Recipes from last nights class

Last night I taught a class at a friends house here in Gold River about nutrition. We ate and sipped wine while I yapped away about food quality and nutrition. I had a good time--hopefully they did too! Thank you to those who came, here are the recipes from last night...


Garbage Salad

This recipe has been scaled to yield a lot! (approx. 15 servings). I love this salad for a place to throw leftover veggies…regardless if they are cooked or raw.


Ingredients
2 (16 ounce) packages uncooked orzo pasta
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen baby spinach leaves, defrosted and finely chopped
2, 8 oz. packages crumbled feta cheese
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups pine nuts
1 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1cup olive oil
3/4 cups balsamic vinegar

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add orzo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in spinach, feta, onion, pine nuts, basil and white pepper. Toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Optional (can be left-over) “garbage” ingredients:

Chopped, raw or cooked:
Tomatoes
Artichoke Hearts
Roasted bell peppers
Cucumber
Green onions
Carrots

The Veggies

I tossed the veggies into a dutch oven placed in the oven, lid on, for about 30 minutes @ 425.
(also can be made on the stove. Cook on medium heat, covered for about 30 minutes.)

Veggies I used:

2 to 3 cups cups chopped asparagus
2 medium red onions, chopped (I like big chunks)
3 cup sliced mushrooms
3-4 medium carrots, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 T of olive oil
3 T of balsamic vinegar--more or less if you like
salt, pepper

Quinoa

I soaked the quinoa over night in water in a large sauce pan. I poured off as much of the of the water when it came time to cook. Then, I filled the sauce pan with chicken broth to about 1/2 an inch above the quinoa. Does that make sense? I also added a stick of butter. (This was a huge pot. if I were making this for my family I would use about a 1/4 of stick or less) Then I covered and cooked on low for about 5- 10 minutes....until they turned translucent. I added the sauteed mushrooms as an after thought.

Sweet Potatoes French Fries

1 medium sweet potato per 2 to 3 people (depending on how much you want to eat)

Slice up in the shape of french fries
Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and lightly toss around.

You might want to coat your baking dish with a little olive oil too.

Cook for 45 minutes at 425.

Beef

This beef is really easy. Through your chuck roast into a crock pot with about a cup or two of water. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. When its done, pull it out and shred/chop with a fork and knife separating most of the fat which you can discard.

You can season if you want, but I prefer the not as I like to divide it into two meals, typically BBQ Beef Sandwiches and Shredded Beef Tacos.


Strawberry Shortcake

The Shortcake was purchased at Whole Foods.

The whipped cream was heavy whipped cream (mixed until relatively firm) and the I folded in (which just means stirred lightly) powdered sugar to taste, and teaspoon or so of vanilla.

The Strawberries were very sweet, very ripe local strawberries pureed in a blender.