Creamy Quinoa and Peas

Lately, I've been into a lot of substituting when it comes to making recipes. Call it being creative, or call it being lazy and not having the correct ingredients. Either way you swing it, sometimes you stumble upon something that ends up being pretty dang good.

Today's happy accident? Creamy Quinoa and Peas. Altered from a risotto recipe by Rachel Ray, this easy dish is now packed full of protein with the same delicious taste. Not to mention it's probably one of the quickest and least fussy meals you'll ever make. Perfect for those nights when 

To make enough for one, grab these ingredients:

pad of butter
¼ red onion, chopped

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

¼ cup grated parmesan

1/3 cup frozen peas

1/2 lime

salt and pepper

Start by heating the butter in the bottom of a small pot on medium. Add your onions and saute until softened. Next, pour your chicken broth and quinoa into the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cover, cooking for 15 minutes or until all the broth has been absorbed. 

When the quinoa is cooked mix in your parmesan cheese, frozen peas, zest  from the lime, and salt and pepper. Heat for several minutes or until the peas are warmed. Serve and enjoy your super-quick dinner!

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Indian Spinach & Tofu

I've always considered myself someone who couldn't really cook convincing Indian food. I always found the spices to be a tad too unfamiliar for my taste buds, and I never trusted myself to re-create something that would taste as good or better than what I could buy at a nearby takeout joint.
Fortunately for me and my budget, this recipe happened.

Introducing deliciously tasty and ridiculously easy Indian Tofu & Spinach. I developed this recipe quickly when I needed to use up some leftover spinach and tofu, and it's become one of my new favorites.
To make enough for one, you will need:

Vegetable oil

1 small block of tofu (about 1x4'), sliced into 1-inch by ½-inch blocks

1 teaspoon cumin

¼ cup red onion, chopped

1-inch piece of ginger

1 teaspoon white pepper

salt and pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

3 big handfuls of spinach

¼ cup greek yogurt, plain

garlic salt

Heat the oil in a pan until it's good and hot. Add your tofu and fry until brown on both sides.

While it's cooking, use a food processor or blender to blend red onion and ginger together until finely minced.

When the tofu is done, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Add the cumin to the pan (and add additional oil if needed). Fry for several seconds. Next, add the ginger and red onion mixture and heat for 2 minutes. Add white pepper, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir. Add the spinach in batches, letting each round wilt. Next, place the tofu back in the pan and sprinkle in the smoked paprika, heating for 1-2 minutes. Finally, add the greek yogurt and mix until combined. Heat for 1 minute, then scoop onto a plate and serve. Top with garlic salt to taste.

Simple, healthy, and low-cal. Not to mention quick. Can you say go-to dinner recipe?

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Thai Fresh Noodles

I will start off by saying that this recipe is ridiculously easy.
Seriously.
Technically, there's no actual cooking involved, unless you count boiling water as "cooking." And even that step can be avoided depending on the type of noodles you buy.
Basically, if you're the type of person that likes quick and tasty meals, this is the recipe for you.

Inspired by traditional Thai cuisine, this noodle dish is full of fresh flavors and healthy foods. 
A noodle dish you won't feel guilty about?
Yes, it exists.

To make this guilt-free dish, grab these ingredients
(recipe adapted from Food Network Kitchens)

4-5 oz rice noodles
1 medium cucumber, sliced
8 grape tomatoes, sliced
juice of 2 small limes
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced ginger
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup mint leaves, torn

Cook your noodles as directed on the package. This is where some slight cooking might come in, because most rice noodles require you to boil water and pour it over the noodles to soften them. But you can also buy pre-cooked noodles in water.

Next, whisk together your lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, minced ginger, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (to taste) in a large bowl. Add your noodles. Toss to combine. Add the cucumber slices, tomato slices, almonds, and mint leaves. Toss again.

If necessary, add more red pepper flakes to up the spice content (depending on how much heat you can take).

And that's it!

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Movie Night Menu

There's an underlying idea that when college students want to get together with friends, they throw a violent alcohol-fueled rager with Popov and Diet Coke. Or, if they're over 21, they storm the bars until they can barely balance in their 5-inch heels anymore.
While I believe we've all had those nights, there are some days where you're just not in the mood, and snuggling up with a blanket and a warm drink sounds better than stumbling across the blurry pavement. Fortunately, you don't have to choose between raging and sitting at home by yourself. Plan a small menu and invite some friends over for a movie night! Low-key and simple, but fun.
For my movie night, I invited Matt and Maria, some of my old high-school friends over for dinner and drinks.

Say hello to Matt and Maria.
I love having Maria over when I cook, because she grabs my camera and snaps more shots than the paparazzi. Hence, the numerous number of pictures for my recipes.
Which brings me to the menu: 

For my movie night, I went with simple, filling, and delicious. Cherry cola-glazed chicken wings, 4-bean relish, cheese and crackers, and a mulled red wine with brownies for dessert.
And now, the recipe breakdown:

The 4-bean relish is a simple dish that involves throwing the following ingredients together into a bowl:

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper
1/4 cup sliced green onions
3/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup jarred roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons honey
1 12-oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 12-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 12-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 12-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

This Guy Fieri recipe is super easy and reliably delicious - just BE SURE TO DRAIN AND RINSE THE BEANS. It takes extra time, but if you don't, you'll end up with a soupy mess.

Next up, the chicken wings:

These cola-glazed wings are a Virginia Willis' recipe I stumbled upon a couple years ago. Her method of crisping wings under the broiler makes them extra-juicy and super-quick to make.

For the wings, grab these ingredients:
1 cup cola
Juice of 2 limes1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar1 jalapeño, finely minced (discard the seeds)2 pounds chicken wings1/4 teaspoon coarse saltFreshly ground black pepper

Start by cutting up your wings. Slice the tips off, then break them at the joint. Place on a foil-covered baking sheet as you finish.

For your glaze, place the cola, lime juice, brown sugar, and jalapeño into a pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes until the mixture becomes syrupy.

Next, salt and pepper your wings. Drizzle the glaze over them.

Turn on your broiler and place the wings 4 inches underneath it. Cook for 10 minutes. Then, turn the wings and coat with more glaze. Cook an additional 10 minutes. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with brown sugar.

After gorging ourselves on wings, cheese, crackers, and relish, my friends and I settled down to watch a movie while I put together our dessert drink - mulled wine. This super-easy drink came from the Food Network magazine, and it's the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

To make the mulled wine, grab:
4 wide strips orange zest
1/2 cup sugar
1 bottle red wine
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
3 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf

Let the orange zest sit in the sugar for 1 hour before making the wine. Then, combine he wine, sugar, zest, cloves, anise, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf into a large pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the wine is warm and fragrant. Ladle into cups and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

The perfect wind-down drink to enjoy while watching Marvel's The Avengers.
If your plan on having a movie night yourself, I highly recommend these recipes! Even one or two of them can spice up the night a bit. 

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