I spent last weekend in NYC and Nicole joined me for part of the visit. Naturally we spent half our time talking about food, and much of it was about quinoa, avocados, and coconut. Yep, we’re that cool, chatting about complete proteins and heart-healthy fats. All that chit-chat about quinoa and avocados inspired me to make a fun and fast dinner of quinoa stuffed avocados, similar to a VegNews recipe I saw recently, and the concept of double stuffed baked potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups cooked red quinoa (I had cooked a big batch of quinoa in the rice cooker over the weekend and it came out perfectly! I used cold quinoa for this.)
• 2 avocados, diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Source: Flickr

Cut avocados in half, remove the pit, and then cut avocado into a checkerboard pattern.  Then scoop the pieces out with a spoon leaving the avocado skin halves in-tact and save these for later. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)

In a bowl, combine cooked (and cooled) quinoa, avocado, diced tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Scoop quinoa filling into avocado skins (it’s about 1/3 cup scoop each) and enjoy! The presentation for this dish is the fanciest part. The ingredients are insanely simple but together taste great: nutty quinoa, creamy avocado, and juicy tomatoes. What more would you want?! I still have half of the “stuffing” left over which we’ll probably enjoy over a bed of greens tonight. Let me know if you make this. I think it’d be a fun party food too – everyone could waltz around holding their little avocado cups raving about what an amazing chef you are!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a blogworthy breakfast. In fact, it’s been a while since I last posted. So I’m happy to share my latest morning invention with you: Apple Cobbler Oatmeal. I was testing this recipe out for another project I’m working on, but it was too good not to share with all of you. I love-love-loooooove apples. I eat one nearly every single day. Yes, even when they’re out of season and not local at all. It’s just non-negotiable. And since apples are on the dirty dozen list, I try to choose organic as much as possible. I rarely meet an apple I don’t like, except Red Delicious. And if you ask me what food I’d want with me if I were stranded on a desert island, my answer is a tie between apples and chips & salsa. Yes, I love apples. And now I love them with breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup water
• 1 apple, cored and diced
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp crushed walnuts
• ½ tsp Earth Balance
• Splash of vanilla almond milk
• A few dashes of cinnamon
• Pinch sea salt

1. Cook oatmeal stovetop according to instructions with a pinch of salt, stirring consistently as it boils. Add diced apple about halfway through cooking.

2. Remove from stove and stir in brown sugar, walnuts, Earth Balance, milk, and cinnamon.

3. Enjoy a piping hot bowl of apple cobbler for breakfast.

In other news…many of you have seen some great promos from food bloggers with CSN Stores and I got the opportunity to work with them, too. The stores have been more than gracious to us bloggers, so I am excited to do a product review.

For those of you that aren’t too familiar with the company, they have over 200 stores and offer a variety of items – kitchen, living room, bath, you name it. You can find anything from a coffee table to an ice cream maker. And I think that ice cream maker is what I’m going to review.

One of those trendy new fat free, create-your-own fro-yo places opened up down the street and Funk is madly in love with it. He’s been stopping there on the way home from work eating fro-yo before dinner. I have never seen the boy enjoy dessert so much! So to spare our wallets and (my) waistline, and nix the dairy, I figured making my own non-dairy ice cream, sorbet (my fav) and frozen yogurt would be the next best thing. Every time I see Gina make her own, I wish I had my own ice cream maker! Usually I only like cold treats in the heat of summer, but once this is in the house, I can’t be so sure. Maybe some apple cinnamon ice cream is in store for Fall? I’ll report back soon with a review!

