Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

This recipe was suggested to me, and I thought it would be a breeze. And I could make it super easily, with a few substitutions and omissions, etc. Well, it's fine, I guess. I just feel like I'm starting to make the same random recipe over and over again. By that, I mean that my recipes are getting simpler and simpler as my school work takes over more and more of my time, and as my exhaustion level rises accordingly.

My intention with this blog was to make the recipes close to following form. I'm not really doing that. I'm getting exceedingly lazy. My integrity around recipe following is slipping...

I also have Mom's voice in my head with this one right now, because this recipe, now that I have made it and tasted it, is definitely more of a summer recipe than a winter one. I don't know exactly why that causes Mom's voice to go through my head, telling me that I shouldn't have made this when I did, but it does.

So, what have I been doing all day today instead of working on mastering a more challenging recipe? Well, currently I have a paper half written that I could have written at any point last week and not been rushed. But did I? Of course not. Adrenaline, I love you and all, but every now and then I wish I could be like the studious people in my class who already turned in their papers yesterday (early). I wish I could be more like Dad, really. He's such a classic book-learner. When he wants to learn something, he sits down, reads a book, and learns it. I imagine him turning in all of his school papers weeks, if not months early, never waiting until the last moment, never having to cram like I did for my finance midterm last week... But perhaps that's why he went to Harvard and I didn't...

But between catching up on reading that was more skimmed than read for my class that this paper is due in, and staring at the recipe I made last night, and the mess that is now my kitchen, and wondering if the smell will get too awful if I wait until tomorrow to clean it all (I'm not, Mom, I swear. I will clean tonight... after I submit my paper... and go for a run...), I guess that you could homehow call this a day off. And I've still managed to procrastinate from working on my paper as diligently as I'm supposed to be (Hell, I'm writing this blog entry right now.)

Okay, so without further delay, the original recipe, including pretty photo can be found below:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Bean-and-Tomato-Quinoa-238939

I was being lame and decided to double the quinoa. For the purposes of writing this recipe all out, I'm going back to just one cup, because I made way too much for one person. I don't know who all I think I'm feeding, particularly since I'm almost always too embarrassed that I probably messed up to even share my food still... maybe by July.

Ingredients (aka I barely used any of what the Epicurious people called for... but I probably should have...)

This recipe feeds 4-6 (6 being more as a side, 4 if you're vegetarian and love quinoa)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed. Cook according to directions on package, around 20 minutes with a 2-1 water ratio (I tried rinsing it in through rounds of water, as the link above described. I don't think it came out any differently than when I just run water through the quinoa in a strainer. But whateve. I also tried cooking the quinoa the way that the recipe describes above. I'm not even bothering to restate those directions. Total waste of time as far as I'm concerned.)
1 15 oz can of black beans rinsed and drained
1 container of store bought salsa, drained of excess liquid (This is where I pretty much strayed far far away from the original recipe. I like the salsa that you have to buy in the refrigerated section because it always tastes fresher, and I chose one with garlic so that I wouldn't have to add that ingredient either.)
1 15 oz can of yellow corn, rinsed and drained (I only added it because I found two cans of corn in my pantry. Why I have them, I have no idea. I don't even like corn very much. A few of the original reviewers of this actual recipe called for corn, and said how much they loved it. I'm done adding corn. I hate corn. I don't even like corn on the cob. It all just gets stuck in your teeth, and that's just a royal pain.)
Juice from two medium limes (I broke from tradition and didn't shop at Whole Paycheck last night, so didn't buy organic limes, so did not use any zest, but would definitely consider it in the future.)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Allow the cooked quinoa to cool/ chill / just sit there while you:
2. Combine the lime juice, butter and olive oil. Then add all that to the quinoa.
3. Add the salsa, corn and black beans.

The longer the finished product is able to sit, the more the flavors will blend. I think it is best at room temperature.

Wicked hard recipe overall. I know.

