Quinoa and Black Beans

This recipe is courtesy of my wonderful and fabulous friend Laura, aka GFFy, who actually found it on All Recipes. Every week a group of 10 or so of us get together for dinner. The dinner is on a rotating schedule so that each person/household has the opportunity to host and make the main dish. Laura hosted dinner 2 weeks ago and made this dish. I have only made quinoa a handful of times and have had trouble making it with much flavor. This dish has great flavor and is easy to make. Thanks GFFy!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3/4 C uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 C vegetable broth
• 3-4 tsp ground cumin (probably will need to add even more)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt, pepper to taste
• 1-2 C broccoli, chopped
• 1 C frozen corn
• 1-2 (15 oz) cans black beans
• 1/2 C fresh cilantro, chopped

Recipe

1. In a med-large pot heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cooked until onions are translucent without burning the garlic.
2. Rinse quinoa under running water.
3. Add remaining ingredients to pot, except corn, black beans, and cilantro. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the frozen corn and keep pot over low heat until heated through.
5. Remove from heat. Add black beans and cilantro.

Servings 6ish

Corn Chowder

I am discovering a new love of corn. The second time we got corn in our CSA there was a corn chowder recipe adapted from Simply Recipes another food blog I love so I decided I had to try it. Conveniently almost all the other needed ingredients were also in the box that week or left over from the week before, I think all I needed to by was a bell pepper. The original recipe calls for bacon or bacon fat which was obviously not used, but I did sprinkle some fake bacon I chopped up to add some smokey flavor, tasty but not necessary, I didn't add to any of the left overs. You could add more or less of the veggies, definitely not a recipe where exact science is needed. Garlic would be good sauteed with the onion/carrot/celery.

recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
  
• 3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs , cobs reserved
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 1/2 cups milk (I used rice milk which I think added a pleasant sweetness)
  
• 1 potato, peeled and diced (I used a few small knobbly potatoes from our CSA - possible Rose Finn)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves

1. in a large sauce pan. saute onion in butter until soft about 5 minutes. add carrots and celery and cook about 5 more minutes.
2. break the evacuated cobs in half and add to sauce pan. add milk and bay leaf and bring to boil.
   
3. reduce heat to a bare simmer. heat should be as low as possible to maintain a gentle simmer but prevent scalding (I don't know if scalding is as big of a concern with rice milk). cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. discard cobs and bay leave. raise heat - add potato, pepper, salt and pepper. lower heat once a low simmer is reached again. simmer 15 minutes or under potatoes are almost fork tender.
5. raise heat - add corn and thyme. lower heat again to maintain a low simmer. simmer for 5 minutes.

makes about 5 servings

Fresh Corn and Chicken Quesadillas with Avacado Creama

This recipe was phenomenal. The nearby grocery store carries an amazing (local) brand of tortillas (Micaela's). One woman apparently makes these tortillas and drives around to the grocery stores delivering them. They're thick and amazing (and often sold out!). So, being able to make this recipe with those tortillas was definitely the icing on the cake.

Adapted from Hannaford Fresh magazine (July-August 2009)

Ingredients
Quesadillas

• 1 c corn kernals (fresh/frozen)
• 1/2 c (2 oz) cream cheese (reduced fat, softened)
• 2 tsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 c. finely chopped scallions
• 1 tbsp cilantro (minced)
• 1 med onion
  
• 1/2 lb chicken (original recipe called for crab meat)
• 4 8-inch tortillas
• 1/2 c (2 oz) shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1 tsp olive oil

Avocado Creama

• 2 tbsp plain Greek-style (thickned) yogurt (nonfat)
• 1 tbsp cilantro (minced)
• 2 tsp fresh lime juice
• 1/8 tsp salt (to taste)
  
• 1 ripe avocado, diced

Recipe

1. Heat a med sized skillet over medium heat.
2. If using fresh corn, blanch for 1 min in 3 c of boiling water.
3. To make the quesadilla filling, combine cream cheese, lime juice, salt, cumin, and pepper in a medium bowl. Mix.
4. Add scallions, cilantro, corn, onion, and chicken.
5. Spray skillet with non-stick spray (if needed). Place a tortilla in the skillet. Put a spoonfull of filling on the tortilla and spread over half of the surface.
6. Sprinkle some cheese over top of the filling and fold over the other half of the tortilla.
7. Cook until golden brown on pan side. Flip and repeat for opposite side.
8. To make the creama, mix together all the ingredients except the avocado. Fold in the avocado last.
9. Top each quesadilla with a tbsp full (or more) of the creama.

Servings 4 (with some left over filling)