Ingredients:

• 1 block firm tofu, excess water squeezed out (I used my Tofu Xpress)
• 1/4 cup mix of bread crumbs and wheat germ
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2-3 Tbsp canola oil
• a few heavy shakes of Italian seasoning
• 1 can diced tomatoes, liquid drained out
• 6 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
• 1/4 cup soy cheese (I used Daiya Vegan Cheese - the best version I’ve found so far)
• Arnold Sandwich Thins (this recipe will make 4 sandwiches)

1. After squeezing the excess water out of the tofu, cut into 4 blocks and pat dry with a paper towel. Combine salt and garlic powder and sprinkle on either side of the tofu blocks.
2. Mix bread crumbs, wheat germ (or all bread crumbs if you don’t have wheat germ) and Italian seasoning in a shallow dish and dredge tofu blocks in the mixture until coated on all sides. You’ll have leftover breadcrumb mix – maybe enough for 2 blocks of tofu if you want to make more.
3. Heat 2-3 tablespoons canola oil in a large wide pan for 1-2 minutes. Carefully slide tofu blocks into the hot oil and let sizzle and sit for about 3 minutes until crispy and browned. Flip and do the same on the other side.
4. Top tofu blocks with a few tablespoons of diced tomatoes and soy cheese. Cover the pan and cook a few minutes more on low heat until the cheese melts.
5. Cut basil leaves into thin ribbons (or as Elizabeth demonstrates, “basil chiffonade” – so classy!) then place on top of cheese, slide tofu between the Sandwich Thin slices and enjoy!

In my over 5 years of lovin’ tofu, I have never made this sandwich, but I’m pretty darn happy it popped into my head last night because it was deeee-lish. So much so that Funk was finished before me. Let me repeat: Funk was finished before me.This speaks volume as he takes 35923 times longer to finish a meal, snack, M&M, or piece of gum than I do. He savors every bite. I inhale all the goodness at once (and ironically teach nutrition classes about mindful eating and slowing down – meh…I’m working on it.)  But his luvre for this Tofu Parmesan Sandwich had him gobbling it up in no time. So glad we have leftovers for tonight!

Disclaimer: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Arnold Sandwich Thins to review.

Those gorgeous eggplants wound up looking a bit like brown mush once they were turned into sauce, but it tasted just as good as I imagined.

The only edit I made to this recipe (woo hoo only 1 edit!) was that I used a squirt of tomato paste instead of the 2 tablespoons sun-dried or oven-dried tomatoes, since I didn’t have those on hand. Also, I had been boiling leeks earlier in the evening and instead of tossing the leek water down the drain, and all of it’s nutrients along with it, I reused the water to boil the pasta to soak them right back up again. I used whole wheat angel hair pasta. I know pasta is pasta but why do I love angel hair more than I’ll ever like spaghetti?

The Wednesday Chef described this dish better than I ever could:

The noodles, chewy and slippery, curl around the pockets of sweet, savory eggplant, the basil snakes between each bite and a pop of tomato here and there makes the water run together in your mouth as you eat. You don’t even need a grating of Parmigiano. You’ve got all you ever needed on your plate, right there.

She also noted this about the pasta (and I agree – we cooked about 2 pounds of eggplant to 4 servings of pasta):

One last thing: the recipe below says that a one-pound eggplant will be enough for a pound of spaghetti, but we ate far less spaghetti than that (190 grams for the two of us, actually) and while there was more sauce than any of my Italian family members would have deemed acceptable on our plates, you might want to adjust your sauce-to-noodle ratio as you see fit.

Head on over to The Wednesday Chef’s blog for more mouthwatering recipes…especially if you like avocados on toast.

But I had one more ingredient to use! Yesterday in the mail came a surprise package from my pal Annelies who, knowing my love for spicy foods, sent me a big bottle of Sriracha Sauce! I didn’t know what this sauce was til I saw a whole bunch of people tweet about it in a recent HealthBuzz chat. Annelies was so thoughtful to share the spicy sauce love with me, and perfect timing, as I love adding a hit of heat to my gazpacho.

Ingredients:

• As many fresh tomatoes as you can pluck from your garden (I had about 5)
• ½ red bell pepper
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• about 10 basil leaves, cut into ribbons
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• a few dashes of dried oregano
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• a squirt of Sriracha Sauce (careful, it’s hot!)

