Avocado, Strawberry, & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing - and a giveaway!

I realized that I only have *one* quinoa recipe on this blog. It's our favorite chili, but we're moving into summer now, so I wanted quinoa that could be eaten chilled. If you're not familiar with quinoa (keen-wah), we eat it frequently because it's a versatile, inexpensive, plant-based source of protein. And it's ridiculously easy to prepare.

I thought we'd also have a giveaway since we've reached 3,000 facebook friends! Keep scrolling to the bottom of the page for the details on our lovely etsy-themed giveaway.

I've been in a lemony mood lately and made a bright lemon poppyseed dressing for it, which is a bit unexpected for quinoa but really delicious.

I prepared my quinoa, chilled it in the freezer for a few minutes, and ate a barely warm salad, which I loved. I see no reason why you can't just use cold quinoa from the fridge for a chilled salad, if you prefer.

French Carrot Salad (Carottes Râpées)

I first encountered this salad in Karen LeBillon's wonderful book, French Kids Eat Everything. I've read up on it, and Salade de Carottes Râpées is a staple salad in France and a perennial favorite among children. It's bright, lightly sweet, full of nutrients, and my version uses ingredients that I always have in my kitchen. And it's inexpensive and easy, too.

This is one of those "add until it looks right" kind of dishes. I measured out what I use, but feel free to add a little more of something if you want it. The dressing shouldn't be heavy, though - the carrots should be just barely wet, not dripping.

Asparagus & Brie Pizza

We love pizza. Most Friday nights are pizza nights at our house, and we usually throw on whatever leftover veggies and cheese we have hanging around the fridge. This week I thought I'd use up some of the amazing farmers' market asparagus we've been getting lately, and I loved the results. It's bright and delicious and a nice way to introduce springtime flavors to kids in a form they're familiar with.

Printable Version Here

Asparagus & Brie Pizza Ingredients
3 big fat stems of asparagus (skinny ones work too; you'll just need a few more)
1/2 lb of brie
grapefruit sized hunk of pizza dough (we used sourdough, but sub your favorite recipe or store bought)
about 2 T. extra virgin olive oil, to brush
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
scant 1/4 tsp. dried dill
1/2 T. fresh snipped chives
2 T. spring onion (green part only)

Delicious and Healthy Bran Muffins

I have a theory about bran muffins. I think there are two main kinds: delicious but loaded with white sugar and bad fat, or really healthy but tastes like cardboard.

I firmly believe that healthy food can and should taste delicious, and muffins are no exception. I've come up with a healthy AND delicious bran muffin that we love, and I think you will, too.

These muffins have no refined sugar. Sweetness is derived from a little honey, blackstrap molasses (also a great source of iron), and pureed dates, something I like doing in my snack bites. I got the idea to toast the bran first from David Lebovitz's delicious bran muffin recipe. I used white whole wheat flour, but you can use regular all-purpose, whole wheat, or a mixture of the two; whatever you have on hand.

I tried both coconut and sunflower oils with success, but you can use whatever neutral flavored oil you have or maybe even try using butter. I do not, however, recommend using canola or vegetable oil since they are made from genetically modified canola and/or soy. Here's a simple article on what GMOs are and why we avoid them, and here's another specifically about GMOs and oil.

Easy Rice for Lunches

This isn't a recipe so much as a way of preparation for streamlined lunches. It's a companion piece to my Sweet & Spicy Glazed Edamame Cakes and will be a good side to the other lunch ideas I've been working on, too.

Many years ago, my mother in law gave me a texas-sized muffin tin that she didn't use. I used it a few times but stopped because, like the name suggests, it makes appallingly huge muffins. When I was brainstorming for ways to make lunches easier, I remembered this muffin mold and thought I'd try freezing portion-sized rice in it. And I wish I had this idea years ago.

Introducing Real, Flavorful Food to Kids

Have you ever noticed that most kids' menus at popular American restaurants are usually limited to macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and fries? 

The closest children get to a vegetable when eating off the kids' menu is usually ketchup, which is like a tomato in that it's red, but ketchup comes with high fructose corn syrup, sodium, and "natural flavoring," something that is decidedly unnatural. 

We think that kids won't eat healthy foods, or at least not knowingly. Vegetables are a kind of necessary evil; they are nutrient receptacles that parents stealthily sneak into smoothies, cookies, and brownies, but children are not expected to eat them on their own, much less develop an actual appreciation for them. After a quick google search of "vegetables for kids," three of the top nine results - fully one third - give ideas on how to hide vegetables in kid-friendly foods.

The idea that vegetables can be eaten incognito is, I think, misguided because by disguising vegetables with other flavors, we never teach our children to value the unique and rich depth of flavor that this food group offers. Kids are ultimately short-changed when they are only offered "kid food" because they aren't being taught to love to eat real food.

Berry Baked Oatmeal

I love breakfast. I especially love warm breakfasts that are easy and taste like berry cobbler.

This baked oatmeal can be made ahead and warmed up when you need it. I usually make some on Saturday night so we can have a easy but nice breakfast on Sunday morning before we head out to church. Weekends just aren't for cold cereal, in my humble opinion.

This is a slightly modified version of my Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal. Since my favorite farmers' market apples aren't in season here anymore, I thought I'd change up my favorite easy breakfast with the addition of some frozen berries, and I loved the results.