Kohlrabi & Squash Empanadas

This past week, in our food share, we received Kohlrabi.

If you are like me, you may have said "excuse me!" I called several people asking what these were. These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables.

After a lot of research and recipe searching, I decided to make some Kohlradi & Squash Empanadas! I ended up adding leftover chicken in the mixture at the very end!

I even made the dough for the outer part of the empanadas. Do not feel like you have to make your own dough. Store bought dough will work just as good and will cut the time down. Make sure you try making your own dough, just once!!!! It is delicious!

The Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 inch of garlic, peeled and grated.

1 medium size kohlrabi, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 small zucchini, cut into small cubes

1 small squash, cut into small cubes

2 large scallions, both white an green parts, finely cut

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp RAW butter (I didn't have Olive Oil so I used 2 Tbsp of RAW butter)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Nutmeg

1 box of pre-made pie crust or one batch of homemade dough (see below)

1 egg

The Directions:

In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger to brown. Add kohlrabi cubes, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Toss well and cook 3 or 4 minutes until kohlrabi are softening a bit. Add squash cubes and continue to cook for 4 more minutes. Add scallions, radish, nutmeg and another pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and cook for one minute before removing from heat. Set mixture to this side to cool.

Roll out dough to be a little thinner than pie crust typically is. If you are using pre-made crust from the store, run your rolling pin over it once or twice. Using a cereal bowl or large circular cookie cutter, cut out 6 inch-ish circles from the dough. It should yield about 15, give or take depending on your cutter and dough thickness.

Pre-heat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Prepare egg wash by beating egg with a teaspoon of water and set to the side along with a small bowl of water.

To make the empanadas, spoon one tablespoon of kohlrabi and squash mixture into the center of a circle of dough. (It’s better to have less filling than too much or the empanadas won’t hold together. Feel out the right ratio that allows you to close off the dough without any filling popping out.) Dip your finger in the bowl of water and run it around the outside edge of the dough. Fold dough over the filling to create a half circle. Press down edges. Carefully pick up the dough pocket and pinch edges (see photo) to seal them tightly. A fork can also be used to crimp the edges if you want a less tedious method.

Repeat above process to finish all the empanadas, laying them on the lined cookie sheet when done. With a fork, prick the tops once and brush with egg wash. Bake for 8 minutes and turn over. Bake another 5 to 7 minutes until deep golden brown and flaky. Best served straight from the oven.

*****For the Dough:

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I swapped 1 cup with brown rice flour)
3 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large eggs
2/3 cup ice water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
Make Dough: Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into two flat rectangles and chill them, each wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Dough can be chilled up to 6 hours total

Zucchini Lasagna

I saw this picture on knew that I wanted to make Lasagna for dinner.

Last week, in our food share, we received a LARGE zucchini. Large meaning it was the size of my forearm! When sliced, it was the perfect size to make a lasagna with. I took the recipe that goes with this picture and made some little changes.

This lasagna came out DELICIOUS!!!

My picture did not come out as nice. To tell you the truth, I forgot to take a picture until I was cleaning up. I apologize for the not so nice picture! But trust me this is delicious and wonderful!

The Ingredients:

1 box cooked RICE lasagna noodles (look at the package - noodles might be non-cooking noodles!)

1 lb ground beef (our meat comes from a local farm)

3/4 cups RAW mozzarella cheese, grated

1 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/4 cup RAW Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 large Zucchini, thin slices 2 1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped 1/8 tsp black pepper

The Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with vegetable oil spray.

Brown ground beef and onion.

In a small bowl, combine 1/8 cup mozzarella and 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with all of the cottage cheese. Mix well and set aside.

Combine tomato sauce with ground beef and remaining ingredients. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Add a third of the noodles in a single layer. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture on top. Add a layer of zucchini. Repeat layering. Add a thin coating of sauce. Top with noodles, sauce, and reserved cheese mixture.

Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into 6 portions.