Gorgeous!

I cut up all of the veggies and put them in a pot with the basil leaves then had at it with my hand-held immersion blender. It blended my gazpacho in a matter of seconds, and I left a few veggies chunky since I like soup with some bite to it. I added the lemon juice, olive oil (helps absorb the nutrients from the veggies!), oregano, and generously added the salt and pepper. After pouring myself a bowl, I topped it off with a tiny squirt of Sriracha Sauce that gave it a perfect kick.

Oh. So. Good. My only regret is not making this sooner.

And then we spent this gorgeous day at the lake.

Kale massaged with olive oil and salt

Onion focaccia bread

Veggies steamed on the grill

Corn, bean, cilantro, lime & grilled avocado salad

Farm fresh tomatoes

Grilled corn

Grilled peaches topped with coconut "ice cream"

To be honest, I’m not a cookbook kinda gal. I love reading recipes more than gossip magazines, but can’t be bothered by books in my kitchen. If I want a recipe, I google it. Or go to EatingWell.com. The handful of cookbooks I own, I rarely open. When I cook, my recipes are written on scrap pieces of paper, or I’ll go back and forth between the kitchen and my computer to check a recipe online while cooking. But this book, The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook, has earned a spot in my kitchen and it will be opened. In fact, it already has!

I flipped through the cookbook around 6pm on Friday evening, and by 7pm, I had already started boiling the water for dinner to make the Quinoa and Carrot Salad recipe. It is rare this happens. Usually I stew over a recipe for a few days before I get around to making it, or shopping for it, but for this one, I was ready to go. I get a lot of satisfaction from finding a recipe with ingredients I already have on hand. Shouldn’t be too hard since Funk and I constantly over-buy at the grocery store, but still.

I was even more excited about this cookbook because I’m honored to have gotten to know one of the authors, Robyn Webb, over the past few months through blogging and twitter. She even helped us plan our trip to Italy! And gave me permission to reprint this incredibly flavorful recipe for Quinoa and Carrot Salad from the book:

Source: booksamillion.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, thinly sliced
• Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
• 1 1/2 teaspoons agave nectar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 pinches cayenne pepper
• Kosher or sea salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

1. Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve under running water for about 1 minute. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Pour in the quinoa and return to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan. Drop in the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice, agave nectar, garlic, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Add the quinoa, carrots, and raisins. Toss. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 273 calories, 3g fat, 7.8g protein, 56.6g carbs, 8.2g fiber

These are a few of my favorite things: Quinoa, raisins, cinnamon, cumin. This recipe combined them all perfectly! I made some slight edits to the recipe: I used red quinoa, honey from Shirley’s bees instead of agave, and closer to 1 cup of raisins since I love ‘em so much. Even if you’re not vegan, this cookbook is packed with plant-based recipes without any funky, hard-to-find ingredients. Go ahead, get this cookbook.

In other news:

• The Food Should Taste Good giveaway winner is Janna from Janna’s Keeping it Real! Congrats Janna – you’ll looooove these chips. Email me your mailing address so we can get these out to you ASAP!
• I made Mama Pea’s Cookie Dough Lara Sarahbars last night and they’re a-ma-zing. Now I don’t feel the need to rush to Whole Foods and wait (along with probably every single food blogger in Boston) for the delivery of Cookie Dough Lara Bars to arrive! Make these bars.

Caitlin started the Operation Beautiful movement, inspiring people to end negative thoughts and fat talk, and transform the way you see yourself, one post-it note at a time. It is a simple movement that has inspired thousands of people around the world to spread positive messages to others, using just a post-it note message. As someone who works with numerous clients who have negative body images and poor relationships with food, this is a movement I can get behind wholeheartedly.

