Tex-Mex Quinoa Bake

Happy New Year!

I’m widly craving ooey gooey food since it’s been in the teens here in Austin. I’ve had this recipe saved for a while and wow is it delish and full of veggies!

The Ingredients

This can easily be made vegetarian if you just omit the beef or you could use a meat alternative. Just season the veggies or meat alternative with the spices used for the beef.

Quinoa, prepared according to the package instructions or you could use long grain rice. Go ahead and make this and set aside.

1/2 lb ground beef (you could make the full pound as outlined below, but save half for tacos or a taco salad)

1 tsp each of cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, and paprika

1 cup of red salsa

1/2 shallot, diced

6 baby bell peppers, julienned

1 zuchinni, diced

1 carrot, sliced into thin coins

1 cup of colby jack shredded cheese

The Process

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet over medium heat, add the beef and cook until just brown. It’s okay if there is still a bit of pink since it will cook longer in the oven. Add all the spices to the beef and 1/2 cup of the salsa along with a shake of salt & pepper; mix well. Let cook for 2 more minutes, then remove from skillet and set aside.

Turn the burner to medium-low heat and in the same skillet add 2 tbsp olive oil, the shallot, carrots, bell peppers, and zucchini. Let saute for about 6 minutes or until veggies are soft.

While the veggies are cooking, in a 9×9 casserole dish, add the quinoa and 1/2 cup of salsa; mix well and then layer the quinoa on the bottom of the casserole dish.

When the veggies are done, add them to the ground beef and mix them up. Then add the beef/veggie mixture on top of the quinoa. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top of the beef mixture.

Place in the oven uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Just the comforting food I needed. Happy eating!

Smoked Salmon Boats

Here we go into the festive season! Have you started decorating? I bought some solar twinkle lights for my tree in the front yard and have been collecting bottle brush trees for my mantle. My sister fully decorated her tree right after Halloween!

I have a handful of parties coming up and need to figure out some delicious appetizers. I made these for Thanksgiving, but they would be fabulous anytime of year. Super easy, light, and flavorful.

The Ingredients

1 or 2 endive (depending on how many you need. One yielded about 18 small boats)

1 tbsp prepared horseradish

1/3 cup of sour cream

sprinkle of lemon juice

1 package smoked salmon

Fresh dill

The Process

Remove the outer leaves of the endive, then separate the leaves into individual boats. If they are large, you can tear in half so you’ll have extra boats, or just leave whole. Either way works.

Mix the horseradish and sour cream in a bowl. Squeeze a sprinkle of lemon juice and add a dash of salt. Taste and add a bit more horseradish, lemon, or salt if needed.

Then add a dallop of the sour cream mixture to each endive boat.

Slice some salmon and add on top of the sour cream mixture. You can make the slices as big or small as you like, just make sure there is enough for all your boats.

Top with a pinch of fresh dill. Keep refrigerated until your ready to serve.

These travel well too.

Happy eating!