I think my favorite part of this recipe was that I didn't use any onions. I am officially on hiatus from trying to cook onions. It does taste pretty good and citrus-y. It just tastes like a summer side-dish, not really for end of January.

Lentil and Bean Chili

I made this chili last night. I've been avoiding writing about it ever since. It's hard to get excited about chili. It's lentils. And beans. Two kinds of beans even. Whoo-hoo. The compromise I made with myself is that I won't list out the full description of what went into it and how I made it and all that. Instead, I am writing about random thoughts that may or may not relate to making chili...

I went vegetarian last Thanksgiving. The Sunday following Thanksgiving if you really want me to be precise about it. I was sitting at home alone in my apartment, eating a frozen meal, when I randomly turned the television on, and started watching a documentary on the local PBS station called Eating. There are two things that I will always watch with unparalleled fascination on television. The first are workout infomercials. The second is anything having to do with health studies.

Eating turned out to be a somewhat low-budget, somewhat biased plea for the world to all turn into vegans. I couldn't believe the health benefits the narrator discussed, from curing cancer to ending heart disease. Oh, and then there was the global warming pitch. And the humanitarian side was thoroughly discussed too. Pretty much, becoming vegan (a low-fat vegan at that) was covered from every angle.

Well, I bit. It was the idea of being able to heal myself through the foods I ate that was what really appealed to me. I have never liked having even to take Advil when I am in pain, so the idea of healing through vegetables seemed great to me.

Susie of one year and two months ago was much like Susie of today. She felt like she should exercise more than she did, she liked to speak about herself in third person, and she knew even less about cooking, and had far less food in her pantry to cook with. Becoming vegan seemed like the logical next step. Or something like that.

I became a Vegan at about 330 in the afternoon, and had pretty much nothing to eat, nor did I go out and grocery shop that evening. Nor did I really know anything about being vegan. Nor did I really know anyone who was a vegan. It was a bumpy start, and within two weeks, I knew every vegan junk food available (not really the point of going vegan, I know).

I'm not vegan anymore. I eat eggs and dairy, although not a lot. In the end, what the narrator said in the documentary about eating low-fat vegan, that it's really not that hard to get all the nutrients and nutrition that you need, could have been true. He neglected to add that it does require a lot of home cooked meals. Quite frankly, traveling to rural parts of Wyoming and North Dakota for work really doesn't provide any food options for vegans. (Even if it has taught me the difference between a deer and a pronghorn.) It barely works being vegetarian, and usually requires ordering grilled cheese sandwiches off of the children's menu. Aside from traveling, it also doesn't work being vegan when your favorite meal to go out for is brunch, and you want to eat more than dry toast.

While I have no plans to go back to eating meat, I also understand why others choose to continue eating it. I know that meat is something that humans were designed to eat and all that. I just look at some of the statistics, like the sheer amount of energy required to produce a pound of beef, and I wish that people would not eat so much of it. A meal doesn't have to include meat in order to be a meal.

I was hesitant to even mention the fact that I am vegetarian in creating this blog, because I know that it skews how others will read it. Although at this point, it must be getting obvious. Who else would actually enjoy making a chili with lentils in it? As I gauged from Julie's reaction to what I made last night, the answer to that question is: not many.

This is the first chili that I have made since becoming vegetarian that I have actually liked. The texture of the lentils adds a nice variety to the other beans. I ended up with 10 portions after adding can after random can of beans. I wasn't expecting it to grow to quite the size it achieved, and nearly overflowed the pot that it was in.

Okay, well now, I think I may actually provide the recipe after all, if for no other reason than to remember it for myself, and, frankly, I've now had a request for it...

This is inspired, once again from a WeightWatchers.com recipe. I am following their program online right now, so have had lots of time to peruse their recipes. I will be breaking the mold and looking elsewhere next week though.