We served our lasagna with green beans and garlic!

Quinoa Vegetable Soup

Even though it was 93 degrees outside, I MADE SOUP!

I love soup. I really do! :) I love it all year round. Soup is easy to make and there are soooo many flavors and types of soup that I really could eat soup EVERYDAY.

Today, I was looking on some friends blogs trying to decide what I wanted to make for dinner. After several blogs I finally found something that sounded good. It also was a recipe that I had most of the ingredients.

I did change a few things and I did add a few things here but YUMMY! This soup is great!!!! I am already looking forward to making this again with a few more ingredients.

The Ingredients:

1 TBSP Olive Oil or RAW butter

2/3 cups quinoa

2 carrots, diced

3/4 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 zucchini, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 (15 ounces) chicken broth (I used homemade)

3 1/2 cups water

2 large tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 - 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

fresh or dried parsley

The Directions:

Heat the Olive Oil or Raw butter in a large pot on medium-high heat. Stir in quinoa, carrots, bell peppers and garlic. Cook a few minutes, until lightly browned. Stir frequently.

Pour in the chicken broth, water, tomatoes, zucchini and cabbage. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the quinoa and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I added a little parsley in the soup and also garnished with parsley before serving.

I really think you could add any kind of vegetables to this soup and it would be good!

Salmon Stir Fry

This past week we received a lot of sugar snap peas and shell peas. I shelled the shell peas and made baby food and froze some. I have been adding sugar snap peas on pretty much everything, just trying to go through them. Last night, while deciding what to make and how I could somehow add more sugar snap peas into another meal - it hit me!!!! I hadn't made a stir fry yet.

I love stir fry's. They are quick and easy. You can add whatever you want to them and it tastes wonderful.

Here is what I came up with.

The Ingredients:

2 Salmon filets

3/4 orange bel pepper

1/2 - 3/4 cup of broccoli

2 giant handfuls of sugar snap peas

1/2 - 3/4 cup of frozen corn (I was giving some corn after Memorial Day and froze it!)

Soy Sauce

Garlic

Ginger

a little bit of this and a little bit of that :)

The Directions:

Boil Salmon in the over for 10 minutes and then flip and cook the other side until done. I seasoned the salmon with soy sauce.

Chop the salmon into chunks and set aside.

In a wok add garlic, broccoli and sugar snap peas. Let cook for 5 minutes and then add orange bell pepper. Add Soy Sauce and other desired seasonings. Once the vegetables are tender throw in the salmon and reheat. Then serve.

You could side this with Quinoa or Brown Rice. I just didn't have any in the house.

Black Raspberry Muffins

I enjoy delicious homemade muffins, every once in awhile! I enjoy making muffins with vegetables or fresh fruit. I enjoy taking a recipe and trying to change it to make a more healthy recipe.

I really love when it turns out for the BEST!!!! :)

If you were to ask my husband about some of my "oh, I made this up" or " oh, I altered this..." most of the time they are good but there are times things turn out REAL bad... Not this time!!!!

Last week, in our food share, we got some delicious black raspberries. I have been snacking on them here and there but we still had a lot left. I love taking fruit or vegetables that are almost at the point of tossing and baking with them.

The Ingredients:

4 1/4 c. flour (2 c. whole wheat, 2 1/4 c. brown rice flour)

3/4 c. RAW honey

1 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 pint black raspberries

1 1/2 c. water

3 heaping Tbsp yogurt

1 Tbsp RAW butter, melted and slightly cooled

3 Tbsp Applesauce (instead of OIL)

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp dried orange zest (I used lemon)

sprinkle sugar on top

The Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare a nonstick muffin tin with baking spray.

In medium bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine.

Set aside.

In your stand mixer add yogurt, water, butter, oil, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and sugar and blend until completely combined.

Pour wet ingredients into a large bowl (or just keep them in the stand mixer bowl).

Slowly fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients with a large wooden spoon until just combined (there will be small bits of flour still present).

