Summer Vegetable Quinoa Salad

After a much needed hot yoga session on Saturday Morning, I wanted something light and delicious to eat for lunch!
So I sort of just whipped up this concoction with a little help from the suggested recipe on the back of the quinoa box. :)
It was really yummy.. but you need to eat lots in order to feel full.

What You'll Need:

Salad:

• Avacodo
• Tomatoes
• Red Onions
• Cucumber
• Quinoa (I just make a big batch and store what I don't use in the fridge for recipes throughout the week!)

Dressing:

• 3 tbs of Olive Oil
• 3 tbs of Red Wine Vinegar
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
• 1/2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
• 1 garlic minced

What To Do:

1. It's pretty straightforward, but mix up your salad dressing and set aside.
2. Cook your quinoa according to the box.
3. Chop up your veggies
4. Add the dressing and the quinoa to the veggie bowl.
5. Enjoy? lol

Parm Cheese & Bread Crumb Coated Asparagus

I found this recipe on Pinterest from a really cool new food blog I found!! Go check them out!

Last night, John and I had to babysit my stepsister. We had tons of food that we bought at the beginning of the week to cook up so we thought we'd have a barbecue! I had a bunch of Asparagus saved so when I found this recipe, I thought I'd try something new. My boyfriend wasn't a fan, but my step sister and me loved it! Best part? It's SO easy!

What You'll Need:

• One Bunch of Asparagus
• 1 tsp of Chili Powder
• 1/2 cup of Bread Crumbs (I used Panko)
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
• 1 egg, beaten.

What To Do:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Lay out some tinfoil on a baking sheet and put olive oil or PAM on it.
2. Mix together your bread crumbs, cheese, salt & pepper and chili powder.
3. Dip each stem of asparagus (make sure to cut off the ends) in the beaten egg and then in the bread mixture.
4. Once all asparagus stems are coated, put in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until asparagus is soft.
5. Enjoy!

Chicken Dinner

 Raw Potatoes... I liked the way it looked with the olive oil and spices.

This was the dinner I made for John's Birthday. Overall it was a complete success
Buuutt, kind of a funny story with this one...
First of all, there was no "bag" of organs inside the chicken (gross) but I saw a few different "blood clots" ...I'm not sure if it was a liver or what, but I got paranoid and decided to scrape out the junk on the inside. Let's just say my stomach was turning the whole time. I'm not sure how I managed to eat this baby after but I did and it was really good!

Also, when it was in the roasting pan, grease started spitting ever and the oven started smoking!!! I was so scared, I thought I was going to burn the house down! So I called my Step Mom panicking at a loss of what to do and she told me to pour a cup of water in the pan and turn down the heat. So I basically had it cooking for an hour and a half at 375 degrees. And doesn't it look good? It was tender, juicy and FULL of flavour.

Here's what I used:

A whole chicken
Poultry Blend (Basil, Rosemary and Thyme)
2 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
a TON of salt.

I rubbed salt all over the chicken (especially in the breast) as per Camilla's instructions. Then I cut slits in the breast and stuffed in a garlic clove each, a stem of thyme, rosemary and basil.
Pour a cup of water in the roasting pan and then put in your chicken. Cook for around an hour and a half and maybe rotate the pan halfway through if you wish.

For the veggies/potatoes:

Turnips
Parsnips
Carrots
5-10 garlic cloves (preference)
Potatoes
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

Cut up all your veggies to around the same size so they cook evenly.
Peel your garlic cloves and set aside.
Pour your veggies (EXCEPT for the garlic) into a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the veggies and add salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.
Mix EVENLY.
When you have about 30 minutes left for the chicken to cook, put the veggies in on a pan in the oven mixing occasionally.
The chicken might be done before the veggies, which in my opinion was a good thing because it allowed time for the chicken to sit on the counter in TINFOIL and cool and soak in all the yummy juices.
Let chicken sit for 10-20 minutes.

When you have about 10-15 minutes left for the veggies, add the garlic cloves in with the veggies.
(the veggies and potatoes will probably take about 45 minutes to make)

This turned out really well for me, hope it works for you!