My lovely middle sis, Laura, is the only member of the Hippie fam that couldn’t make it to Hawaii (miss you Laur!)…so she’s steppin’ up to the plate with the food blog. Laura hearts grubbin’ just as much as her big sis, so it’s no surprise her food will make you drool a bit, too. Unlike me, she does enjoy meat (and other animal products), but she’s also a big fan of all veggies, beans, and grains.
So without further ado, here’s my FIRST guest blogger:
I think Elise has been trying to get me to be a guest blogger ever since she drunkenly told me about her blog when we were on vacation together back in Barcelona, so this has been a long time coming. I must say though, it’s a bit depressing that I am filling in for her while she (and my ENITRE family) are in Hawaii without me (okay, that was my small pity party…and now I’m over it). Anyway, I’m not a vegan and, in fact, am a huge meat-lover. But I love to cook healthily and became obsessed with quinoa about a year ago, so I decided to try out a new quinoa recipe for this blog.
Quinoa with Corn and Black Beans
Ingredients:
– 1 tsp vegetable oil
– 1 onion, chopped
– 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
– 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
– 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
– 1 tsp ground cumin
– 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1 cup frozen corn kernels
– 1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
– 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and sauté until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 mins.
3. Stir frozen corn into saucepan, and continue to simmer for about 5 mins – or until heated through. Mix in black beans and cilantro.
I LOVE avocado, and think that it goes well with just about every dish so I added some avo and tomato to the top, once cooked. While the quinoa was cooking, I also grilled some chicken (with a simple lemon, garlic, white wine marinade) and had that on the side/mixed in with the quinoa dish.
This dish was FAN-TASTIC! It was super easy and quick to make and I only encountered one minor problem when my hyperactive tear-ducts were exposed to the most potent onion I’ve ever chopped. My eyes were honestly tearing uncontrollably and it was really becoming quite problematic. The solution?? Swim goggles! I haven’t swum (seriously enough to need goggles, anyway) since pretty much high school, so WHY i had swim goggles in my apartment was beyond me…and when my roommate walked in on me chopping away with goggles on, she felt the need to capture it on camera (see above pic). Good times.
Here is a pic of the finished product. My roommates and I agreed that this was a recipe that will become a staple in our apt. And I had plenty of leftovers to bring to work the next day!!
(you know, because I’m not on vacation in Hawaii…haha)
Hope you enjoyed my sister Laura’s first guest post…hopefully she will do a few more to come. Maybe if she gets a lot of positive feedback/commentary?
Hint Hint: leave love.
Great post and the recipe looks terrific. Elise better think twice about leaving her blog in your hands, you may run away with it yourself!
don’t give her too many ideas now!
nice to ‘meet’ you Laura! The recipe looks great! I’m not on vacation either, but hey- if you can rock swim goggles in the kitchen you can throw on a bikini and go out in the street and pretend you are in Hawaii?
Yes yes!! Loved her guest post!! 🙂
I love quinoa………so i’d loveeee to make this recipe with some (fake?!?!) chicken in the near future!! yayyy for a guest post by elise’s sister! loved it! and can totally tell you two are related….just by the way you speak (or, type!). 🙂
You guys look so much alike! So sad you didn’t go on vacation!
I love quinoa! Great recipe idea. Hope to see more posts in the future!!
oh nice! that looks delish! definitely gotta try that 🙂 thanks so much for the guest post!
Sorry you couldn’t be in Hawaii, but it’s nice to meet you all the same!
That recipe looks pretty fly, and I have most of the ingredients already (the make-or-break factor for my broke self).
it looks great and the colors are so beautiful! props for the swim goggles.
Hi Laura! This is a happy coincidence…I have some black beans I need to use up in my fridge and I have also been looking for new ways to make quinoa. I can’t wait to make this! Thank you!
The photo of you chopping onions in goggles is priceless! Sorry you are not in Hawaii with the fam, but at least you can enjoy your delish recipe WEARING goggles so that you can pretend that you are on the beach…okay, that makes no sense whatsoever, but I was trying to find the silver lining in there somewhere…
Anywhoo, thanks for the yummy recipe!
Courtney
HAHA – I LOVE the goggles! That’s genius!
Okay, that dish sounds delicious!! Thanks for the guest post 🙂
Laura – I’m a huge baby when it comes to chopping onions (read: I cry when I’m chopping GREEN onions) so I’m def going to try out your goggles technique. Hooray for LMYA summers coming back to serve us as adults!! (or something…)
i dug it! my only complaint is that she missed a ‘thats what she said’… (am a huge meat-lover, 1st paragraph). great recipe, and stellar goggles! maybe next time, more fun eyewear or head gear?!
No hint needed! Yummy looking post. 🙂 I am planning on trying a breakfast quinoa soon. How much more versatile can it be?
wow – quinoa for breakfast! let me know how it goes.
You’re SO right…it was such a perfect opportunity. The funniest part is, Laura’s the one who got ME into The Office!! Michael wouldn’t be happy about that, not one bit.
Right?! The goggles are such a brilliant idea! Infomercial???
Laura! I have used the goggles technique to chop onions and it totally works … slightly embarrassing but definitely effective.
Laura’s a boss! Come back with more dishes like this that involve black beans and avocado! Mmm mmm goooood! Wait..is this the sista in SF? Homegirl wants to meet her and eat this together!!
yessir yessir, this is the one and only laura from SF
Great guest post Laura! Your quinoa looks great! Sorry you aren’t in Hawaii! Look forward to reading more!
Laura is adorable! Thanks for the fun recipe 🙂 More guest posts in the future? 🙂
I hope so!!
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wow – died really got a lot of positive feedback on the quinoa dish. crazy. and a special shout out to guest photographer lauren parker (me) for taking the goggles picture above.
well done. well done parker 🙂
fine photog skills, but it’ll be hard to top the goggles, unless someone rocks a snorkel in the next guest post…
Thanks for all the comments guys! I’ll try to keep ’em coming…sans goggles perhaps.
I love quinioa in any form. Thanks Laura – great job. 😀 Woot woot.
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Laura – I wouldn’t know a quinoa if it bit me. Not to be left behind, though, I guess I’ll have to ask my friendly produce guy – or butcher or deli man or whoever – to clue me in.
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great recipe! and even greater idea to avoid the teary eyes when cutting onions!! Genius!