Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Bowls

Here's a healthy recipe to start the new year.  The bonus is that it tastes pretty good too!

3 cups large-diced butternut squash

1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted (substitute fresh if you have that option)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

1 tsp cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons tahini

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (may want to add a little more at the end)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons water

1 cup cooked quinoa

2-3 green onions, diced

Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss squash, 2 tablespoons olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper together then place on baking sheet. Roast until cooked through and slightly crispy (about 30 minutes).

Make the sauce by adding garlic, tahini, vinegar, olive oil and water and blending (with an immersion blender or food processor or just a whisk). Add salt and pepper. Add the sauce to the quinoa.

Heat spinach.

To assemble place quinoa in bowl, top with spinach, butternut squash, and green onions.

Healthy, quick, and pretty!

Crispy Garbanzo Beans, the perfect snack

These things are so good!  They make a great, healthy snack food.  Oh, and they are easy and have very few ingredients. The seasonings can be changed to just about anything.  I've listed what I used today but I've made them with curry powder, cumin, and just salt and pepper. I've heard of people making them with cinnamon but I haven't tried that yet. This can easily be doubled (just make sure your baking pan is big enough for a single layer)

1 can of garbanzo beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

seasonings-

Big drizzle of worcestershire sauce

garlic powder

sea salt 

ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drain and throughly rinse the garbanzo beans.  Lay them out and dry with paper towels.  Place on a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Mix around with your hands until everything is thoroughly coated.  Roast until crispy.  In my oven it took about 45 minutes.  You want them crispy but if you leave them too long, they will burn.  So start checking them at about the 30 minute point and keep a close eye on them. Also, shake the pan every 15 minutes or so to help them cook evenly.

Hummus- a jack of all trades

I love hummus! I could probably eat it every day of my life and not get bored with it.  It can be used in so many different ways.  It's great as a condiment on sandwiches (SO much better than mayo or mustard), it's good mixed into scrambled eggs, and of course as a dip for crackers, chips, carrots, broccoli, celery, any veggie really.  Oh, and I also LOVE it with grilled meats- chicken, beef, lamb...YUM!


I start with a basic recipe and then just experiment. For the basic recipe, I use two cans of garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed), 1/3 cup of tahini, juice of two lemons, 2-4 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of cumin, salt and pepper and about a 1/3 cup of olive oil.  I put everything in the food processor except the olive oil.  While the processor is going, I add the oil to it.  That's the basic recipe.  Now, from here I start tasting (big delicious spoonfuls) and add whatever else I have lying around.  Today I added chipotle seasoning and Hungarian paprika because I was feeling a little spicy :)  Sometimes I just add extra lemon or extra garlic.  I've also made a nice batch with roasted red bell pepper.  One day, I'm going to take the time to caramelize some shallots and throw in but haven't gotten around to that yet.

Before serving it, I drizzle a little more olive oil on top and dust with paprika.  Yummy and delicious and so very easy!