Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Chicken Sausage on Quinoa with Peppers


Chicken Chorizo on Quinoa with Peppers Recipe

 

For this month's Color Me Badd Diva theme, I randomly ended up with yellow. Several of the Divas are not curry fans (and it definitely smells up your house) so I went with a dish that used yellow peppers (and the Quinoa is "yellowy" I guess.)

Chicken Sausage on Quinoa with Peppers
1 Tbsp butter
¼ onion, diced
sea salt to taste
1 cup quinoa
2 Cups Chicken Broth

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Chicken sausage links
½ onion, cut into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tsp Spanish paprika
½ Tsp ground cumin
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup chicken stock
sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the diced onion and sea salt to taste; cook and stir until the onion has caramelized to a deep brown, about 15 minutes. Once caramelized, pour in 2 cups of chicken stock and the quinoa; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, 20ish minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the sausages. Remove to drain on a paper towel lined plate, and keep warm.
3. Reduce the heat to medium, and stir the sliced onion into the remaining oil in the skillet (add a bit more if necessary.) Cook until the edges of the onions begin to turn a golden color, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Season with the paprika and cumin, then stir in the red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then cook until the peppers soften, and the mixture reduces and thickens, 10 to 15 minutes. Return the sausage to the skillet, season to taste with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the sausage is hot. Serve over a bed of quinoa.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Broccoli Grape Harvest Salad by The Big Cheese

April sort of snuck by the Divas this month. We are actually meeting on May 1st to complete April's "Color-Me-Diva" month. Each diva was given a color, and our meal has to (I guess) have that color in it? Either way, The Big Cheese was given PURPLE...I mean, come on...I thought about eggplant? A purple colored wine? However, I kept coming back to grapes. I love them, my family loves them, who doesn't love grapes? The only problem with grapes is the recipe probably can't be frozen. My bad fellow divas, my bad. You'll just have to enjoy this meal ASAP! We divas know how to NOT waste a good meal. So, I'll stop rambling and give you this fresh recipe that I found (via Pintrest) at Eat Yourself Skinny blog. Who doesn't want to EAT themselves SKINNY? For real.



Here are your ingredients:

1/2 (16 oz) box whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
1 lb. fresh broccoli
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt
2 cups seedless red grapes
6 cooked turkey bacon slices, crumbled
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan for about 6 minutes until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Then prepare pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, cut broccoli florets from stems and separate into small pieces using a paring knife. In a large bowl, whisk together mayo, yogurt, sugar, red onion, vinegar and salt and toss with broccoli, hot cooked pasta and grapes. Stir to coat. Cover and chill for up to 3 hours. Stir in bacon and toasted pecans just before serving, enjoy!