Friday, April 5, 2013

Roasted Veggies Over Quinoa




Jeanette from Jeanette's Healthy Living posted this great looking recipe on Facebook the other day and I decided to buy the ingredients on my shopping trip today. SOOOO glad I did! I love it. So many great flavors and textures.



The recipe calls for oven roasting some great veggies together... carrots, cauliflower, chickpeas, and shallots.  I added in some fresh green beans.  The original recipe calls for serving the oven roasted veggies over halloumi cheese; I left out the cheese and used quinoa instead. The original recipe also calls for "sumac" but it is listed as an optional ingredient. I have no clue what halloumi cheese and sumac are, but this recipe was great without either of them.

This recipe could not be more simple. While my quinoa was simmering, I chopped up the veggies and rinsed/drained the chickpeas and threw them in the oven to roast on parchment lined roasting pans. I added extra cauliflower so I roasted the veggies on two roasting pans so the ingredients would be in a single layer. If the veggies would have been over crowded, they would have steamed in stead of roasted.

The original recipe post from Jeanette's Healthy Living is can be found HERE.  I LOVE this blog.  Jeanette says she started her blog after caring and nurturing family members with special dietary needs... a family member with cancer and her youngest son who had been diagnosed with multiple food allergies.  She has lots of recipes which are gluten/casein-free, low sugar, plant-based... and she uses whole foods (no processed stuff).  While I have no need to be "gluten" free, I am always trying to cut the carbs and eat more whole foods and grains, so I really enjoy seeing the recipes Jeanette posts.  And I am very glad I tried this recipe in particular.  I have used shallots one other time (I just don't think to use or buy them) and in this recipe they are the star.  They just sort of melt when roasted and give the dish a nice mellow caramelized onion flavor.  Oven roasting really brings out the delicious flavors in the fresh veggies and I love that each vegetable has a different texture.

Roasted Veggies Over Quinoa (adapted from Jeanette's Healthy Living)

1 medium sized head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced thin (about 1/4 inch)
2 hand fulls of fresh green beans, ends removed and cut in half
1 big shallot or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Prepare veggies as described and put in a large bowl.  Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil over the veggies and season with salt and pepper.  Place veggies in a single layer on two parchment lined roasting pans.  Put in preheated oven (450 degrees Fahrenheit) and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Roasting time can vary depending on how small or how large you cut the veggies. 

While veggies are roasting, prepare quinoa. I used 1 cup quinoa (rinsed and drained) and 1 7/8 cup water, and a pinch of salt.  Bring water to boil in a medium sized pot, then add salt and quinoa.  Cover with a lid, reduce to simmer on lowest setting, and allow to cook undisturbed for 17 to 19 minutes (just like you cook rice).

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