Getting It Together

I'm back.

Allow me to explain the past couple of weeks.

Last week, the internet at my apt was broken. This week, I've been sick. Not just cold sick - we're talking hugging-the-toilet-bowl-breaking-out-in-sweats sick. I'm starting to feel normal again, but I'm still not 100%. Baby steps. This morning I went on a walk/run in the snow for about 45 minutes and although I felt dizzy/nauseous for a lot of it, I just tried to take deep breaths and relax. Running is probably NOT the best thing for me right now, but after being still for three days in a row I just had to get out and do something.

I've been wanting to post a recipe for a simple dish that I made recently: quinoa + grilled vegetables with "bacon" tempeh. The dish took me around 30 minutes to make - just like Rachael Ray, except I don't have her annoying accent and I don't misspell my name :)

Step 1: Take 1 cup of quinoa and 1.5 cups of water and combine in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the quinoa is fluffy. I add a spoonful of chicken or vegetable base to the mix to give it some flavor.
Step 2: While the quinoa is cooking, chop up your veggies (I used zucchini, squash, onion, and spinach at the end) and sautee them to your desired tenderness.
Step 3: Take your "bacon" tempeh (also called Fakin Bacon - find it at Whole Foods) and crumble it into bite-sized pieces. Add the tempeh to the veggies for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking so it can warm up. Tempeh just has to be heated up - you really don't need to "cook" it.
Step 4: Combine quinoa, veggies, and tempeh in a large serving bowl and EAT!

*note - spinach cooks in a matter of minutes so you could add it after the tempeh and it would wilt soon after.

You can't see the quinoa really, but it's on the bottom!

I used 1 cup quinoa, one zucchini, one squash, 1/2 onion, 3-4 strips of tempeh, and a few handfuls of spinach, and I think I got 3 meals from it. It's so delicious, easy to make, and easy to customize too.