Nature, Naps and What We Ate

July 19, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

This past weekend we basically ate a lot of food and napped, which is exactly my kind of weekend. We had dinner plans for Friday evening, but found ourselves hungry mid-afternoon and decided to pre-game dinner with a little BBQ! Now, I’m a bit of a BBQ snob, in that my standards are pretty high! This brisket was on point and as I type this I’m craving another platter of meat!

As they say, the best way to stay cool in this heat is with a cone of meat!

On the way to our second dinner, and yes we are practically hobbits minus the height, The Beard was reading instructions from his friend saying the restaurant was super colorful and we couldn’t miss it. I made the offhanded comment that the building was probably lime green and orange. Feel free to soak in that feeling of awe and amazement right now. It’s ok. I’m amaze myself.

I don’t have any shots of our food, as I wasn’t really impressed. I’ve heard several people say good things about this place, so maybe they were just having an off night with the crowd during our visit. So while waiting for our check, tom foolery ensued. If you’re thinking, “Is that Star Lord shooting a tortilla chip into tiny pieces?” then you are correct.

Saturday we got up and headed out for a couple’s massage The Beard had nicely arranged. Sorry, no pictures of that!

From there we headed to the Market District to pick up ingredients for a new recipe we were dying to try out. This recipe was for orange ginger- beef stir fry with a homemade marinade from ZenBelly Cookbook. Now this is not an advertisement, just what we were making for dinner. However, it’s a great book so if you’re looking to add to your collection check it out. Zenbelly Cookbook

We spotted a food truck in the parking lot and since this was more of an organic type market we decided to check it out. Neither of us do well with fried food although it sure is yummy. I ordered a chicken and pickled veggie lettuce wrap and The Beard opted for a spicy carne asade wrap.

Here The Beard is modeling my latest hiking t-shirt design and his food. If you want to check out any of our hiking shirts you can find them here. Trail Magic

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures while we were preparing dinner, I don’t know what I was thinking! However, I did manage to take a snapshot before stuffing my face with this deliciousness.

Sunday was a “Make something out of the ingredients in the fridge” day. That turned into lettuce wraps with mayo, turkey, bacon, mushrooms and onions. That was so good I ended up picking up more ingredients to actually make them on purpose!

We also installed my new pot rack, courtesy of The Beard’s parents for my birthday. Of course this now means I need to thoroughly clean out my cabinets, which then means I need to clean out my storage cabinet in the garage so I can then relocate things from my inside cabinets. It’s amazing the domino effect that ensues by simply hanging a pot on the wall! But for now it is what it is, because just thinking about it makes me want to take a nap!

I’ve also been knitting a lot lately. Apparently I have a schedule and mid-summer I start knitting feverishly with Christmas gifts in mind, at least according to The Beard. I don’t have shots of all the recent items, but let’s just say I’m really into hats right now. I also created this draw string cowl for hiking and I’m pretty impressed with it! You can wear it as a cowl to keep your neck warm or you can pull the draw strings at one end and wear it as a slouchy beanie. I made this with wool-ease yarn so it is machine washable making it perfect for the trail. Once again I have the perfect model!

The weather was nice although pretty humid. However, I’ll take that any day for sunsets like this! Yes, The Beard was driving while I was snapping away!

To end on a random note, when I was a little girl my sister and I would take our mickey mouse fishing poles, bobbers included, and fish in the puddles in our driveway. We hadn’t yet made the connection that fish didn’t just magically appear in any body of water. My mother was happy we were playing and not fighting, as sisters tend to do, so she never dashed our hopes of catching a big one! Last week I came home and despite the lack of puddles I found a crawfish in my driveway! We have had a lot of rain recently so I’m wondering if he was washed downhill to surprise me. Either way, my patience paid off and I finally caught something in my driveway!

Trail Food Prep 101

June 2, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

When The Beard first announced he was going to hike the Appalachian Trail one of my first thoughts were, “How are we going to feed him?” Fast forward six months later and we are headed out to Red River Gorge to gear and taste test.

After lots of internet research on trail food prep it was finally time for me to embark on making our meals. The plan is to make several different things this summer to see what is easy to produce, what is cost effective and what flavors we like best. From there we will begin creating our stock for the AT 2017! So buckle up because I have lots of pictures and an overwhelming amount of info!

For this three day hike I needed to make 9 meals. I started with creating a spreadsheet because I can’t function in a world without them! I created my meal plan on the first tab. From there each sequential tab was labeled Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Under each tab I listed the meal followed by ingredients and measurements. I created columns next to each item so knew if it was something I had on hand or needed to purchase. I want to preface that I know this can be done cheaper when purchasing basics in bulk and we will be doing that for the AT. However, for this hike we are simply testing everything out. So let’s start with breakfast!

The majority of these meals were easy to prep as most of it does not require cooking or dehydrating. The cinnamon oatmeal only required assembly.

