Quinoa Salad

Just fun facts: Quinoa is highly nutritious. It contain all the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein.Quinoa is sold at many health food stores in bulk.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

oil

1 chopped cucumber
1 chopped tomato

1 chopped yellow pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4-1/2 cup walnuts (I like to use candied walnuts. See below)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbs lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

-Soak quinoa for 15 minutes in a medium size pot. Rinse several times. Add water, oil and salt to pot. Bring to full boil. Cover and let boil 1 minutes. Turn down heat very low and let cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes with lid on. Fluff with fork. Cool.

In a large bowl mix together quinoa, veggies and nuts. Combine olive oil and lemon juice to make dressing. Add to salad. Mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

-Quinoa can be cooked and refrigerated ahead of time if desired.

-Easy Candied walnuts: cook some nuts in small pan on medium for a few minutes (faster than in the oven). Remove. Add some sugar to pan and melt it. Add the nuts, mix and then lay them as separately as possible on greased wax paper that is sitting on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle on some salt.

Smokey Orange Chicken Thai Salad

Ingredients:

1 recipe Smokey Orange Chicken

4 cups chopped romaine lettuce

1 cup diced cucumber

1 cup diced tomato

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoon fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts

Directions:

Using a fork, pull chicken meat from bone in shreds. Place lettuce in a large bowl (or divide onto individual dishes). Top lettuce with chicken, cucumber, tomato, and scallions.In a small bowl, whisk together broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, and sesame oil. Pour mixture over salad. Top with peanuts just before serving.

Smokey Orange Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 recipe Smokey Orange Chicken

flour tortillas

1/2 cup chopped red onions * must be red onions

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup sliced roasted red peppers (from water-packed jar) opt

1/2 cup sliced artichokes (from water-packed can or jar)

1/4 cup shredded Monterrey jack or pepper jack cheese, for each quesadilla

Directions:

Coat a large skillet or griddle with cooking spray. Set pan over medium heat to preheat. Using a fork, pull chicken meat from bone in shreds. *I usually cut because it's faster* Arrange tortillas on a flat surface. Top 1 side of each tortilla with an equal amount of chicken, mushrooms, red peppers, and artichokes. Top vegetables with shredded cheese. Fold over tortillas (or put another one on top), making a half moon. Place quesadillas in (or on) prepared pan and cook 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and cheese melts.

Smokey Orange Chicken

The Chicken Quesadillas you can make with this are delicious!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

8 (5-ounce) skinless chicken breast halves (with bone) *I use boneless and make as much as I can fit in my pan*

Salt and ground black pepper

1 cup orange marmalade

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Season chicken all over with salt and black pepper. Arrange chicken in prepared pan and set aside. In a small bowl, combine orange marmalade, soy sauce and liquid smoke. Mix until blended. Pour mixture over chicken. Roast 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Serve 4 chicken breast halves with this meal and refrigerate remaining chicken until ready to use.

Use left over chicken (or all of chicken) to make Chicken Quesadillas or Thai Chicken Salad

Classic Rolls

These are amazing and very easy to make. The bread machine does most of the work!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c. water

1 egg – stir into the water

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. dry milk

4 c. bread flour – Make a well in the middle of the flour to add yeast

2 pkgs. yeast or 4 ½ tsp.

2 ½ TBLS. Margarine or butter – cut in 4 even parts and add to the corners of the container

Mix in bread maker on the dough setting. if possible let dough raise one more time after machine mixes it once and dough falls and timer rings. Then shape in desired roll. Bake on greased pan at 350 for around 10-12 min. Butter top of rolls when just out of oven. You can freeze cooked rolls for another day.

Crescent shaped rolls: Flour working area and divide dough into two parts. It will be sticky so put flour on hands. Roll dough into a circle or pie shape. With a pizza cutter cut like you do a pie into 8 triangles. Roll up each triangle-start from widest part and roll toward center. Put on a greased cookie sheet.

To make ahead and freeze then cook and have warm on the day you serve the rolls: Shape rolls into desired shape and put on greased cookie sheet and freeze then take off cookie sheet and put rolls into freezer bags until the day you want to cook them. Take out of freezer and put on buttered cookie sheet and cover with a towel. Let unfreeze and rise – around 2-3 hours depending on how warm house is. Bake 350 for 10-12 min