Quinoa Harvest Salad

So much for succeeding at National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoMo).
I had committed to writing a blog post every day for the month of November and I was kicking it!

Until I spilled the coffee on my laptop last week. I hope you never do this. It's a terrible feeling as you watch, seemingly in slow motion, the coffee flooding the keyboard. Then, after you think you wiped it all up, you turn over the laptop and more coffee runs out of the ports. I wish I was kidding.

I have a very nice iPad but it's not optimal for blogging. So I have taken the past several days off from NaBloMoPo to regroup, get my laptop to the iHospital (anxiously waiting for the prognosis), cook the Thanksgiving feast and entertain guests.

The Thanksgiving meal was a big success. The turkey cooked beautifully, using Ina Garten's instructions for Accidental Turkey. As I've said before, you can never go wrong with a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Can someone please remind me next year that this is the turkey method I want to use again? Thanks.

There was lots of other good cooking too, including that pumpkin almond cake I mentioned previously (stay tuned for recipe).  But one of my favorite things wasn't even on the Thanksgiving buffet table. It was this harvest salad.  I made it a couple of weeks ago, using quinoa,  to take for lunch at the bookstore. Then I thought I'd try it with wheatberries because I love the chewiness. You could really use any grain you like here - barley, rice, farro. This photo shows wheat berries, and the one below it shows quinoa. They were both delicious, but I probably prefer the quinoa.

Harvest Quinoa Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

1 cup quinoa, rinsed if necessary (I use Ancient Harvest brand - no rinsing required)

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces

1/2 apple, preferably Honeycrisp, chopped into 1" pieces

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

For the vinaigrette :

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsps. orange juice

1 tsp. maple mustard

1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

1/3 cup good olive oil

sea salt and pepper to taste (be generous)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine I cup quinoa with 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a full boil for 5 minutes,then cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Turn cooked quinoa into a large bowl and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, spread squash on a baking sheet, coat lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven , without turning, for approximately 20 minutes, or until squash is easily pierced with a fork. The sides that were on the pan should be nicely browned and caramelized. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Mix all ingredients, except almonds, with cooled quinoa.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients except olive oil in a small bowl (or better yet, a small glass jar). Drizzle in oil, whisking continuously to blend. Add to quinoa salad and mix well. Top with almonds.

Keep in mind...you don't have to be exact with the ingredients in this dish. If you don't have an apple, use a pear. Try fresh cranberries. If you prefer a different kind of squash, go for it. And swapping out the goat cheese for cheddar would be an excellent thing.

SECRET INGREDIENT ALERT:

This cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar from LeRoux Kitchen in Portland (also Portsmouth NH) is unbelievably delicious in all kinds of things, but especially in this salad. I love their white balsamic vinegar too. This store has a fabulous selection of vinegars and oils (I'm partial to the blood orange evoo). See their website (www.lerouxkitchen.com) if you're not a local.

Hopefully my laptop will be back and as good as new soon.
You don't know what you're got till it's gone.

Thanks to You!

To my wonderful Mignardise friends-

Thank you for reading my little blog, my rants and raves, for sharing my successes and failures. May your turkey be ready on time and your pie (or cake) be as sweet as you are.

Here's something to keep your friends and family busy while you cook...

Xoxox ~Karen @ Mignardise

Bad Coffee

Due to the fact that I spilled an entire cup of coffee on my laptop this morning, there will be no blog post today. :(

With any luck, I will have access to a computer tomorrow, so we can talk about Thanksgiving Perfection Syndrome. It seems to be going around.

Pie vs Cake

How come pie gets all the love at Thanksgiving?
Is it because the pilgrims couldn't bake a cake? Perhaps they lacked baking powder. Certainly chocolate was not available. And there's nowhere to plug in the KitchenAid.

Or maybe it's because we celebrate most other holidays with cake and this is pie's big chance to shine.

Pies are good, I suppose, but they're not cake. (Or brownies, but I won't even go there.)

My family of origin were not big pie eaters, but we always had several dessert choices after the Thanksgiving meal. At least one was chocolate, and I recall some cookies. The first time I had Thanksgiving with my then future in-laws, dessert was one pumpkin pie. I kept waiting for the rest of the desserts to appear.

