Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad on Christmas Day

How was your holiday? Did you enjoy family time and good food? I know I sure did! Here is a brief recap;

Christmas Eve at Nick's mom's house

Nick, freaking out over his fantasy football scores (literally the entire Christmas Eve day)




The best Christmas tree ornaments, EVER!

And the prize for the most content and relaxed dog of the year goes to....the Japanese Shin; SAKE (as in the Japanese alcoholic beverage)

And our family must really think (ahem, know) we love beer, because they bought us a beer Christmas ornament, AND......




A beer-making kit with all the ingredients to make a couple special brews!!

Yesterday, Christmas day, we went to my aunt and uncle's house. Because my aunt, uncle, and cousin are all gluten free, and I try to limit my intake of wheat and gluten, I try to bring gluten-free recipes to most family gatherings. This year I brought a winter cilantro and cranberry quinoa salad (as well as some very non-gluten-free pepperoni bread for my family members who just love gluten!). The quinoa recipe was found on my favorite recipe website; Allrecipes.com. I made a couple modifications based on what I had in my kitchen.

Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped (I used all green pepper)
  
• 1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped ( I used all green pepper)
  
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds (I used toasted walnuts)
  
• 1/2 cup minced carrots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Pour the water into a saucepan, and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat, then pour in the quinoa, recover, and continue to simmer over low heat until the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape into a mixing bowl, and chill in the refrigerator until cold.
2. Once cold, stir in the green bell pepper, red onion, curry powder, cilantro, lime juice, sliced walnuts, carrots, and cranberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill before serving.

It was delicious. I'll definitely be making it again.

For dessert on Christmas day I had some buckeyes and my favorite festive dessert; rocky road fudge! My aunt wants to make these buckeyes for our wedding. I had to taste two of them to make sure they were good enough for the special occasion ;)

Have a great week everyone. I'll be back Wednesday with a great appetizer idea for the New Year, and then Friday with another "Make This Your New Year's Resolution" post.

Loving Mom, On a Budget

As I said in a recent post, Nick and I are planning a cruise wedding for sometime in 2012. With this wedding looming, we're continuing to work on saving money as much as possible. Nick and I both love to give gifts, but it's hard to give wonderful gifts when you're trying to save money.....or is it?? Today is Mother's Day and I have to be at work all day, so last night (while Nick was at work) I invited my mom over for a special Mother's Day Eve dinner.

Mom, I love YOU!

For the protein I pan seared some wild-caught salmon, because I only feed my mom the best fish! My mom suggested adding some maple syrup as a glaze, which sounded like a great idea to me. It turned out fantastic.



I served this quinoa salad as the side dish, which was a simple combination of quinoa, dill, reduced fat feta cheese, cucumbers, red peppers, tomatoes and a bit of EVOO.


Have you ever toasted salmon skin for a snack? I know that sounds so strange, but a lot of the omega-3's are concentrated in the skin. I took off the skin, added some salt and pepper, toasted it until it was nice and crispy, and we ate it as a little snack after our meal.


I know it may not look very appealing, but it was quite delicious and satisfying.


For our beverage we had some very "fine" wine, aka an eight dollar bottle of Big House Red.



If you are friends with me on Facebook, and you know my last name, you'll understand why I bought this wine. I've had it before and loved it. It's a California wine and it's a mix of several grapes (and no merlot included, yeah!). If you can't read the wacky writing below, read about the wine here.


And for dessert I made some of my famous low fat chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I simply made my original vanilla ice cream (with almond milk and half and half) and added some unsweetened cocoa powder, whole peanuts, and some chunks of chunky peanut butter.

After dinner I gave my mom with a poem I wrote for her. Who says you have to spend a lot of money to show love??!!

QUESTION: How did you show your mom you loved her today?

If you are a mom yourself, happy Mother's Day to you!