Quinoa Bean Stew

This was another successful cleaning-out-the-fridge stew, and also a success for cooking improvisation. I typed up the general procedure I followed, but it's very flexible to anyone else's modification. Epic win!

Quinoa Bean Stew

1. Saute lots (2 tbsp) minced garlic in ample olive oil
2. Add 2-3 c total chopped onion, carrots, celery, and potato, with a pinch of salt.
3. Add 3 roma tomatoes, chopped and 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
4. Add 3 c water
5. Add 1 c rinsed quinoa and 2 c cooked white beans and the corn cut off an ear of corn (next time I'm using more because I love corn so much)
6. Add 2 chicken bullion cubes, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, 3/4 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1 large bay leaf
7. Simmer for a long time, blend at some point if you want. Taste and adjust spices if necessary.
8. Reheating is best done on the stove, on low heat to avoid burning things, with extra water if it gets too thick.

(Guys, seriously, this is why I need a digital SLR. Giovanni is fantastic but I really need to be able to focus things myself, cuz zoom + flash + macro mode = tearing hair out. And last I checked, hair isn't something you want in stew.)

Quesadilla Adventure

One of the things I always say I love about cooking is the creativity involved/required, and now I'm officially adding the adventure factor. Today, I had an adventure. I am being grateful it was not only edible but delicious (sometimes adventures can be of the exploding variety...); I am being grateful that the sun's fury can't touch the cool breeze floating in the window; I am being grateful that the cheese, whose fault this whole thing is anyway, can make anything taste good; I'm being grateful for the corn I got to dig out of the cob with my teeth.

Today's adventure was an attempt to make a quesadilla with slightly crunchy tortillas, and I decided this would be be done in a greased frying pan (So it was basically this but with scallions and much messier). What I didn't count on was that the cheese needs to be close to the heat (not in a layer on top as shown above) or it won't melt and won't hold the whole thing together. Admittedly, there was probably not enough cheese together, but it wasn't noticeable by the end because none of the ingredients were evenly distributed by the end anyway.

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not quite as easy as flipping pancakes...

Still delicious, but we'll stick with the micronde for now.

What was your biggest cooking adventure? Any you'd repeat?

Stephxican Lasagna

If I were Mexican, I'd probably not want this called Mexican, so it's Stephxican. Don't ask me how to pronounce that. (Pictures were taken before I realized I forgot the corn.)

Last night's delicious feast was preceded by a stunning spectacle of surgical skill: I forgot the corn, but was able to lift off each layer of lasagna (take that, Italians!) to add the corn back. (The masses that told me it wasn't possible were clearly not aware of my spectacular surgical skill!) It was heavenly. It was in a springform pan.

Quesadilla/Sincronizada

Quesadilla- Slather refried beans on a hearty whole wheat tortilla, then thick layers of chopped tomato, cheese, and sweet corn cut off the cob. Add another tortilla on top, and microwave until everything's melty and ideally sticking together. Next time this needs to be done in a greased (to make the tortillas crispy) frying pan because nothing really stuck to the top tortilla.