I'm no fan of pumpkin pie. It's too smooth. I've seen some pumpkin pies that have pralines or other candied nuts strewn over the top. I might like that, but it's still too creamy for my taste.
Apple pie is pretty good, but not that exciting. I actually prefer apple crisp.
I do like blueberry pie, but it's not that season, and besides, blueberry crisp is also better.

Take a look at some of these alternative-to-pie Thanksgiving desserts. Surely one of them can convince you that there's a better way to finish the meal than pie.

Photo from Fine Cooking

Fine Cooking's Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake is a show-stopper. I made this last year and chances are, will make it again. The spicy, rich flavor and moist layers are fabulous - then top it off with a brown butter cream cheese frosting and those candied nuts. Perfection.

Pumpkin Almond Cake has been bookmarked in the new Baked Elements book since the day I bought it. It's a single layer cake and the icing is made with almond butter and almond milk. Looks and sounds delicious and I wouldn't mind having some leftover to have the next morning with coffee. You can find the recipe here, but again, I urge you to buy the book.

Chocolate is a way of life at Mignardise and there's no reason it shouldn't be a feature of your Thanksgiving feast. I made this Glazed Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake a couple of years ago, and I'm tempted to do it again. It's even kind of healthy, if you're measuring it against other desserts. There's little oil, no butter, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder and buttermilk. And of course pumpkin. It's really, really delicious.

Photo from Cooking .com

If you want something truly impressive looking, but actually quite simple, try the Pumpkin Cake Roll. If you want to get fancy, you may call it a roulade. Barefoot Contessa has an excellent recipe and here's another one that's even easier.

Photo from verybestbaking.com

Just for fun take a look at CakeSpy' s Buche de Thanksgiving...love it!

Photo from seriouseats.com

One more that looks pretty interesting, but I haven't tried it: Sweet Potato Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting. The casserole was too sweet for dinner anyways - make it for dessert!

Photo from seriouseats.com

Traditionalists, go with pie if you must. But those of us who are mavericks, we'll have our cake.

End of Season Farmers' Market

It was a perfect day for the last outdoor Farmers' Market of the season. Sparkling sunshine, not too cold, people shopping madly (but not yet stressed out) for Thanksgiving.

Overheard...

I want a kale and quinoa salad for dinner.

Did you see the delicata squash? We could stuff them.

We still have loads of roots left so we'll do the indoor market for a few weeks.

Yes, that's a watermelon radish.

See you in the spring!

I picked up two large stalks of Brussels sprouts for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Maple, a fan favorite at my Thanksgiving dinner.

cranberries for Cranberry Salsa...

carrots for Pomegranate-Glazed Carrots...

and ornamental kale for decoration.

Have you ever seen/heard of a caraflex cabbage? They're pointed! I was told they're sometimes used for sauerkraut.

Or a deadon cabbage? So pretty.

The delicata squash are lovely...

but I like the ugly gourds, warts and all.

Love cauliflower - excellent cauliflower recipe coming soon!

Speaking of flowers...

How are your Thanksgiving plans coming?
I'll be sharing more of mine tomorrow.

African Adventure, Part 3

After "roughing it" on safari, we were ready to move on. And I mean move. Did you ever realize that when you're lodged on a game reserve, you get no exercise? You can't just go for a walk or a run. There are wild animals out there. Game drives are all sitting.
We had been dining on such dishes as impala pot pie and warthog stroganoff, washed down with some lovely South African wines.  Yes, it was time to get moving.

The third leg of our African adventure was Cape Town, the very tip of the entire continent.
Look at a map. It's waaaay down south and it appears that the whole of Africa rests on its shoulders.

Again, we arrived quite late at night, so it was hard to see where we were or what was around us. The next morning I walked down to the dining room for breakfast, looked out the window and saw this:

I had no idea this was the view.
That's Table Mountain. It's pretty apparent why it was named that.
And that Lego-looking guy is actually built out of Coca-Cola crates. It was constructed for the World Cup that took place in Cape Town in 2010.

After filling up at the gorgeous breakfast buffet (you've been waiting so patiently for  a food shot - here it is) we got on our hiking shoes and went to climb that mountain! 

