Quinoa Casserole with Buffalo Cauliflower Sauce (Gluten-Free)

I've never been a huge fan of buffalo wings. I guess you could blame it on the fact that I was never properly introduced to the concept of "it's wing night!! I'msopumpedIgettoeatwingstonight!" To me it was just people sloppily eating chicken with naught a care given to the orange covering their entire body.

Then I met my husband who likes Frank's on ALL OF IT. All the dinners, all the snacks,  and definitely all the casseroles.

Like the stellar wife I am, I go to Costo and see a saintly two-pack of the stuff and heft all 80 pounds of it into the cart and get it home and he still hasn't made it through the first bottle. I don't know, maybe it lost its charm when it was in abundance but it has taken the man for-ever-er to make it through half the first bottle.

I was sitting here contemplating what the heezy to do with all this buffalo sauce and then Cassie went and posted this stellar dish and I knew I had to adapt it to make it ours. So that was done.

Oh, and  be sure you pair it with kale chips (bonus points if they're covered in salty cheesy nutritional yeast) because it was a combo you won't soon forget.

I topped our casserole with leftover rice cripsy coating and sliced tomatoes, but feel free to use gluten-free breadcrumbs or whatever else you delight in.

Quinoa Casserole with Buffalo Cauliflower Sauce
Inspired from Back to Her Roots

half of a large cauliflower head (about 2 cups chopped)
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce (or any other buffalo-style sauce)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup chredded cheddar cheese (divided)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
toppings of choice

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and lightly greasing an 8x8 baking dish.

2. Steam the cauliflower until tender. While the cauliflower is steaming, saute the onion and zucchini together over medium-heat until tender. When it's done, remove from heat.

3. In your food processor, add the steamed cauliflower, buffalo sauce, minced garlic and 1/4 cup water and combine. If the sauce is still too thick for your liking, add additional water until it reaches the desired consistency.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the quinoa, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, buffalo cauliflower sauce, and the zucchini/onion mixture. Scoop into the baking dish and cover with your topping of choice. Bake for 15 minutes, until hot.

Fruity Quinoa Beet Salad (Gluten-Free | Vegan)

THE BEETS! When I was just about the age of 7, my favorite musical artists went in order of something like this: Ace of Base, Donna Lewis, and ... The Beets. It was awesome. I actually got excited when the underlying theme of one of Doug's episodes was about them.

What's even more funny is I didn't get what beets or tofu were until many, many years later. My 7-year-old self would have been shocked to see the me today eating them on the regular. They're actual foods? Like, people put them in their mouths and digest those things as a way to get nutrients? FLOORED, I would have been.

I'm trying to think here, and I'm about 99% positive that I never had beets growing up. Which is totally fine, since my mom made sure to have at least 3 other vegetables on the table every dinner. I actually remember her telling me a little while ago that she  doesn't like to make them because my dad overdosed on them growing up with my grandma.

(My grandma is a fantastic, Norwegian-gone-Minnesota woman who also used to eat milk bread, which is exactly what it sounds like. Simple, cheap and healthy, according to the standards back then. What else do you want?)

Anyway, this salad was the direct result of me cooking beets for the first time, and you had better believe it's happening again. They're so easy! And nutritious! And radically pink! I think they also will go with a lot of other ingredients to make dinnertime that much more quick and healthy. And did I mention they're pink, which makes your kitchen feel all rosy?

My plan of attack is to buy more than just 4 beets next time and cook them all together in a giant pot on the weekend, and then dive into them throughout the week. These suckers are tasty cold, too.

 That dressing up there is pretty fantastic as well, which could be paired with so many other dishes. I'm thinking a goat cheese-based salad, or a marinade for tofu. So many options!

Fruity Quinoa Beet Salad
Salad and dressing adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:
4 fresh beets, with greens still on
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 orange, peeled
1 apple (I used Granny Smith)
1 pear
2 T coconut oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 T diced garlic
the beet greens that came with your beets, washed and torn into small pieces
4 leeks, sliced
2 T sunflower seeds


1. Wash and cut the ends off the beets; place into a large pot and fill with water. Cover and bring to a boil until they're tender. It should take around 30 minutes, depending on the size. After 30, I started pricking mine with a fork every 5 minutes to see when they were tender enough to chop.

2. Rinse the quinoa and pour into a pot with 2 cups cold water. Cover, bring to a boil, and then turn down to a nice simmer until all the water is absorbed. When this is finished, place to the side and let cool.

3.Dice the orange, apple and pear into bite-sized pieces. Add to a large bowl.

4. In a saucepan, heat the coconut oil over medium-low heat for a couple minutes. Add in the diced onion and garlic, and cook for 1 minutes. Add in the beet greens and saute until wilted. Set aside to cool until the beets are finished cooking.

5. Once the beets are finished, carefully drain and set them aside for a couple minutes until cool enough to handle. Remove the skins (they should just fall right off) and chop into bite-sized pieces. Add the beets, beet greens, quinoa, sunflower seeds and sliced leeks to the fruit bowl and mix all together. Pour the dressing on (recipe below) and thoroughly combine.