What I made makes 10 servings of just over a cup and a half each.
If anyone's curious, each serving is 8 WW PointsPlus

Ingredients:
1 1-lb package lentils
1 large onion, cooked in two tablespoons of vegetable oil (I cut the onion like a champ this time. I swear. Well, a little bit smaller anyway... the youtube link was great. Thanks! I've avoided writing about this step because I don't feel like talking about cooking an onion again. It gets old. And I'm only on week six or so of this.)
1 28 oz can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes (so much better than plain old crushed tomatoes)
2 15 oz cans of black beans
1 25 oz can of kidney beans 
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chili (about as much spice as I can tolerate)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin 
2 red peppers, chopped up real good (For practically the first week ever, the item I was looking for at Whole Paycheck was actually on sale. A buck a piece!)

Instructions:
1. I cooked the lentils according to the instructions (about 20 minutes), then poured out all but about an inch of the water. I cooked the onion at the same time. The recipe called for adding the red pepper and cooking it at the same time, but I skipped that and added it with the other ingredients. It kept the pepper tasting more crispy, which I preferred.
2. Basically, I combined all of the ingredients after cooking the onion, and let it all cook on medium-low for 20 minutes. Wicked haw'd.

Alright, enough said.

ps. There's a pretty cool website that we looked at in class yesterday called waterfootprint.org. It's a pretty fun/scary/interesting website. I had no idea how much water went into making a cup of coffee...

Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas and Almonds

I feel stupid saying this, but here goes: I don't really know how to cook rice or other grains. It seems like this mysterious process. I am clearing the air with that, because this week I made a quinoa dish. I don't lump quinoa in with rice exactly, but it is another grain that always seems to taste better when someone else makes it. More on quinoa in a bit, but first, I am actually posting early this week. Yay me! I feel so responsible. If only I was this responsible with my school work, which is actually why I am posting tonight. I am somewhat freaking out over the work load this quarter, and other than starting my training for the Colfax Half Marathon tomorrow, I am reserving the day for working my way through about twelve hours of reading that I am looking to jam into six. Sweet!

But back to the quinoa! (Pronounced like "Keene," New Hampshire, followed by "WAAAAA!") Quinoa is a unique grain because it contains all essential amino acids and has the highest protein content of any grain as well. Plus, it makes any dish sound far more exotic and interesting than using rice. I mean seriously, how much better sounding is quinoa?

This recipe came out okay, but I'm going to have to do further study on cooking time differences between Denver, CO, at the wonderful elevation we so enjoy here, and sea level, where all recipes seem to be made. The quinoa literally took half an hour to cook tonight, and it was only supposed to take 15... but anyways...

I adapted this recipe from one I found online on Weight Watchers. It's from the cookbook Dining For Two, from Weight Watchers Publishing Group. I thought it was really lame that you would go to all of the trouble to cook only to make two servings, so I doubled everything. What follows is 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (Quinoa has to be rinsed before you use it, apparently to get rid of the outer most shell of each grain, which tastes bitter when eaten. I am confident that I've gone without rinsing the quinoa first, and couldn't taste the difference, but I'm trying to be a proper cook now and following etiquette, so all quinoa was rinsed. But what's annoying is that I keep forgetting to buy a smaller strainer for the quinoa. For the most part, the little grains don't fall through the one that I have, but some do, and I feel like the messes up the overall proportions... but anyways...)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
3 tsp curry powder (I thought that was a lot. It did end being sortof strong to me, but I am also pretty sensitive to any spice. And I also always tend to add more spice than than whatever the recipe calls for through accidental spilling...)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium to large onion, chopped (I used a large one, and definitely didn't chop into small enough pieces. The photos pretty much say it all.)
1 clove garlic or garlic powder (I didn't realize that garlic has to be stored in a plastic bag to keep from drying out after it's been started. Oops. I thought I was going to use fresh...)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed (I just used half of a 16 ounce or so package and called it good.)
1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained (The recipe I used actually called for 5 ounces of chick peas. I washed and drained the can and then weighed them, and they came out to 8.8 ounces. Close enough.)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup golden seedless raisins (I thought I was buying golden raisins, and then when I opened the box they were the normal purple/brown color. I was pissed. Didn't make much overall difference though.)