Add black raspberries to dry ingredients and toss to combine.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, dividing evenly (you are filling these all the way up. Almost OVER full. Trust me, they are big, but they won't spill over if your baking powder is good.)

Sprinkle sugar over tops of each muffin (about 1 tsp per 6 muffins)

Reduce oven temp to 375 and bake until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, about 20-23 minutes.

Kale and Black eyed pea soup

In advance, I am going to apologize that I did not take a picture of the soup. I will make this again and I will promise to add a picture soon! :)

Yesterday was another Meatless Monday in our house! We enjoyed soup and salad :)

This recipe is for a small batch of soup. I just didn't want a large amount of leftovers which would end up down the sink so I made enough for dinner and next day lunch! Please feel free to add more vegetables to make more soup.

The Ingredients:

2 carrots

3 - 4 big handfuls of Kale

2 cans of black eyed peas (or 3 1/2 - 4 cups dried black eyed peas)

1/2 of a purple onion, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

Italian Seasoning

Garlic

Salt and pepper

The Directions:

Start with a medium sized pan on medium high heat. Pour in vegetable broth. Once the broth is at a boil add carrots and onion. * Once carrots are tender add the Kale. Cook for 3 - 5 minutes and then add in the black eyed peas. Finally add the rest of the ingredients and seasoning to taste!

* next time I will add some potatoes.

Butterfly Chicken Fryer

My new favorite way to cook chicken is to butterfly a whole bird, flatten it, and place it directly on the grill with a large brick on top to weigh it down. The chicken cooks quickly since it is flattened under the weight of the brick and you end up with skin so crispy and delicious, a fight might break out before it hits the table.

When researching how to grill a whole chicken, I came across this video and I want you to watch this great video on how to butterfly a chicken. Since this is a skill I’ve only picked up recently, I figure there are a few others out there who might benefit from the lesson as well!

Here's what we did!

The Ingredients:

Chicken Fryer (Whole Chicken)

Olive Oil

Rosemary

Garlic

Salt and Pepper

2 bricks ($0.39 at Menard's)

The Directions:

My first step was to marinate the chicken with olive oil and herbs. You can use any combination of herbs you like, I just used a simple mixture of garlic and rosemary. First I stripped the leaves from 5 or 6 sprigs of rosemary (about 1/3 cup loosely packed) and peeled six cloves of garlic.

I threw the garlic and rosemary into the food processor. A few seconds later, I ended up with finely chopped rosemary and garlic! If you don’t have a mini food processor, just chop everything up by hand and/or pound it with a mortar and pestle. Next, I stirred in about 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

I poured about half of the marinade over the inside of the chicken. Then rubbed it all over, making sure to coat every single part of the bird. Next I flipped it over and rubbed the remaining marinade all over the outside of the chicken. After the entire chicken is well-coated with the rosemary-garlic oil, you can cover the whole pan with plastic wrap or slip the chicken into a large plastic bag and place it in the refrigerator. Try to let it sit for at least a few hours.

When you’re ready to grill the chicken, take it out of the fridge and rub some lemon juice all over it. Right before it goes on the grill, sprinkle both sides liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Prepare your grill (gas or charcoal) for direct medium-low heat. Allow as much marinade as possible to drip off the chicken before placing it on the grill. Put the chicken on the grill skin side down and watch for flare-ups. You may need to move the chicken around a bit until the flare-ups die down. Once the flare-ups stop, put two foil-covered bricks directly on top of the chicken and allow to cook undisturbed for 15 minutes.

Remove the bricks from the chicken and carefully lift it up to check the skin. The skin should be well-browned and crispy. If so, it’s time to flip the bird!

When you flip it over, you don’t need to put the bricks back on the chicken. Just let it finish cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees…it will probably only take about 10 minutes. As you can see, I flipped the wings back up on top to keep them from burning. Not sure if it’s necessary, but it was easy enough to do.

