Pomegranate, Almond and Feta Salad

I picked up a new cookbook the other night, Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood. I was pretty impressed by the diversity of recipes using quinoa, or quinoa flour. Quinoa is hailed as a superfood, the description for the book explains why: "One of the world`s healthiest foods, quinoa contains a perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, and is a great source of protein, making it an increasingly popular food choice for those looking to incorporate `superfoods` into their everyday diets. Gluten-free, wheat-free, and nutrient-packed, quinoa is ideal for those who are health-conscious, vegetarian, and/or physically active, as well as for those with gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, and other digestive disorders. But that`s not all: You can eat quinoa guiltlessly knowing it`s free of cholesterol and trans fats. In Quinoa 365 sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming show you how to use this miraculous superfood in all your favourite dishes."

Clearly it is awesome for you. The first recipe I made from the book was for a pomegranate, almond and feta salad. I can't get enough of it, I have ate it at four meals in the past two days. This salad is so good, it comes close to changing my mind about salad as a meal.

(also click "read more" to see a super cute picture)

Rebekah's Curry

On Monday night, after my terribly long day at work, I wanted nothing more than to just crawl into bed and sleep for the entire night. However, I knew that I would end up waking up a few hours later and unable to sleep for the rest of the night and I would feel worse the next day.

The weather was sort of chilly, so I thought I would make something warm and spicy. I made a curry, without using a recipe, so this recipe is my own.

Rebekah's Curry

If serving this with brown rice, put the rice on to boil before starting to assemble the curry. If using white rice, start making the rice after the curry has been assembled.

The following serves 4-5

1) Cut up two chicken breasts into bite size chunks. Heat just enough oil in a pan to cover the pan, on medium high. Add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides (roughly 2 minutes)

2) Add an onion that has been cut into thin strips. Saute until the onion is soft and brown (roughly 2 minutes)

3) Add 4 tbsp of Patak's Madras Curry Paste. Stir to cover the chicken.

4) Add a can of coconut milk. Stir to melt the thick cream that forms at the top of the can.

5) Add a can of chopped tomatoes and a chopped bell pepper.

6) Bring to a boil, lower heat, and cover.

I simmered mine until the rice was ready, for close to 40 minutes, and it was delicious. It would probably still be delicious even if it only had simmered for 20 minutes. The only thing I would have changed from the above recipe, is I would have added the bell pepper close to the end, instead of letting it get so soft from being in there so long.

If you wanted you could also add diced carrots, or some frozen peas. (Add the carrots with the curry paste, add the peas 5 minutes before taking it off the heat). I also wanted to top it with some cashews, but I forgot to get some at the store. It wasn't too spicy, so if you wanted more bite to it, add a sliced chili.

Overall though, this dish was great.

NOTE: This curry is gluten free. I double checked all the ingredients.

Gluten Free Pasta

My friend K is one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. The thing I love most about her (and slightly hate at times) is that she is always honest. She will never tell you what you want to hear, she will tell you what you need to hear. I also consider her my blog's biggest fan, in fact this is what she wrote about it (and me) on Facebook.
"Okay, so my best girl Rebek has a blog, for those of you who have never read it you need to. She is amazing, funny, loves cooking and is pretty stinking hot to boot!" All true. Except on a Saturday night when I am home by myself.
Recently K found out she was gluten intolerant. One of the biggest misconceptions I had about gluten intolerance was that it should be easy to stay away from gluten. I mean, really, all you can't have is bread.
Wrong. Gluten is in EVERYTHING. K has to check the labels of everything that she buys. Gluten is found in soy sauce for heaven's sake!
Because K is such a huge supporter of mine (and goes around pimping my blog all the time) I thought I would do a week of gluten free recipes. I really thought this would be simple, but upon realizing how hard it would be I gave up. (Sorry K). When I mentioned this to her, she decided that she would help me out by posting her gluten free recipes on Facebook.
The pasta above is the first recipe that she posted and the link can be found here.
I could have cheated and used a pasta that I had at home, but I decided to go all out and use a gluten free pasta. There was no difference in taste or texture, just the price. Frankly I think it's ridiculous that gluten free product is so expensive, the people who need it can't eat delicious gluten and that is punishment in itself, why add salt to an open wound by overcharging them?
The recipe called for sun dried tomatoes, and I used jarred sun dried tomatoes in oil. The recipe also includes some 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, and I used 1 tbsp of olive oil, and 1 tbsp of the oil from the sun dried tomatoes.
I am always really unhappy with the basil at the grocery store. It costs roughly $2 for a small pack, and most of the time it is wilted. This reminds me that it's almost farmer's market season, and I can't wait to get my hands on some decent fresh basil. In the meantime, Sobeys has come out with refrigerated seasoning pastes. They come in different flavors, and so far I have bought the red chili, and the basil ones. I used the basil paste instead of the fresh basil that the recipe called for.

Overall I really enjoyed the pasta. It would be a great meal in the summer, since it doesn't require turning on the oven, just turning a pot of water on to boil. I didn't use the same amount of olives since I have a slight aversion to them, but I didn't mind the small amount that I used.
K had to say this about the pasta, "I was a little nervous about this one, I had never tried sun dried tomatoes before and was not sure that I would like them, however it was very very good, I froze the rest for lunches, and I am sure it will be even better once I re-heat and all the feta melts into yummy melty goodness!"