It was not an easy climb (at least for us - many people passed us) but the views were spectacular and that kept us going. And it was crazy windy. So windy, in fact, that the cable car wasn't running and we hiked down too.
Burned off that breakfast and it was barely time for lunch.
We had to hustle to catch the ferry to Robben Island. Where the first half of the day of the day had been physical, the second part would definitely be educational.

Robben Island is just off of Cape Town.  It's been used as a prison for centuries, a leper hospital and for coastal defense. Its most famous for its role as a prison for anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela. Our visit was fascinating and it certainly sparked a lot of interest and great discussions about that era. The guides are all ex-political prisoners, so you are hearing the stories firsthand.

This last photo is of Mandela's tiny cell, where he spent 18 years. If you're interested in learning more, you could read Long Walk to Freedom, or take a look here.

Getting out of bed the next morning was difficult; walking down the stairs, impossible. Quad muscles and knees protested every step from the climb up Table Mountain. Fortunately we were scheduled to be picked up by a private guide and driven around the Cape Peninsula. Little effort required!

This area reminded us a lot of the northern California coast. Homes built into the hills, winding roads, gorgeous beaches. 

We took a boat out around Seal Island. Supposedly this where the largest population of sharks in the world lives. You would think the seals would get smart to that and move on, but no.

The Bonus Baby made a new friend. Just like a dog, only bigger.

We stopped at an ostrich farm. Did you know...

Then down to the Cape of Good Hope, which is truly the very bottom of the continent.

But the best part of the day had to be Boulders Beach and the penguin colony. Who can resist a penguin?

And that, my friends, is the end of the story. 

The next day we were on a flight back to the US. I just have to say: if you have ever even thought about visiting Africa, DO IT. What an incredible place. I can't wait to go back and see some of the other countries. Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya are on my travel wish list.

What's on your travel wish list?

Animal Interlude

Because writing Part 3 is taking longer than I thought, I have chosen to entertain you today with some animals photos from the trip. I hope you don't mind. Let's meet in Cape Town tomorrow!

African Adventure, Take 2

"Travelling forces you to trust strangers and lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends...Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky." 
- Cesare Pavase


Travel to a foreign country is a giant leap of faith. You may think you know what to expect, what has been planned. Even so, the very air you breathe feels different. The smells are not like home. You trust that people are good and honest and will set you on the right path. If you keep an open mind, it's hard to go wrong.

We arrived at Zulu Nyala  late at night. It was very dark and hard to get our bearings. There were animal sounds, but not many people around. I remember thinking, I am definitely out of my comfort zone.  Sleep did not come easily.
But as usual, everything looks better by the light of day.
Our guide was there to pick us up bright and early and get this safari started...

This is what we saw the first day...

Most days we took two game drives, early in the morning and late afternoon. Though the reserve is fairly small, it never got dull. Even a small herd of impala crossing in front of the jeep was exciting.

We stayed at Zulu Nyala for five days. One day we took an excursion to another private game reserve nearby. It was spectacular!

Loads of rhino but none of the lions or elephants we had been hoping to see.
So two days later, when Bob and The Bonus Baby took a side trip to the Indian Ocean, I went back to Phinda with a group from our lodge.

A small herd of elephants was spotted almost right away.

We spent hours driving through the bush in search of lions, even after sunset. It seems that no matter where we turned, we had just missed them. The guides from the 3 jeeps were frantically radioing each other with possible sightings. Driving off road, with nothing but a small search light, I once again had to put my complete trust in a stranger. I had to assume that he was not going to let us be attacked by carnivores or get lost in the seemingly endless bush. I held my breath and hoped for the best.
It was getting late and it seemed like the guides were reluctantly thinking about to heading back to camp. Then there she was...a beautiful lioness and her cubs, walking single file. I wish I had a National Geographic caliber photo to show you here, but I don't. I do have this...

The lioness led her cubs to a freshly killed wildebeest. They ate happily for a few minutes, then two large males showed up, wanting a share. We sat and watched the drama and feast (from the safety of our jeep) for almost an hour. It was hard to even grasp what we were seeing right in front of us, only  50 feet away. The animals paid no mind to the vehicles at all (that was a relief!).

Posting these pictures and writing this post is like reliving the whole experience. It's wonderful! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share.
Tomorrow we go to Cape Town. I hope you'll come along.