When it’s finished, let it rest for ten minutes before carving. Then divide it up and enjoy!

*You can use any marinade or rub you want with this chicken. You could even brine it first if you want. And if you don’t have time to marinate it at all, that’s fine, too. Just rub it with oil and herbs right before you grill it. Have fun!

Cabbage Rolls

CABBAGE

Cabbage, one of the oldest vegetables, continues to be a dietary staple and an inexpensive food. It is easy to grow, tolerates the cold, and keeps well. Cabbage is rich in Vitamin C (an antioxidant) and fiber and is also a member of the cruciferous vegetable family. People who frequently eat cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables may help reduce their risk of certain cancers such as colon and rectal cancer.

This week in our food share we got cabbage. I was not sure what to do with my cabbage since I do not buy cabbage nor do I eat cabbage, well, besides coleslaw. I called a couple of friends and called my mother-in-law for ideas. Here are a few of the suggestions, which may come later this week! Soup, Cabbage Wedges, Cabbage Rolls, Coleslaw... (If you have any - I would love to hear about them!)

I went with cabbage rolls!

Anyway - I thought to myself why can't I add other vegetables into a ground beef and onion mixture.

Creative wheels turning!!!

Here is what I came up with!!!! My in-laws came over for dinner and everyone, including our 2 1/2 year old critic loved them!!!!

The Ingredients:

3/4 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup orange bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup squash, diced

1 cup zucchini, diced

1 cup vegetable broth

1 TBSP Italian seasoning

10 cabbage leaves

1 lb ground beef

onion

1 cup rice

1 jar tomato sauce

1 tsp cinnamon

The Directions:

In a large sauce pan, combine the first 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes

Meanwhile, cook cabbage in boiling water just until leaves fall off head. Set aside 10 large leaves for rolls (refrigerate remaining cabbage for another use). Cut out the thick vein from each leaf, making a V-shape cut. Overlap cut ends before filling. Stir 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and lemon juice into vegetable mixture.

Place a heaping 1/3 cupful on each cabbage leaf; fold in sides. Starting at an unfolded edge, roll to completely enclose filling.

Pour 1/3 cup tomato sauce into a 2-qt. baking dish. Place cabbage rolls in dish; spoon remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with RAW Parmesan or mozzarella. Cover and bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until heated through.

Food Share

Today, I am answering an email on here!

What comes in a weekly pick-up with your food share?

Each week is slightly different.

Early Spring you get a lot of lettuce and spring harvesting vegetables. It depends on what food is ready for harvesting and if there is enough for everyone in the Food Share group.

This week:

1 bunch of Kale

1 head of lettuce

1 large bag of Spring Lettuce Mix

1 Cabbage head

1 large bag of shelled peas

1 large bag of sugar snap peas

1 head of broccoli

2 small zucchini

and not pictured black raspberries

Please keep in mind that I pick up every Wednesday. This is just this weeks grab!

I special ordered 1 pound spinach, 1 pound kale and asparagus. ($9.00)

While it is fresh and cheap - I am freezing for the winter months!

"Special Ordering" - Each week there is a large list of items that you can purchase separate. These items vary from pastured eggs, Raw honey, Agave Nectar, Popcorn and the list goes on and on. I think that this weeks list was 20 + items.

There is also a bin of "extra's." This box is a free of all! This week there was Fava Beans, Basil, Marjoram and cutting celery.

How much does a food share group cost?

The food share group we are involved in offers a full and half share. A full share costs $520 and a half share costs $330. Our food share started in May and goes through October, or until the crops is finished.

Our friends, who referred us to the food share said that last year the breakdown ending up being about $22.oo a week.

$22.00 a week for an abundance of fruits and vegetables!!!!

I will take it!!!! :)

Keep your questions and comments coming! Either email me at enjoyinghealthyfoods@yahoo.com or comment on any of the recipe posts!

THANK YOU!

Spinach Spaghetti with Asparagus Pesto

Creative wheels were turning today!!!