Directions:
1. Combine the orange juice, water, and quinoa in a medium size cooking pot and cover. Bring the liquid to a boil, then simmer until all the liquid is gone. This step apparently varies in cooking time. If you're at sea level it should take about 20 minutes for the quinoa to cook. If you are cooking in my kitchen on my stove that apparently has it in for me, allow additional time, even as your stomach is growling and you are wishing that you'd just bought something quick at the store to eat for dinner instead of having to cook at all... but I digress.

2. While waiting ever so patiently for the quinoa to cook: In a medium to large size skillet, heat the oil, then cook the onion, peas and carrots for 3-5 minutes, until the onion starts to cook, and the liquid from the veggies goes away.

3. Add the chickpeas and almonds, and allow to cook another few minutes. Remove from the heat, and add the raisins.

4. The quinoa will finish cooking whenever the quinoa decides to be finished. When it is, combine everything in the pan that you cooked the faster items in, and voila. This recipe can be served at room temperature, and I think letting the whole thing sit may bring out even more taste. I'll see how the leftovers turn out.

So, thus far, I have managed to keep my new year's resolution to maintain this blog once a week. I am not going to lie, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I am taking suggestions for next week if anyone would like something made...

It's interesting, because before I started cooking I would look at cookbooks just to study their beautiful, glossy photos, imagining what it would be like to actually make them. I would get really bitter and irritated whenever cookbooks didn't include photos, or there were few and far in-between for the number of recipes included. Now that I'm actually making the recipes, I have been enjoying the mystery of having no photo reference. It's like I'm actually getting to make it for the first time, or that at least I have creative license for the recipe to come out exactly as I want it to, and it doesn't have to mold to how the original maker decided it has to look. I don't know why I felt compelled to write that, just an observation I guess.

Scandinavian Yellow Split Pea Soup with Dilled Yogurt

My MBA program started up again yesterday. Nothing like school all day on a Saturday to shorten the weekend. In my finance class the professor had us all fill out information forms about what finance classes we have previously completed, what our undergrad degree was in, where we went to school, what we do now, etc. Needless to say, with my vast background in finance, the form took me a while to fill in. He took what seemed like great pleasure (I'm sure it was my own sensitivity to it more than anything else) in announcing to the class my undergrad major: art history and visual art, then managed the usual butchering of the pronunciation of Bowdoin College, although, shockingly, he had actually heard of it. Wow, one of five people who's heard of my college in Colorado! During the remainder of the class, he managed to find as many places as he could to state how finance is really an art form, so I shouldn't have any trouble at all (look at all those pretty graphs after all!) I actually really liked him a lot, as he has quite a lot of energy for a Saturday morning, and he stayed remarkably engaging the whole time. No easy feat for a four hour class.

I only mention my finance class because we used Whole Foods as an example company for some ratio comparisons. We looked to see why their stock wasn't comparing well in the five-year term to the S&P 500 and within their own industry. While otherwise faring well, it turns out that Whole Foods' revenue per employee was significantly lower than the industry average. My professor concluded that whole foods must have too many employees. "How's the customer service in there?" He asked. "Are there too many people in there asking you if you need help?" Until he said it, I had never considered customer service to be a problem (Except in clothing stores, where I tend to take after my mother: if I didn't ask you for help, stop following me around the store.). 

Well, let's just say that I took advantage of the overabundance of extra help last night at the Whole Foods in Cherry Creek to find the ingredients for my recipe after class got out. I found this recipe on WeightWatchers.com, and that same website claimed this recipe to be "easy," on the easy to hard scale.

I didn't find wandering around the perimeter of the grocery store to be all that easy. All in all, the trip required a phone call to find out about leeks, and how many of them would likely make four cups, and how much of one you actually use, then two different assists from a store employee who kindly explained the difference between Italian and some other kind of parsley, then grabbed some fresh dill (at this point, I still thought I needed both dill and parsley). I am too embarrassed to write here how long I spent meandering around the store looking for fresh dill. And of course it turned out to be located right next to the leeks and parsley. Go figure.

