The accidentally fabulous night

Leave work. Windows down, sunglasses on, jamming to the radio. 

Trader Joe's stop: sparkling pink lemonade, random produce, wine for sangria

Dinner of leftover quinoa with avocado and chicken.

Leave for new connection group.

Google map fail. I was going to try out a new connection group tonight. After driving around trying to find the "1st street/70th ave" exit for 30 minutes, I finally found the house where the Connection Group was supposed to meet. At that point -- I was going to be 30 minutes late. So, I drove away figuring that NEXT week I'll try it and be able to drive right to it. 

Got home. Decided to make homemade granola. See recipe below adapted from this recipe that my friend Hayden posted on my wall when I moved into my new place. During my aisle wandering at Trader Joe's, I started craving granola that doesn't cost $5 for a tiny box. BONUS: my apartment smells amazing!!

While the granola was baking, I made myself a margarita using my brand new margarita set that I decided that I couldn't live without from Pier 1.  Want to join me? Check out the recipes I used below.

GRANOLA - "best home smell ever" (thanks Hayden)

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flax seed
• 1 cup shredded sweet coconut
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/8-1/4 cup honey (depends how sweet you want to make it!), I used about 1/8 cup. 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup dried bing cherries (original recipe suggested raisins. use any dried fruit! get creative.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, flax seed, coconut, and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, honey, oil, spices and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. After 45 min, increase temperature to 275 - continue baking for 30 minutes still stirring every 15 minutes. Turn off oven, prop open oven door. I left it like that for about 15-20 more minutes so it would get nice and crunchy.

Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add dried fruit and mix until evenly distributed.  

MARGARITA 
1 oz tequila

1 oz Gran Gala orange liqueur
1 oz sweet and sour mix (or just 1 oz fresh lime juice instead of this for a more tart version)
juice of 1/4 of a lime

Pour Tequila, orange liqueur, and sweet and sour over ice. Add lime juice. Optional: rim glass with lime juice and salt or sugar (I used sugar!). Can be made frozen --blend in blender w/ 3 cups of ice. ENJOY!

 

Quinoa Cooking...TAKE ONE!

What better to rouse a sleeping blogger than a midnight snack? I agree, NOTHING! I just had this delicious concoction for the second time today because I couldn't imagine going to sleep without another bite. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Spicy Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with BACON

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups chicken stock (or water/veg stock)
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste!)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 cup cooked bacon, crumbled (or more if you want! "real" bacon bits work for this too) 
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled (optional, depending on allergies)
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 425˚. Peel and dice sweet potato into 1/2" cubes. Toss sweet potato with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-20 minutes until sweet potatoes and tender and just beginning to brown. While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, rinse quinoa and place in a pot with the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 12-15 minutes (or until the liquid is absorbed). Once the sweet potato is roasted and quinoa is done, put the quinoa, red pepper, bacon, and sweet potatoes in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Toss everything together and stir in the dressing. Garnish with feta cheese when served. Can be eaten hot or cold! Adjust Cayenne pepper to taste (I used a tad more than some people might prefer to give the recipe a kick).

This recipe was a marriage of a few different recipes I was inspired by: http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/salads/sweet-potato-and-quinoa-salad and http://vegetarian.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/spicyquinoa.htm, along with my great imagination. In other words, I added BACON.

I had it for lunch. Then again for a midnight snack. Great hot or cold. YUM. My first experience cooking with quinoa was a complete success!! Anybody have any recent favorite recipes?? I'm inspired as of late and am ready to dig in. In other new news...I have a job interview on Tuesday. I'm REALLY excited and hopeful. woo.