Sunday Funday Cooking: Quin-whaaa?

Breakfast is a tricky meal. So much of what the American diet consists of -- bagels, pastry, etc. -- is really bad for you. Egg and cheese sandwiches from the bodega are divine, but who needs all that grease? Cereals, even the healthy ones, are full of sugar and weirdly processed grains. And there is no way fruit has ever been able to hold me over until lunch.

So what to do?

This week I had a lot of quinoa lying around and the local fruit stand guys were selling strawberries three containers for five bucks, which is practically free.

Strawberries stay viable in the box for all of two days, so I had to do something with them, stat. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it seemed like a good place to start. I'm not the biggest fan of quinoa to begin with, but baking it seemed like a fun remix. So, a strawberry-banana-quinoa bake it was.

This is how it looked cut into little squares right out of the oven. Not too shabby.

A few tweaks, since I see recipes (and others rules in life) as mere guidelines:

1. Quinoa has no flavor to begin with (or at least I don't think so) so you cannot possibly put too much fruit into this dish. I used bananas and strawberries, but I think a berry medley would be amazing. Or, again, whatever your fruit guy has a special on. (Wait. What do you mean you don't have a fruit guy?)

2. The original recipe used chocolate chips, but it seemed an odd ingredient for a breakfast dish, so I just didn't use them. I don't think it made that much of a difference.

3. If you don't have maple syrup handy, no worries. You can't taste it. Almost every recipe for a quinoa bake includes it, and I'm not sure why.

4. This recipe says it should bake for 25 minutes, but you really need to bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

5. If you're gluten and/or dairy free, this is a pretty good breakfast option. And it's really filling. For one person this could last at least two days.

My Couscous Brings All The Boys To The Yard

Couscous came back onto my radar because everyone lately has been raving about quinoa. Quinoa, while great, is terribly overpriced in Manhattan, and I won't pay ten dollars for a bag of grains that Peruvian farmers use to feed their chickens.

Right next to the quinoa on the grocery shelf is couscous, which you can get for much less money.

I'm not into cooking, and yet I don't like processed foods either. Couscous becomes a perfect food since, once prepared -- which take less than ten minutes -- it can be eaten hot or cold. You can toss whatever you want into it and it will always always taste good. If you can make boxed mac and cheese, you can make couscous in the same amount of time.

The bowl above has peanuts, cranberries, pears and lemon juice in it. It was cooked in olive oil. Make yourself some and count all the money you're saving by not buying quinoa.

Source: thekitchn.com via Jillian on Pinterest

This is brand that I get for $1.99 at the Gristede's on 29th Street and Second Avenue. The price varies widely among grocery stores, which is why I'll make the trip for some. Also, right outside Gristede's is a great fruit and veggie cart where I can get fresh ingredients to put into my creation. Red peppers and scallions are solid choices.

A Pinterest Recipe I Actually Made

It's easy to make fun of Pinterest enthusiasts, such as myself, for idly wasting time pinning recipes and projects that you will never actually do.

But tonight -- I made a recipe that I found. And it was awesome.

As with any recipe, it required a bit of improvisation. Anyone who knows me knows that I have little to no interest in cooking, yet I don't like processed, Frankenfood at all. This may explain why hummus is such staple in my diet. I like easy, grab and go food. You will never find me braising anything. Ever.

Quinoa has been having a bit of a moment lately on the food blogs, and perhaps because of this it has become oddly expensive. Instead of quinoa, I made this dish with couscous, and it's great. Also: since I didn't have fresh corn from the cob I inadvertently used creamed corn and it gave the dish a smooth texture without having to use any butter.

I'm eager to see how this tastes after a few hours in the fridge. I have a feeling it may be my new go to recipe for pot lucks.

That said, if you've been randomly pinning recipes, make a few of them. This one took less than 20 minutes to make, prep and all.