Quinoa pasta

I picked up some Ancient Harvest Quinoa Garden Pagodas (gluten-free pasta) thinking I had pasta sauce at home. I got home and oops, no pasta sauce. After looking through my cupboard a little more and wondering what I was going to do about dinner, I decided to start cooking the pasta anyway and then put together a pretty decent dinner with a salad on the side. Of course, I used my favorite dressing, Annie's Organic Goddess Dressing.

Ingredients

1 box quinoa garden pagodas
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 boca or veggie burger patties, chopped
8 cups of water
1 tsp olive oil

Instructions

Bring the water to a boil and add the pasta. While the pasta is cooking for 8-9 minutes, heat some olive oil in a pan and add the veggie patty. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes and then cut into bite size pieces. Add the garlic and onion. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the veggie patty, garlic, and onion. Add the tomotoes and continue cooking for about 2-3 minutes.

Chard & Chickpeas

I got the Veganomicon cookbook and love, and I mean love it! Some of the recipes are too complex and time consuming for me, but the essence of them and the flavor combinations inspire me to simplify the recipes while maintaining the original concept and flavor. So, this recipe originally should take 65 minutes. Um, 65 minutes? No thank you. I ended up making the version below on the day we had some serious flash flooding on South Beach...I had to walk through knee deep water to get to my front door! Of course, we lost power, so I was in a rush to finish dinner before it got dark outside.

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 large bunch of fresh dill, stems removed and chopped
1 large bunch of chard, stems removed and chopped
2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cups water
1 tsp. lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp. cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a pot, add the garlic and onion and heat until garlic is translucent. Add the rice and water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Add the dill, cumin, cayenne, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt and peppper. Let the ingredients cook together for about 5 minutes, then add the chickpeas and chard and cook until the rice is done over medium heat (about 10-15 minutes). This is a great stand alone dish and serves about 6, so it makes a great lunch and snack for the next couple of days if you're not cooking for a group!