Today is Wednesday - FOOD SHARE DAY! :) I am always eager to pick up the vegetables and to think of delicious new ways to prepare them. Each week there is a box of "EXTRA'S." I enjoy looking in the "extra" box because it is filled with herbs! Today I picked up some basil and marjoram. There were fava beans too but after last weeks FLOP, I am not ready to attempt them again.

When I saw the basil, I knew I wanted to try homemade pesto. I had a package of Spinach Spaghetti brown rice noodles. I also got some asparagus and some amazing looking spinach.

Like I said creative wheels were turning!!!

As you can tell I got carried away making the pesto sauce. More for next time!

The Ingredients:

Pesto:

Fresh Basil

3 asparagus spears, broken into pieces

3 cloves of Garlic

1/4 cup RAW cashews ( I didn't have pine nuts on hand)

1 TBSP RAW butter

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Package of spinach spaghetti brown rice noodles

5 asparagus spears

2 giant handfuls of fresh spinach

The Directions:

In a food processor add Basil, Garlic and Asparagus. Pulse until everything is chopped. Add Olive Oil and Salt and Pepper. I did not have enough Olive Oil so I added 1 TBSP RAW butter. Pulse a few times until everything is mix evenly. Finally add the RAW cashews. Pulse again. If you need to add more Olive Oil or Salt and Pepper, do so! Also, I would add some Parmesan cheese but I did not on hand.

Cook spinach spaghetti brown rice noodles according to package directions.

In a sauce pan wilt spinach in a little bit of Olive Oil or RAW butter. Add Asparagus and turn heat to low and cover. Add 2 TBSP of pesto onto the vegetables.

Once the noodles are done, run noodles under cold water. Then add the vegetables and pesto (amount is up to you!) and toss!

Serve!

Chocolate Avocado Shake

This raw, healthy milkshake is not only incredibly delicious, but contains an abundant amount of nutrients. You'll never have to feel guilty drinking a milkshake again!!!!

My 2 1/2 year old thought this was a ice cream milkshake! :) It is that good!!!

The Ingredients:

1 Avocado

2 TBSP Cocoa Powder

1 cup RAW milk (we prefer RAW but local or whatever kind of milk you have)

2 TBPS RAW Honey (we prefer RAW but local or whatever honey you can get is fine too!)

1 tsp Vanilla

Handful of ice

The Directions:

Put all the ingredients in a blender for a minute or until smooth. You can add more or less milk, depending on how you like the thickness of the shake to be.

*** Next time I am going to add a banana! I think it would be amazing with a banana!

Feel free to get creative on the shake! Post your changes under the comment section!

Zucchini Crackers

Zucchini Crackers

I like these crackers more than I liked the Carrot Crackers. I only had 1 cup Walnuts the recipe called for 2 cups. I substituted the 2nd cup with Almonds. It was a huge risk but I love how the crackers turned out.

Makes 24 crackers

This was my second attempt and what a success!!! These are delicious.

The Ingredients:

1/2 cup golden flax seeds
3/4 cup purified water
1 med. zucchini, cubed (approx. 2 cups)
1 cup raw walnuts, germinated

1 cup raw almonds, rough chopped in food processor
2 tbs nutritional yeast (opt)

The Directions:

PLEASE read the directions carefully.

Grind the flax seeds in a spice or coffee grinder, and then transfer them to a bowl. Add the water and soak for about 1 hour, or until all the water is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees or lowest temperature. Or if you have a dehydrator set at 115 degrees.

Put the zucchini in a food processor and pulse until it is chopped into very small, uniform pieces, but not to the point of being mush. You want to retain some texture. Add the zucchini to the bowl containing the flax seeds. Put the walnuts in the food processor and pulse until they are finely ground, but again, not mushy or pastelike. Add the walnuts to the bowl with the flax seeds and zucchini and combine well (you may need to use you hands.) Do the same with the Almonds.