Caitlin’s book was released in stores on Tuesday and in only 2 days it has become a top 100 seller on Amazon.com! On Thursday, she was poised, professional, and of course, beautiful, as she had an interview with Meredith Vieira on the Today Show promoting her book and the Operation Beautiful movement. Bloggers and fans across the world watched her on TV and online, myself included, as she spread the message about ending fat talk. I was so proud! Not only am I a daily reader of Caitlin’s blog, Healthy Tipping Point, but I’m also a huge fan of the positive message she’s spreading with OB. So much so, that I was her expert dietitian in the book, and contributed some nutrition and diet related quotes to the chapter on Food. (So exciting seeing my name in a book!)

I’ve been lucky to know Caitlin over the past year from the Healthy Living Summit and POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Tour and cannot wait to see where the success of all of her hard work on Operation Beautiful and her blog bring her. Congratulations, Caitlin! You deserve every ounce of success that comes from this. You are beautiful!

Make sure you check out Operation Beautiful and buy her book!

Source: FSTG website

I was contacted by the Food Should Taste Good chip people recently to taste their products. Asking me to taste these chips is like asking someone else to sample an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet, or the best chocolate in the world. Tortilla chips are my food vice. More specifically, Food Should Taste Good chips are my vice. I love these chips and have been eating them since I discovered them 3 years ago at Whole Foods. Since then, I only buy them when I promise myself I’ll use full restraint and will eat them on occasion, sticking to the serving size. I have yet to keep that promise…I love FSTG so much that I even contacted them about being their RD spokesperson. I never heard back about that, but hey, the offer is still good!

Anyway, I immediately agreed, as there were some new varieties of FSTG chips I had not tried. The day I got the FSTG package, I tore into it to find the Multigrain, Sweet Potato, Yellow Corn, Blue Corn and Cheddar Varieties. For research purposes only (riigghhtt) I ripped open the Multigrain, Sweet Potato, and Blue Corn. The Multigrain chip is like a powerhouse version of a standard tortilla chip. It is perfectly salted, crunchy, crisp, and actually tastes multigrain (but in a good way, not in a highly processed chip way). I love sweet potatoes, so a sweet potato chip combo is even better. I’ve tried these in the past, but had to re-taste to be sure. Yep, just as good as I remember. Subtly sweet and salty, which is my favorite combo.

I had never had the blue corn chip and it tasted similar to the multigrain variety to me. When I ate this chip, I paired it with a quick chickpea and cucumber salad for dinner and did not feel guilty one bit for eating chips with dinner, as these aren’t just any ol’ chips. These are gluten free, cholesterol free (naturally), and trans fat free chips without any genetically modified ingredients. And, there a good source of fiber with 3g per serving. In a chip! Some pasta and rice out there doesn’t even contain 3g of fiber per serving! I felt good about enjoying my tortilla chips with dinner and getting some fiber to boot.

FSTG also has some other incredibly tasty flavors: Olive, Jalapeno, The Works!, Chocolate, and Lime. I was sad to see they no longer sell the Buffalo variety. That was one of my favorites! Tied for second are the Olive and Jalapeno chips. The jalapeno have some serious kick and are great to make nachos with. I love olives and these chips have a perfect flavor that goes well with a bruschetta or hummus topping. In fact, all of the FSTG chip bags have suggestions for toppings on each variety of chips. And I love the ingredients in these chips – so wholesome! They’re high quality all natural ingredients, and are also certified Kosher and lower in sodium than many other chips. In the blue corn variety you’ll find ingredients like quinoa, sesame seeds, and organic blue corn. You can even see the ingredients in each chip.

 I tried to control myself but I inhaled the blue corn bag of chips in only 4 sittings (there are 6 servings per bag) but figured I was getting more fiber with the extra large servings I dished out! If you like FSTG as much as I do, you can “like” them on their Facebook page too, and check out their website for product information, store locations, recipes, and nutrition facts.

And if you want to win your own sample pack of 5 bags of chips, just leave me a comment with the five flavors you’d like to try and don’t forget to include your contact info! (Sorry, no P.O. boxes please!). I’ll pick a random winner on Monday. Good luck!