Chef's Original: Lunch for Work!

This is a dish I threw together last week and have since repeated as it is amazing for lunch on a workday. It began as a rough idea of throwing some things together. Namely, quinoa and peas. However, this changed to include a few more ingredients.

Ingredients
1 box Small Shell Pasta
1 cup Frozen Peas
1 cup Frozen Corn
2 cup Quinoa
Sea Salt
Italian Herb Mix
Shredded Asiago Cheese

I began this by filling my deep saucepan with water for the Pasta. I then put a dash of Sea Salt in the water and turned the heat to HIGH and covered it. I also turned the heat to MEDIUM for the Peas and Corn to start them cooking.

Now I turned to the Quinoa portion of this recipe. This part is made simple by use of a Rice Cooker. If you do not have one of these, I strongly suggest investing in one to suit your needs. I measured out the 2 cups of Quinoa and put it in the Rice Cooker.

Then I put in the 2.5 cups of Water that is required. Then plug the Rice Cooker in and push the level to COOK. Now let it be. You might need to let out some steam later on though, it does tend to bubble over a little bit with Quinoa.

Now turn to your pot of water for the Pasta. It should be boiling or close to it. Add in the entire box of Small Shell Pasta. Make sure they all sink. No, I am not sure why you should do this but I do it and so should you. It's what all the cool kids do...

Now that the Pasta is cooking, you might want to turn the heat down a little bit to around MEDIUM. I added in 2 large pinches of Italian Herb Mix at this point to flavor up the pasta a little bit.

Now stir it to make sure it mixes well.

A few minutes later the Pasta should look like the following picture as it is done. Taste test to make sure.

Oh look, the vegetables are done as well so turn their heat off.

Now it's just waiting on the Rice Cooker to cook that Quinoa. Oh no! It's almost foaming over!

Just take the top off long enough for a quick picture and it dies down.

It will click off to WARM once the cooking is done. You can leave it on that, but it dries the Quinoa out so I just unplug it.

Now, strain the Pasta first using a strainer. We don't want any water in this dish. Now put the Pasta into a large mixing bowl. Strain the frozen vegetables and put them in the same mixing bowl. On top of this add the Quinoa. Then stir some life into it! Go crazy and make it consistent throughout.

Then serve! I added a sprinkle of Italian Herb Mix and pinch of Shredded Asiago Cheese to the top. Enjoy!

Potatoes on Quinoa

So awhile back I posted a potatoes recipe that is quite similar to this one, however several different ingredients have changed. See if you can notice what they are! In all seriousness, I have had a craving for potatoes lately and that is what brought this about.





Ingredients:
5 Red Potatoes
Apple Cider Vinegar
Port
Sherry
Vegetable Oil
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Dill
Ground Black Pepper
Paprika
Italian Herb Mix

I began this recipe by assembling the interested parties, i.e. ingredients. Which really isn't that hard when it's just potatoes and what I will cook them in...or is it? I did make Quinoa in my rice cooker as well, which I guess means I didn't put that in the picture. Oh well, still tastes great! (Quinoa follows same rules as Medium Grain Rice in Rice Cookers)

I started by dicing up the potatoes and putting them in a mixing bowl.

I then made sure I had all my spices.

I put my saucepan on the stovetop and turned the heat to medium.

I quickly poured some Apple Cider Vinegar in.

Then some Port wine.

And some Sherry.

I forgot to take a picture as I was pouring, however I did put in about 1 cup of Vegetable Oil here.

On top of all that went the spices. I did a good dusting of everything but the Dill and Italian Herb Mix. I only use a small pinch of Dill since it goes a long way. The Italian Herb Mix, well, I used a massive HULK sized pinch of that.

Once it started boiling, I added in the potatoes.

Then I mixed them around to coat them with the mixture.

Now, stir on occasion. Make sure they cook properly.

I taste tested to see when they were done. Here's a picture of what they look like while I'm tasting one that's done. Hooray!

Now the Quinoa should be done in the rice cooker by now, which you should unplug right when it's done so the warming setting doesn't dry it out.

Alright, I plated the Quinoa first with some Potatoes on top. I think it looks nice with the minuscule pinch of Italian Herb Mix I added.