it suddenly seemed like we were in a wind tunnel of some sort.  Howling winds followed by a weird sucking sound and then all was quiet.  The power went off a little while later.

Fast forward to early morning.  Overslept a bit since the alarm didn't go off.  Trying to get everyone up, dressed and out of the house so they'd make it on time for breakfast at daycare.  I opened the front door and the kids went out and stopped.  Christopher piped up "Bye bye tree".  Pretty accurate assessment:

Thankfully the tree (or two, I can't really tell) was the worst of the damage.  The kids' blow up pool ended up halfway down the hill to the woods.  The trellis I have supporting my cucumbers was blown back and took some of the cucumbers with it.  The yard was littered with branches from all over the place. 

We have such great neighbors though - came home to find a couple of the kids on our street getting some of the branches in the woods.  David is out there now with the guy across the street, 'supervising' the cutting of the portion that is on the lawn.  I am hoping that we'll be able to keep the rest of the tree, but I guess we'll have to call in a *tree guy* and see what they suggest.

Strawberry Picking 2011

As we have the last 2 years, Madeleine and I took a day off during the week to head out strawberry picking.  We went up to Bagge Strawberries as we typically do one Friday late in June.  Due to the rainy and cool weather, it opened up a little later than it usually does.

The morning we went was nice and sunny and somewhat warm, but by the time we arrived in Independence it was only 63 degrees.  After a brief stop at the local Walmart up there to pick up a sweatshirt for Madeleine, we found ourselves on the back of a golf cart being taken out to the fields.  This year the plants were full of strawberries and they were bigger and sweeter than in years past.

We ended up picking just shy of 20 pounds of strawberries.  They were so sweet this year, that a good portion of them were just eaten as is.  We did make 3 batches of strawberry freezer jam though, so we can enjoy it through the year.

My enthusiastic helper (for the first batch at least):

Mashing away:

This is about 1/4 of the strawberries that we had picked:

Our smaller containers hold 1 cup, the slightly bigger one holds 2 and the last one holds a quart.  My babci (grandmother) had a recipe for raspberry bars using jam.  I am hoping that using strawberry jam will work just as well:

Our own strawberries did not do so well this year.  We had a berry or two that we could pick each day during June.  We came home from vacation to discover the deer trimmed them back for me - down to the ground.  They have already started to recover and are still putting out runners, so I am hoping it was all just cosmetic damage!!

Quad Cities Airshow

I've started the monumental task of going through all the pictures I've taken over the last month.  Considering that involves 2 weeks of vacation, there are quite a few to go through and edit.

I found some pictures I had forgot about on the camera.  A week or so before we left on vacation we trekked out to the Quad Cities to go to the Quad Cities Airshow.  It was HOT.  It was hotter than hot, but we had fun.

Here are some pictures I managed to take.  It was the first show of the season where the Blue Angels were back performing and it was quite good.  Enjoy!

Bobcat!!

We just got back last night from a wonderful two weeks (yes, 2 whole weeks!) away.  While we were away, our neighbor across the street had a visitor in his backyard.  He emailed some pictures out to the neighbors:

Kind of glad we weren't around as I would have been paranoid everytime I let Sophie outside.  As you can see by the pictures, it was still light outside and he was brazen enough to be on the wall right outside their porch.  Makes me wonder where he came from.