Okay, just a tiny bit of griping now. When inexperienced to cooking certain vegetables, (or fresh vegetables at all for that matter) I am finding that I really hate the learning curve of figuring out ratios. Not finance ratios, translation ratios: what is the ratio of how much a certain vegetable item translates into American units of measurement for recipes - or any form of measurement for that matter? It turns out that one leek = more than two cups. But of course it does. What else would it equal? Also, who knew how expensive leeks are? Now I have an extra leek. That's three dollars that's probably just going to sit rotting in my fridge all week until I cook again next weekend - if I do a leek recipe again, which I doubt...

Side Note: How to prepare leeks

There's a lot written and demonstrated online about how to prepare leeks. Sadly, the first site that I went to and followed wasn't as good as a later one that I found that talked about putting the sliced leeks into a salad spinner to wash them. I thought that was ingenious. The problem seems to be that there's a lot of dirt that gets trapped in the various layers of a leek. None of the darkest color green is meant to be used either. That's all supposed to be removed as it's considerably more bitter than the lighter parts. The preparation method that I really liked is on a website called startcooking.com. I have the feeling that I'm going to be referring back to that site frequently in the future. There's also a link on that site to another site called: cookingforengineers.com.

After looking at both of these sites quickly, I am once again very happy that I didn't do any research before I decided to start a blog about learning to cook. Not only am I confident that the market is already saturated with a multitude of people who already have blogs related to learning how to cook, but I'm confident that other people have and will continue to do it better. In case anyone's curious, in looking up whether or not I will be sued for posting recipes if I don't attribute them correctly, I came across foodblogalliance.com, a site dedicated to helping food bloggers, which beautifully and fully answered my question. The number one search result of my google search turned out to be yet another site called Food Blogging 101. That's right. Blogging about food cooking and preparation is now so common that an entry level college course reference can be made about it.

But do any other learning to cook bloggers out there have my brand of sarcasm? I don't think so. In case anyone actually reads this and wonders what the answer to my search question is, I believe I should be able to "attribute" the recipe to a certain author, and as long as I change a lot of the wording after the ingredient list, putting it in my own words, I should be good. Well, since I never follow a recipe correctly, anyway, I think I'm fine...

So, finally onto the recipe:

This recipe is adapted from a Weight Watchers cookbook called In One Pot, from Weight Watchers Publishing Group.

Total time including prep/cooking - about 2 hours (They lied. They said it would be done sooner than that.)

Total servings: The recipe said 8. I think it's going to end up being more like 4-5.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp regular butter

4 cups leeks, large, cleaned and sliced (See above notes regarding that. I ended up just using two leeks and calling it good. I think that ended up being closer to 5 cups of leeks. Oh, well.)

2 cloves garlic, minced (I used three, and quite frankly, the whole minced thing just didn't seem to happen. I either need to acquire more patience in the kitchen or sharper knives. Neither of those things are likely to happen any time soon.)

8 cups vegetable broth, low-sodium (I used vegetable boullion cubes and used a combination of 1 cube with salt and 3 with no salt added)

1 pound dry split peas, yellow, packaged, picked over, rinsed, and drained

2 bay leaves (I forgot to add these when I was supposed to. Oh, well. They were added toward the end instead.)

3 medium carrots, sliced (So easy to know how many to use... if only I knew the correct size of a "medium carrot.")

2 stalks celery, sliced (I used three. I'm such a rebel.)

1 tsp dried marjoram (What do you know, I didn't actually have any like I thought I did. I added a weird combination of other odds and ends instead.)

1/4 tsp black pepper, (Never ended up adding any. oops. Still had plenty of flavor.)

For the topping:

freshly ground 1/2 cup(s) low-fat plain yogurt (I used fat free greek yogurt instead, and I used a whole 6 ounce container. Once again, total rebel, I know...)