The sweet potato porridge only required me to make sweet potato bark. I added my sweet potatoes to my instant pot and they were mashable within ten minutes! From there I added applesauce, maple syrup and cinnamon and spread it on a dehydrator tray. I dehydrated at 125 for about 8 hours. Also – the sweet potato bark is delicious and you can eat it on it’s own!

The blueberry quinoa only required me to dehydrate blueberries since the quinoa flakes are instant. Frozen blueberries seem to be the easiest to dehydrate, but let me warn you they take awhile. As in forever give or take a few hours. I believe mine took around 18 hours at around 135 but I know I also blocked out some specifics in this dehydrating marathon!

Now onto lunch. I have made this quinoa recipe before and thought it would make a great trail meal lunch. Filling but not too heavy. I liked it so much I even blogged about it at the time. You can check it out here: Ode to Quinoa

If you’ve never made quinoa before it is super easy! I start sauteing a shallot in some oil and then adding water and white cooking wine. Bring to a boil and cook your quinoa for 15 minutes at a simmer. Done! I then add a little bit of lemon juice and seasoning and spread out on trays at 125 for 4-6 hours.

From there I just added some chopped pistachios and dried cherries into the bag and sealed them up!

Everyone loves a good burrito. If not, get out of here right now because I’m entering burrito mode! I was a little nervous about how well the ground beef would dehydrate but thankfully my fears were for nothing. I chopped up an onion and threw it in the skillet with ground beef. Strained it then added my spices, refried beans and enchilada sauce. I let this simmer on low for roughly 20 minutes to thicken and develop all the flavors. That’s it folks! This was one of my easiest meals from start to finish. I dehydrated at 145 for 8 hours and woke up to perfectly dried burrito filling.

I added the corn shells into the packs since we are using them this weekend. However, for long term storage I don’t recommend keeping the shells in the bags.

Now, onto this curried root bark stew! Warning: This was the most labor intensive meal I made for this whole trip. You know how you look at a recipe and think, well that’s not bad, I can do that? Now take that recipe and throw it into a whirlwind marathon of cooking, dehydrating and packing and suddenly you are asking yourself, “What on earth was I thinking?” The ingredients were simple, but it required a lot of chopping of root veggies, which we all know are just a delight! They filled up my largest soup pot and had to simmer for quite awhile to reach the right consistency. I also took 4 cups of the veggies and added them to the broth to make a root bark. This was then added to the bags and when we rehydrate it will help add thickness and flavor! For more on that bark check out it’s honorable mention here: How We Holiday

I also added dehydrated chicken from the Chicken Chow Mein recipe below. Waste not my friends!

Now onto dinner! A romantic Italian meal on the trail. While I don’t think we will be having any Lady and the Tramp moments, pasta is easy, cost effective and filling. I made an entire box of spaghetti and added a jar of sauce with a few spices. I then let it sit in the fridge over night so the noodles could soak up most of the sauce. Threw that in the dehydrator for about 10 hours at 135. This made 4 bags with 2-3 servings each.

I also added sauce to a tray to make tomato leather. From there I added the leather to a blender and ground it up into a powder. I will then add that into the spaghetti mixture to add more sauce when we rehydrate.

The chicken chow mein was also ranked as one of my top easy dishes. I purchased the smallest rice noodles I could find. These don’t need cooked so you can add them to your bag right away. I added a bag of frozen stir fry veggie mix to the trays at 135 for roughly 6 hours.

I made a brine for the thin cut chicken breasts and let them soak for a couple days in the fridge. I did this to impart some flavor without adding specific seasonings to the chicken since I wanted to use it in multiple dishes. From there I placed the breasts in my instant pot with some chicken broth and 15 minutes later there were ready to shred.

Simply add in your seasonings, and these are ready to pack!

Mushroom Stroganoff – Now this dish gave me some issues and it’s my own fault. The recipe was very simple and I decided to add some sausage to it. Turns out, sausage was really hard for me to dehydrate because of the fat content. I cooked it, strained it, paper toweled it dry and then put it on the tray. Eight hours later I notice a pile of grease in the middle. So repeat the whole straining process again and dehydrate some more. While I know it’s dehydrated I’m still a little concerned about it. Since we are eating it this weekend I’m not worried, but not sure I would trust it for long term storage. Also – I’m sure there is someone out there who is an expert on dehydrating sausage and I will figure it out!

Also side note: Any recipe that require milk powder, I used this coconut milk powder instead. Coconut Milk Powder

Here is the recipes for the barks I made on this trip. Some went into meals and some are just for snacks.

Now it’s time to talk about vacuum sealing. While I have vacuum sealed things years ago, I had mainly just used to to purchase bulk meat and package for freezing. I had never attempted to use dehydrated food. As it turns on, the majority of dehydrated ingredients will poke teeny tiny holes in the bags because of the vacuum pressure causing you to lose your seal within minutes if not immediately. I discovered this while trying to vacuum seal spaghetti at 10:30pm. I was so pleased with my meal I just wanted to package it so I felt completely satiated and instead ended up frustrated and close to tears.

