Quinoa Salad Recipe with Pears, Baby Spinach and Chick Peas in a Maple Vinaigrette

Quinoa Salad Recipe with Pears, Baby Spinach and Chick Peas in a Maple Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1 cup organic quinoa
Sea salt
2 good handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained
1 large ripe pear, washed, stemmed and cored, cut into pieces
1/2 cup chilled chick peas, rinsed, drained
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A handful of pecans, pan toasted and salted to taste

For the Maple Vinaigrette Dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrupInstructions:
Place the quinoa in a saucepan or a rice cooker. Add 2 cups fresh water, and a pinch of sea salt. Cover and cook on a low simmer until all the water is evaporated and the quinoa is tender- roughly 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and dump it into a large salad bowl.
Add the baby spinach, pear, chick peas, and chopped parsley to the quinoa and fluff.
Whisk together the vinaigrette, pour it over the quinoa salad and toss gently to coat. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper.
Just before serving, add the toasted pecans and lightly combine.
Makes four main course servings, six side dish servings.

Pam's Lasagna

I was in Utah last week staying with my sister and my other sister-in-law, Pam was there.  She is an AWESOME cook, so I had her write down some of her favourite recipes.  This is one of them!

Our kids favorite lasagna (Pam)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
random vegetables in fridge (to hide in the sauce..so your kids don't know they are eating them!)
1 Tbsp veg oil
1 pound italian sausage
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (prego or whatever)
Italian seasoning, basil, oregeno or thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped spinach
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
Mozza cheese for the top


In food processor:
1 onion in food
3 cloves of garlic
any additional random vegetables you have in fridge ie. turnip, celery, carrots etc.

Cook:
in pot with 1 Tbsp. veg. oil
once onions are translucent add 1 pound italian sausage

Then:
once meat is cooked add:
 spaghetti sauce (prego or whatever)
1 can of crushed tomatoes (I put my tomatoes in the blender)
Flavor with italian seasoning or basil, oregano, thyme,
taste the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
turn down heat and let simmer for 15 min.

In  a large bowl mix cottage cheese or ricotta cheese with chopped fresh spinach, 1 egg and 1/4 c. parmesan cheese.

In casserole dish put a little of sauce on the bottom than layer noodles, cottage mix, spaghetti sauce and mazzorella cheese. Repeat the layers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 mins. Uncover and bake for another 15-20 mins.

Cesaer Dressing

This is my Mom's tried and true cesaer dressing recipe!

1 egg yolk
salt and pepper to taste, a few shakes
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
a couple shake of worchestershire sauce
1 clove of garlic, chopped

mix ingredients together with fork
Then add 6 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp of lemon juice

*add the olive oil very slowly while you stir the other ingredients.
It should be thick until you add vinegar and lemon juice

prepare one head of Romain lettuce, add 1/4- 1/2 c. parmesan cheese and croutons.