3 Tbsp dill, fresh, or parsley (Hey, look who didn't read the recipe correctly when she started, it turns out I didn't even need to buy both dill and parsley. Well, now I have a ton of parsley to figure out what to do with.)

2 tsp lemon zest, grated (I used one lemon, since that's how much I bought, and called it good.)

Instructions:

1. Heat the tablespoon of butter in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Then add the garlic and leeks, allowing the onion to cook. (This took me about 10 minutes, and every time I stepped away, the leeks started to burn on the bottom of the pan. So annoying.)

2. Add the broth, yellow split peas, and bay leaves, and allow to cook on low for 50 minutes, covered. (The original recipe called for only 25 minutes here. Maybe it's because of the higher elevation here in Denver, but the peas weren't even remotely done after 50 minutes, which was the original time called for in this recipe.)

3. Add the carrots, celery, and other spices, and allow to cook for another half hour or so, until the peas are totally softened.

4. While allowing the soup to cook, prepare the topping by combining the yogurt, dill or parsley (I used dill), and lemon zest. Place this all back in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to blend.

5. Remove the bay leaves (I had trouble finding the second one. Took some legitimate digging around in the peas and vegetables with the soup spoon). So when the soup was finished, I am sorry to report that I looked at it and decided that it looked thoroughly unappealing in its final state. It reminded me too much of the vegetable soups that I would try to get down (and hated) when I was little. Truth be told, I never liked cooked celery or carrots growing up, and I still don't find them all that appealing in a soup. To get around all of that, I decided to use the hand blender that Mom bought me for Christmas last year (Yet another, "if I got this gadget, I'm sure I'll use it" that never panned out.) And blended all of the soup together. It looked way better this way, and hid most of the evidence of cooked vegetables.

After adding the topping, I enjoyed my soup, and I think I'll definitely be able to enjoy it again. The yogurt/dill/lemon added a great kick to it.

Okay, hopefully future posts won't be quite this long. I did enjoy the process of making this one, once I got all of the ingredients home. I totally could have added the third leek too...

Healthier Crustless Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

I made the New Year's Resolution that I was cutting out cheese for at least the month of January, after gorging on it during the Thanksgiving to Christmas period. Well, I made it one day. That's sort-of an improvement right? I found a recipe online for a crustless spinach quiche and then tweaked it. I came up with the idea for making the quiche yesterday after I also decided that I was cutting out unnecessary sugar and bread. And I pretty much knew from then on that my resolution to give up all cheese for the month was never going to cut it. The thought of a cheese-free quiche after I was already removing the crust just seemed too much like a diet. But hey, I used feta, and that's a good for you cheese. It comes from goats, and they seem way healthier than cows. They are so much thinner. That must mean their milk products are healthier...

While I'm discussing New Year's Resolutions, I should say for the record that I made the resolution that this year will be the last year I make the Resolution to lose weight. That being said, I made the resolution this year to lose weight. But I swear, it's the last time. My goal is to lose 30 pounds, and I'm going to keep this blog updated with how that's going as well. So far I'm down 1.6 pounds. Sweet!

So, here are the ingredients that I used for the quiche: (Anything following in parentheses are my notes-to-self, and are not needed in the recipe.)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I realized as I was pouring that I don't actually own any measuring devices smaller than a quarter cup. What I poured into the pan was hopefully about a tablespoon, but who really knows. Good thing I'm not planning on doing any baking for a while.)

10 oz frozen spinach - thawed (I only had a 16 oz package, so I kindof eye-balled it)

3/4 package of fresh mushrooms (I'm such a spaz. Maybe when I get good at cooking, I'll remember that mushrooms cook down a lot and not to be fooled by their initial size. I think I may use the whole package next time. I was really worried that the quiche was going to overflow my pie pan at the time. It did end up being a tight fit.)

1 chopped up onion (I don't own a single sharp knife or this step would have been far easier, and I don't think I would have cried quite so much.)

1 small bunch of scallions (These were left over in my fridge from my holiday party - see first post - for a dip that I didn't end up even making after I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to use. I don't think they were key to the recipe, but not bad to add.)

