Chickpea Cutlets, Quinoa Salad, and Stir-Fry

I cooked up a massive batch of chickpeas over the weekend, so be warned--lots of chickpea dishes coming this week! Last night it was the chickpea cutlets from V-con. These are a definite favorite around here. I didn't have all the ingredients for the mustard sauce that I made with them last time. I decided just to wing it with a onion gravy. It turned out really, really good. As a matter of fact, I think I liked the cutlets better with the gravy than the mustard sauce. I started the gravy by sauteeing a small onion in a smidge of canola oil. While the onion was cooking, I wisked 1/4 cup of flour into a cup and a half of No-Chicken broth. When the onion was soft, I reduced the heat to med-low and poured in the broth mixture. When it got to the consistency I wanted, I turned off the heat. Then I added a splash of soy sauce, a good pinch of thyme, a pinch of paprika, a pinch of sage, salt and pepper. Mmmmmm. It was so good. I made some steamed cauliflower and broccoli to go with it.

Yesterday for lunch I made some black-bean quinoa salad. I saw it on Keeta's blog, and she got it from Jenny's blog. LOL It's a trickle-down recipe. It's so easy to make, and just so good. I just put a tiny drizzle of olive oil over it, and gave it an extra squirt of lime since I went light on the oil. It was perfect over a bed of baby lettuces. Who needs dressing when you have something this good on your green salad?



Tonight I just wanted to do something really simple for dinner. I did a garlicky veggie stir-fry. I stir-fried an onion, a couple carrots, a couple zucchini, a bit of broccoli, half a red bell-pepper, and several minced garlic cloves. I sprinkled it with salt and pepper at the end, and served it over brown rice. It's nice to do something simple like that and actually let the veggies themselves flavor the dish.




I haven't really been writing about any music these last few days. That's because I'm slightly embarrassed about how much I've been listening to In Rainbows. I'd say it's an average of three times/day. It's got me.

Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-fry

I've heard that this stir-fry from V-con is pretty damn good, but I really wasn't prepared for how good it really is. To be quite honest, it's ridiculous. No joke. It's really easy to make too. You get started the night before by making the quinoa. The quinoa is cooked in a mixture of pineapple juice, water and soy sauce. Then it goes in the fridge overnight.

The next day, you begin by toasting the cashews. Then you saute some garlic, scallions, diced chile pepper and some ginger. Add some fresh mint and basil, and then stir in the quinoa and fresh pineapple. Add the cashews and a mixture of soy sauce, veggie broth and mirin. Heat it through, and that's it. So damn good. Unbelievable, really. I'd like to say this will be in regular rotation, but I've go so many new things I want to make! It may be a while before I'm seeing repeats.

I also baked some chocolate chip cookies for the kids last night. (Really. These are for the kids. I'm seriously trying to drop a few pounds right now.) Well, my dad was in town for the WVU-Pitt game, and in his true fashion he ate at least a dozen of them! He thought they were great. I used my regular recipe, except I was out of whole wheat pastry flour. I subbed white whole wheat instead. I also used real butter this time. They may be the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made. For real.



I listened to a little Radiohead yesterday. I started getting a little excited about the upcoming show since I posted about it here yesterday. I played a few songs (here's one of my absolute favorite songs ever) from OK Computer, and listened to all of In Rainbows. God, I can't believe I get to see Radiohead again. I'm a lucky girl.