**I also think a soft, tangy cheese, like gorgonzola, would go fantastic in here. That will be happening next time.


Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
5 T apple cider vinegar
3 T melted coconut oil
12 fresh raspberries
dash of salt
1 T maple syrup

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the coconut oil. Add in the raspberries and mash until they're incorporated with the oil. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix together!

Breakfast Quinoa Cups

Have you jumped on the quinoa train yet? I feel like everywhere I turn, there's someone else discussing the bounty and glory that all this complete-protein crop has to offer. I hear about it as often as I do kale, as if they are cahoots. Married. Quinoa and kale, forever and always.

It's great for vegetarians! It contains essential amino-acids! It will teleport you to Bermuda at first bite! Yeah, all it's benefits can get a little exhausting. Especially if you're type A and need more than a moments notice to travel to a foreign destination.

However, we can't kid ourselves. Quinoa is GOOD. As in, tasty good. And it plays well with others, like cinnamon, berries, and coconut. Making it a completely fantastic breakfast idea.

I've played around with quinoa cups before, but it's always been the savory kind for dinner. These buggers are super quick and easy to make, which makes them ideal for rushed mornings or frantic evenings. And really, you can add whatever you have on hand. For these, I used cottage cheese since I couldn't jive with cheddar. I'm sure goat cheese would be phenomenal, or ricotta.

 Breakfast Quinoa Cups
Makes 12 cups

Ingredients
3/4 cup dry quinoa
1 t cinnamon
4 beaten eggs
1/2 cup shredded pear
3 ounces of your favorite cheese
1/4 cup silvered almonds
1/4 cup dried coconut
2 T brown sugar
1/2 cup frozen berries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin.

2.  Measure out 3/4 cup quinoa and the cinnamon in a medium pot; fill with 2 cups water, cover, and bring to a boil on the stove. Once it boils, lower the heat to medium and let simmer until all the water has been absorbed by the quinoa.

3. While your quinoa cooks, combine the beaten eggs, pear, cheese, almonds, coconut and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add in the quinoa when it's done. The mixture wild be slightly soupy.

4. Ladle equal portions into the greased muffin tin, filling all 12 holders. Place a few berries on top of each cup and bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are slightly browned and firm to the touch.

5. Cool for 5 minutes before eating. If you can.

Versatile Vegan Loaf

I used to consider it weird and borderline glutenous that I would contemplate dinner 5 seconds after finishing off the last bite of breakfast. "There are so many other important life things that need attending to until 6:00pm, and all you can think about it more food?"

Cafe Gratitude, San Francisco. Not tonight's dinner.

Then I quickly learned there's nothing like completing 3 Sodokus, riding a luxury yacht for 2 hours and picking my pimples out my favorite picture of James Dean that will make you really appreciate a well-planned dinner. After all that, a girl is exhausted and wants some good eats. And besides, it's no secret that food is pretty essential to the act of living for all things living. Might as well make it delicious. Bam, justified.

@ home. Tonight's dinner.

We had this for dinner tonight, something I only started thinking about, oh, last night. But it was later last night, you know like 9 pm. I need an adequate amount of time to prepare a 4-slot meal.

Right now, I'm only going to share this guy:

This kid's the good kid. We're talking straight A's. It's not thick and bold and brassy - it tends to be more simple, classy and a little naiive. This loaf won't meet you at the 18th hole for some burrs and wings; it will meet you at your aunt's garden party. It's easy to love, hard to dislike, and looks about 15 thousand times better in realty than in the picture above.

Stay tuned the next few days to get the scoop on the rest of the dish. We have one kid down, but you have yet to learn about the rest of the family.

Vegan Loaf with Quinoa, Tofu and Veggies
makes one 9x5 loaf


*Wild! -  This truly is a flexible recipe. Stick with the tofu/oats structure and then add in whatever veggies you desire. If you’re not on the vegan train, I think cheese would be an excellent addition as well. Mix it in with all the other ingredients before you pack it in the loaf pan, so it gets all gooey and cozy with the other friends in there.

½ package of extra-firm tofu

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

1 clove garlic

½ cup quick-cooking oats (if you have Celiac disease, make sure they are gluten-free. I use Bob’s Red Mill, which is one of the few brands that is gluten-free.)

1 cup cooked quinoa (keenwah!) 
½ cup spaghetti sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup broccoli florets
small handful of dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease up your loaf pan.

1. First, if you don’t have 3 large Tupperwares of leftover quinoa in your fridge, come over and swipe some from me. Or you could take the really bumpy road and prepare yours yourself.

2. Put the tofu, lemon juice, olive oil and oats in a processor or blender and pulse until it resembles a ricotta-like texture; you might need to scrape down the sides a few times with a spatula.

You're tofu/oat mixture should look pasty, like this:

3. Using a spatula, scrape out the tofu/oat mixture and place in a large mixing bowl; add in quinoa and stir it all together so the quinoa is all covered.

4. Add in the spaghetti sauce and your desired amount of salt and pepper; stir it all again.

5. Finally, throw in the broccoli and cranberries (and any other wild veggies you choose) and mix one last time.

6. Scrape the mix in to the loaf pan and pop into the oven. Cooking time is about 40-50 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and crispy. Cool this guy for about 15 minutes if you want loaf-ish slice; dive right in if you want a more crumbly, casserole-esque experience.