Once you have thoroughly mixed the ingredients, spread them out evenly on one or two cookie sheets trays lines with Parchment sheets and dehydrate at 175 degrees F for about 6 hours. When the tops feel dry to the touch, flip the cracker sheets over on the dehydrator screens and remove the parchment sheet. Continue to dehydrate for another 3 hours. Then cut the crackers into the desired size and shape.

If you are using a dehydrator Place them back in the dehydrator for another 11 hours, or until crisp.

Serve with hummus, raw cheese, and guacamole; or with your favorite soup.

* Time will vary depending on location and mixture. Mine cooked about 5 hours and then I rotated the cookie sheet and took off the parchment paper for an additional 2 hours.

** To test the crackers - TASTE them. You want them to be dry like crackers. If there is any moisture in them keep cooking them. You will know when they are done.

***The batch I made the other day only last one day!!! Everyone enjoyed them!

Avocado Baby Food

Both my boys ate avocado for their first food. Avocado is easy to make.

Avocado makes a great first food for baby due to its texture and creaminess as well as its high nutrient content.

Avocados are often called one of nature's perfect foods because they are said to contain everything a person needs to survive.

Avocado is a wonderful first food for baby. An avocado is smooth and creamy when mashed - a perfect food that will be more readily accepted as baby begins solids. Avocado may be offered as early as 4 - 6 months old. Babies need carbohydrates, and fats as well as proteins for their growth during the crucial first year and even into the second year.

As you begin to introduce a wide variety of foods, you will find that mashing an avocado and mixing with applesauce, peaches or pears, bananas and even yogurt make a wonderful meal or snack.

Infants should NOT be on a "low fat" diet so disregard any advice to not feed avocados because they are high in fats. If you have any doubts, as always we recommend you consult your pediatrician.

The Directions:

Avocados are served fresh from their peels. There is no need to cook avocados for baby or adult. Give an avocado a gentle roll around your counter to help separate the meat from the shell before you slice.

Peel and de-pit a ripe avocado
Cut “meat” out and mash with a fork

I freeze in avocado in slices. For the babies, I take out a slice, mash it up and then serve. The browning of the avocado seemed to be less than when I mashed/pureed it and then froze it.

Quinoa with Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry

I am not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog but this year I have started my garden. I have lots of vegetable plants growing and starting to flower, which means vegetables are on the way. My garden mixed with our food share I am going to be enjoying lots of vegetables this summer!

I was looking forward to making a stir fry with vegetables I have on hand but came up with something a little different.

This easy, toss together quinoa is fabulous hot from the pan. But it's also delicious cool, as a quinoa salad. So make more than you think you'll need and you've got picnic food for the next day.

The Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 yellow summer squash, sliced and chopped into chunks

1 green zucchini, sliced and chopped into chunks

A fistful of slender asparagus or green beans, trimmed, sliced (from our food share)
1 Japanese eggplant (small eggplants are way less bitter), peeled, sliced into bite size pieces

1 bell pepper- red, yellow, orange or green, cored, sliced

1/2 cup of chickpeas (canned or fresh)
2 cups Baby Bella mushrooms, trimmed, sliced (optional)

A handful of sugar snap peas, ends cut off (from our food share)
A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
Sea salt and ground pepper
Herbs, to taste- parsley, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes- whatever you prefer (from our food share)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

The Directions:

First make your quinoa, the easy way. In a rice cooker. You'll need roughly 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa.

When the quinoa is almost done, heat a splash of light olive oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, stir until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the remaining vegetables. Season with sea salt, pepper, and herbs. Add the balsamic vinegar. Stir-fry until tender.

Scoop the cooked quinoa out of the rice cooker and add it into the wok. Stir to combine with the vegetables. Taste test and add more salt or seasoning if it needs it. Remove from heat. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toss to fluff.

Serve immediately; or allow it to cool, then cover and refrigerate it to eat as a salad. before serving it cold, taste test again and adjust seasonings.