Tag Archives: quinoa

Sesame Cilantro Chicken Sausage Stir Fry w/ Pak Choi

Posted on 05/02/2012 by Cookinfanatic | 8 Comments

Pak Choi.

Aka Bok Choy.

Or Chinese cabbage.

Spotted at one of my favorite stands at the farmer’s market this past weekend.

You know I couldn’t resist. I just love this stuff!

Here’s what I came up with.

6 ingredients. Easy peasy. And super tasty.

1. Pak choi.

2. Fresh cilantro.

3. Lou’s Famous cilantro chicken sausage.

4. Dark sesame oil.

5. Soy sauce.

6. Garlic

That’s it.

Well except for some spicy pepper flakes or sambal oelek for serving and maybe a few spoonfuls of rice or quinoa as well

Brown up the chicken sausage for just a few minutes. No oil necessary.

Remove sausages from the pan but leave all that flavor!

Add the sesame oil and the chopped pak choi right in.

Wilt a bit before adding the chicken sausage and garlic.

Another minute or two then in goes the soy sauce and fresh cilantro.

A quick stir n’ heat and you.are.done!

Served over quinoa. Or rice. Or noodles. Or whatever.

But not without some spicy sambal or sriracha to top

Or even just a dash of red pepper flakes if that’s your thing.

Say cheese

Or sambal?

Just sayin’…

Sesame Cilantro Chicken Sausage Stir Fry w/ Pak Choi
Serves 2

3 cilantro chicken sausages, sliced
1 bunch pak choi, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 loose cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 tblsp sesame oil
1/2 tblsp soy sauce
red pepper flakes / sambal oelek / sriracha (optional)

1. Slice and brown chicken sausages over medium about 3 minutes each side. Remove from pan.

2. Add sesame oil to warm pan followed by chopped pak choi, cooking for just a couple minutes until slightly wilted.

3. Add in browned chicken sausages and garlic, stirring for another minute or two until garlic is fragrant.

4. Now add in soy sauce and cilantro, cooking just another minute or two to combine and warm through.

Serve over rice / quinoa / noodles or whatever you like – topped with spicy sambal, sriracha or red pepper flakes too

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Posted in Asian recipes, Dee-lish Dinner, Easy Yummy Dinners

Tagged bok choy, chicken sausage, pak choi, quinoa, recipe, sesame, soy sauce

Buffalo Bleu Cheese Quinoa Cakes

Posted on 08/24/2011 by Cookinfanatic | 8 Comments

Oh just another ordinary Tuesday…

Woke up. Showered. Ate breakfast. Went to work. Worked. Went to lunch. Ate fro yo. Worked some more. Experienced a 5.8 earthquake. Evacuated work building. Came back to work…

No big deal. (?!?!?!)

I must say that everyone was so confused at work when our building started to shake and just wouldn’t stop. We aren’t used to Earthquakes here in the RVA! We do uhhh snow and hurricanes, with the occasional tornado threat mmmmkay.

Anddd it was just miles away from my office, as you can see from this here diagram —>

Useful picture if I might say so myself. A bit too close for comfort, Steph and earthquakes do not a good mix make. Just puttin’ that out there…

Anyways, in celebration of all being okay after VAEarthquakeExtravaganza2011, I decided to make some quinoa burgers (cakes?) for dinner!

Because what says celebration like… quinoa?

Hey, to each their own.

I’ve had my eye on this idea for a while now and tonight was the night for a buffalo-themed spin on this superfood.

I mean, who doesn’t like buffalo themed ‘anything’…? Does that person even exist? I didn’t think so

Buffalo Bleu Cheese Quinoa Cakes

Makes 8 cakes

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked like this
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup white beans, drained & mashed
1/3 cup Frank’s buffalo sauce
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 cup (heaping) sliced green onion
1 egg (maybe 2?)
S&P

Simply combine all of the ingredients, stirring to incorporate thoroughly.

Then form into cakes, placing on a platter. This recipe will make about 8 cakes using an heaping 1/3 cup scoop.

Then pop these into the fridge to firm up for about 20 minutes before you get to cooking.

To cook the quinoa cakes, simply slide them into a hot skillet (over medium-high heat) that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Cook about 4-5 minutes each side, flipping once.

These suckers were a bit fiesty and some of them decided to fall apart a bit. I’m thinking that next time around not 1, but 2 eggs may be necessary to bind everything better??

Whatevs. Despite a few less than steller lookin’ cakes, the flavor was on point!!!

A perfect crust forms while the quinoa cakes sizzle in the hot pan, giving the quinoa an almost nutty flavor.

Add in the bites of sweet corn laced with tangy bleu cheese and spicy buffalo sauce and you are in for a real treat!

These quinoa cakes rated super high on the taste scale for me!!!!

And you know what, those poor broken up cakes that didn’t make it outta the pan whole? Oh they are still goin’ down the hatch haha, perhaps piled atop a side salad in lieu of on the side

Oh and by the way, while I was eating these delicious quinoa cakes we apparently had an aftershock of 4.2 and I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE.

Guess that speaks for how much I enjoyed them hahaha (who does that?!)…

Thanks to Fanatic Mom I was updated on the aftershock about 20 minutes later. She was shocked that I was clueless… #quinoaproblems?

Crossing my fingers there aren’t any more aftershocks tonight… or it looks like I may be eating alotttt more quinoa cakes to calm my nerves lol

You think I’m kidding…

Tell me, have you ever been in an earthquake before?

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Posted in Dee-lish Dinner, Recipes

Tagged bleu cheese, Buffalo, corn, earthquake, quinoa

The Scene of the “Crime”

Posted on 08/21/2011 by Cookinfanatic | 4 Comments

Can somebody please take me back…?

Back to the days of sun, sand and “Stephy” haha…

Back to the days of early evening cocktail hours on the patio following a trip to a local brewery, lounging in the cool breeze…

Back to the days of Dairy Queen chocolate dipped vanilla cones on the reg…

Hey wait, how’d that get in there?

Crack cones.

Well, *sigh*, I guess instead of turning back around and driving to the OBX, I’ll just have to end this beach vacation week with a recap of our final night crab feast…

Especially since it sure was delicious and probably the most perfect “back to reality in a day” meal I could think of!

Warning: If you are a crab lover (not taste wise) then you probably aren’t going to love this post. Just thought I’d put it out there

The scene of the “crime” –>

Lil Sis: “No meal should ever include the phrase ‘pass the mallet’… ”

Valid point sister, valid point.

However, neither her nor I were sayin’ that a few minutes later once the crab feast started to go down

A dozen spiced crabs, courtesy of our favorite seafood stop Austin’s.

Already cooked and spiced, only crackin’ and shellin’ necessary!

Runaway crab… ?

Kidding friends, kidding.

Served simply with leftover Mexican Quinoa Salad, Shoepeg Corn and Sweet Slaw.

Perfect last-night-at-the-beach meal if you ask me. Definitely can’t get it this fresh back in the RVA

Crab feasts like this are all about the experience too, because let’s face it, you aren’t really gettin’ much outta those suckers for all the effort they require.

Just sayin’…

They sure are delicious when fresh & done right though.

I’ll spare you the band-aid covered finger picture (gross, right?)…

Let’s just say that mallet came in handy, lesson learned immediately lol.

Spectacle Steph, what a rookie

We don’t mess around here.

Clearly.

Well, back to reality tomorrow friends. Not only is Lil’ Sis headed back to school , but this lady is headed back to work… ah well, all good things must come to an end I suppose!