Quinoa with Charred Vegetables and Queso Fresco

Some days the sun just seems to shine brighter-you know, the days where everything seems to go your way, you fit into your skinny jeans and your heart seems to swell with happiness. Last Saturday was one of those days for me. I was in the midst of a 3 exam, 2 paper and 1 presentation week at nursing school, but I got up early, cleaned my room, went for a massage and saw Shutter Island with Carlos (highly recommend this film!!) and cooked dinner.

I decided to make quinoa with charred zucchini, bell peppers, queso fresco and a smoky-spicy tomato sauce. I couldn't have been more pleased with the results-healthy, refreshing and simple to prepare.


To Make:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (use vegetable stock to make this a vegetarian dish!)
1 quart whole milk
2 limes
3 bell peppers (I used 1 red, 1 orange and 1 yellow)
2 small zucchini
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with diced chiles
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 small diced tomatillo
4 cloves minced garlic
1 small diced onion
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt

Heat up milk in heavy sauce pan over medium heat until steaming, but not quite simmering. Add juice of 1 lime and stir as milk curdles. Turn heat to low and let cook additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, add salt and let sit 20 minutes.

As milk is cooking, heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil in saute pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, tomatillos and garlic and turn to medium. Stir constantly until you are sure that the garlic is not browning (if it is, remove from heat and let cool for a minute). Cook about 5 minutes until onions become translucent.

Add spices and cook 1 minute until fragrant.

Stir into tomatoes/chiles into mixture and cook 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour milk over a cheesecloth-lined colander. If you do not cheesecloth, a very fine strainer will do. Once liquid has mostly drained, form curds into a ball and twist cheesecloth over the ball so that the pressure from twisting causes excess liquid to drain. Hang over sink or a bowl for 2 hours so that cheese may dry out.

Slice bell peppers and zucchini lengthwise into small strips.

Heat up remaining olive oil in a cast-iron grilling pan over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers and zucchini (you will probably need to do this in 2-3 batches) and cook until lightly charred, adding extra olive oil if necessary. Remove from heat.

Heat up quinoa and broth over high heat. When it begins to simmer, turn heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook 20 minutes, stirring a few times to fluff quinoa.

Serve quinoa with vegetables, cheese and spicy tomato sauce to taste.

Shrimp Milanese with Lemon Cream Sauce

After looking at my credit and debit card history, and the amount of food in my kitchen/fridge I have determined that I spend way too much money on groceries for 1 person! So the idea is I will buy only fresh items like veggies or milk that complete recipes that can be made from ingredients that I already have. Sounds good, right? Of course, the first recipes will definitely be the easiest..let's see how this works 3 weeks from now! My first idea: shrimp that has been in my freezer for...um...a while, Parmesan , frozen spinach and zucchini I got at Trader Joe' last week. The recipe: Parmesan-crusted shrimp over pasta with a creamy lemon sauce, and some vegetables thrown in for good measure (and better nutrition).

For Lemon Cream Pasta:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, diced finely
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup cream
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and drained in colander over sink
2 small zucchini, sliced horizonally into thin slices
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 box cooked pasta-linguine, angel hair, tagliatelle, fettuccine...

For Parmesan-Crusted Shrimp:
1 lb large shrimp, deveined & shells removed

1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Sprinkle of dried basil and dried parsley
2 tablespoons butter

To Make Lemon Cream Pasta:
Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes, turning heat down to medium after adding, and stirring often to ensure they do not stick to pan and burn.

Add zucchini and saute for a minute on each side. Add in lemon juice, lemon zest and chicken stock. Whisk together and allow it to come to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer about 15 minutes; it should thicken up a bit at this point.

Add the spinach (squeeze beforehand to ensure excess liquid does not enter pasta sauce) and cook in the sauce for a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream.

Stir in Parmesan cheese and pour sauce over cooked pasta.

To Make Parmesan-Crusted Shrimp:
Mix together cheese, bread crumbs, and spices over large plate. Coat shrimp with mixture.

Melt 1/2 butter in large saute pan over medium high heat. Add 1/2 of shrimp and cook for 2 minutes on each side, they should be golden. Remove from pan and set aside. Melt remaining butter and cook remaining shrimp.

Serve shrimp over lemon cream past~voila! And I didn't have to buy any ingredients to make it either...free dinner always tastes better!

What ingredients have been hanging around your kitchen for too long? Maybe with a little freezer burn, stale nature or been on the shelf and will expire if you don't use it in the next month of two...let me know your ideas! (I just may use them with my bajillion items chilling in my kitchen-pun intended)

Shrimp, Red Pepper and Basil Pasta with Charred Zucchini

1 recipe Easy Red Pepper and Basil Pasta Sauce, a little fresh basil and parmesan cheese reserved for garnish
2 zucchini
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb large shrimp, de-veined and tails removed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 lb linguine pasta

Prepare pasta sauce according to directions. (This may be prepared the day before serving).

Marinate shrimp in 1 tablespoon olive oil, white wine, crushed red pepper and garlic.

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat large pot of salted water on high heat.

Wash zucchini. Slice in half lengthwise and cut each half into 4 chunks. Toss in 2 tablespoon olive oil and cook in oven 15 minutes, turning once. Turn oven to broil and cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are just beginning to char. When this happens, remove from oven.

While zucchini are roasting, boil linguine until al dente. Drain, and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

At the same time that pasta and zucchini are cooking, heat up large saute pan over medium high heat. Cook shrimp for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until they turn pink. Remove from heat.

Heat up pasta sauce until simmering. Toss noodles in pasta sauce.

Place pasta with sauce onto 4 large dinner plates. Divide charred zucchini amongst plates and top with cooked shrimp.

Garnish with reserved fresh basil and Parmesan cheese.