6 oz container of pre-crumbled feta cheese (The 8 oz block of feta was the same price at Target last night, but I figured that I would then eat the difference, so it was actually not a savings to me... they aren't as diligent in their crumbling of feta efforts as I would have been though. There were still some pretty large chunks in there if you ask me.)

5 whole large eggs + 2 egg whites (I thought I'd cut down on the cholesterol while boosting overall protein with the 2 egg whites replacing what could have been a whole egg. Or maybe I just like separating eggs. I can barely cook, but I can separate eggs. That makes me way better than a true beginner, right?)

Garlic (I added it in the powder form. I would have used fresh, as I now have learned how to prepare garlic, but I was so tired of slicing mushrooms by this point - they were cheaper at Target than the pre-sliced ones - and my cooking skills thus far are poor enough that I don't know the difference yet, that powder was what was used.)

Salt/Pepper (In honor of Mom, I didn't use any :-) )

Overall, this recipe wasn't hard at all. And I'm really excited how it turned out. And, even better, I was able to use my beautiful pie plate that has been sitting collecting dust and randomly being used to hold fruit and other odds and ends for the three and a half years that I have owned it. Overall today I was marveling at just how many pots and pans I own. For someone who doesn't cook, I've done pretty well for myself. I have a complete kitchen set and more. I think that when I purchased them it was with the "If I buy it, I will cook," attitude. Well, aside from having an apartment with lots of storage for all of my kitchen pots and pans and plates and platters, that's been about it.

The oven needs to be pre-heated to 350 degrees F. I am also making the personal note here to remember to thaw the spinach toward the beginning of the preparation. I forgot until I was ready to add it, and was none too pleased with myself for forgetting. Way to think ahead Susie...

1. Cook the onion in the tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms as soon as you have finished slicing them all. Then add the scallions. (I actually ended up adding a quarter cup of vegetable broth after the onion soaked up all of the oil. I was trying to be healthy, and I think it worked out pretty well, adding a bit of flavor as well.) Let everything cook through before moving on to step two. I think this took me between 10 and 15 minutes.

2. Add the THAWED spinach and let it cook until all of the excess liquid is gone.

3. While the this spinach mixture is losing it's water content, beat the eggs together in a separate bowl, and then add the feta to the egg.

4. Mix the egg mixture into the vegetable concoction, and then add all that to a pie plate. Try to make it as smooth and pretty as possible for best visual effect. (The recipe I referenced before straying from it called for spraying the pie plate with Pam before adding the mixture. I'm not sure how important that step actually was because the finished quiche didn't seem to stick to the pie plate at all. But then, I did spray the pie plate with Pam. I had wanted to stay away from spray-on oils ever since sitting through a Dr. Oz episode last week that mentioned them, but a few sprays can't hurt, right?)

5. I added a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese to the top to make it look nicer. Totally optional, but it was also leftover in my fridge from the holiday party and the recipe that was never made.

6. Allow about 45 minutes for the quiche to cook. I used a fork to test for when it was done.

This pie makes 6 good sized servings, and each has no more than 250 calories from what I could tell with the nutritional calculator I used online. All in all, it was crammed with veggies and was delicious. I could have added additional cheese, but am satisfied with the result and am equally excited for leftover lunches this week at work. And even better, I'm excited to make this whole recipe again in the future.

I actually took out all of my cook books earlier this week from their hiding spot in my kitchen and looked through them all for new recipe ideas. I haven't done that since at least last year (I purchase my cook books with the same gusto with which I seem to purchase cooking supplies. Sadly, the knowledge contained in them doesn't seem to seep into my brain through osmosis as I had wanted).

The smell of actually having something cooking in my apartment, and not just heating up a can of soup for dinner has been great. I am bummed that my MBA program is starting up again next week and all of my free time to be domestic will be gone. Oh, well, at least I'll still have at least one new recipe each week for the blog.

Happy New Year!