After searching the web at 6am because I had to find a solution I discovered a recommendation to place dehydrated foods in a separate bag before placing in a vacuum seal bag. That’s right my friends. You have to double bag your food! Do not seal the first bag shut. Keep the seal open and the vacuum pressure will close it upon sealing.

Here is the finished product of my labors! Nine different types of meals, which will feed us 16 times give or take and technically has 34 servings according to my calculations. However, 34 servings for average people are not the same as for The Beard!

Once again, Petey barely contributed to the process.

Like most things in life, this is a process of trial and error. Sometime things were easy and I was would jump for joy. While other times I wanted to scream and pull my hair out! However, as I learn so will you. I have six months of meals to prep for the AT and by George I will be a trail chef at the end of this!

How We Holiday

May 31, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

This past week has been a dehydrating gauntlet. We are only days away from our Red River Gorge Hike and the excitement is setting in. I have been experimenting with various recipes, dehydrating and vacuum sealing techniques and while I want to share it all with you, I’m not quite done! So bear with me so I can write a blog complete with all the info! However, as a teaser I thought I’d share one of our quick experiments.

One of our trail meals will be a chicken and root veggie stew. I took some of the veggies and pureed them with the stew broth to make a root veggie bark. Since I had leftovers we decided to test it out and re-hydrate! The stew bark has curry powder, cumin and cinnamon and once re-hydrated it tastes like a curried veggie mash! The Beard was especially fond of scooping it up with bacon.

As usual, our days revolve around food, so here are a few shots from this weekend. Poached eggs with red bell peppers, shallots, garlic and swiss chard.

Grass fed Grilled Porter House straight from The Beard’s family farm.

I celebrated Memorial Day Weekend by crying on the deck…aka chopping onions. I put these in a crock pot with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make the perfect caramelized onions!

Petey was feeling celebratory as well and suggested this selfie.

The Beard & I hanging out with friends.

And finally, video evidence of our fun, productive, relaxing weekend! Stay tuned for trail food updates!

Decadent Date Night: Seafood Edition

May 26, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Recently The Beard and I have been watching a show on Netflix about local ingredients in Australia. The chefs were sourcing all this beautiful seafood and it gave me such a craving! So while grocery shopping this week my cart somehow steered me towards the seafood counter. The shrimp was on sale which allowed me to somehow justify purchasing some lobster tails!

I have never cooked lobster. Period. While I’m not sure if I’m ready to take on the entire lobster, I felt like the tail was a good place to start. As per usual, I bought all my ingredients with no specific recipe or cooking technique in mind. I was just confident that with quality ingredients it would turn out alright!

*Pictured above are the lobster tails, seasoned shrimp and oyster mushrooms

I started with seasoning my shrimp. I don’t ever measure things, I just eyeball, smell and taste. Which in and of itself is a technical skill if you ask me!

Shrimp Seasoning
Crushed garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Basil
Lemon Juice

This seafood feast was going on the grill, so while that was pre-heating I decided to par boil the lobster tails. Based on cooking shows, this is a thing people do sometimes and I decided to give it a shot. After par boiling I sliced open the center of the tail. I want to refer to it as the belly, but the belly of the tail sounds odd. But deep down I feel like if you tickled the tail belly it would squirm. But maybe that’s just me. I then covered the lobster with this seasoning concoction:

Lobster Seasoning
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Salt
Paprika
White Pepper
Garlic

I placed the lobster on the grill shell side down and strategically placed the shrimp so as not to fall between the grill grates. Only one shrimp was lost in this endeavor. While that was going I started in on my oyster mushrooms. I have never had them, but when I discovered a fresh bunch at the store I knew it was time to try! I sliced these up and added them to a skillet with a little bit of ghee, salt and pepper. Once sauteed I added in chopped rainbow chard allowing it to wilt on top.

I did not get a picture of the finished product since we immediately stuffed our faces! However, the lobster was the best I’ve ever had. I am now plotting out ways to have it all the time and still pay my mortgage. The shrimp was delicious and I can now say I have tried and love oyster mushrooms!

Talk Meaty to Me

May 10, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

We arrived at one of our favorite spots, after finding prime parking, and headed inside. The door opened and our nostrils were hit with the smell of spices, sea food and other delicious aromas. Behind me I heard The Beard exclaim, “Talk meaty to me!” There, standing at the butchers on a Friday night, the title of this blog post was born.

Backing up, a few months ago The Beard sent me a recipe for Slow Cooker Red Wine Braised Short Ribs. That is his way of saying, “I want to eat this.” Since I love to try out new things, I’m always happy to receive his latest findings! I told him we would make it soon and then promptly forgot about it, until this weekend.

As aforementioned, I rarely follow a recipe. I like to think of them as general ideas. A jumping off point if you will. As nobody has time for a crock pot, I pulled out my instant pot! If you don’t have one of these you need to add it to every Birthday, Christmas, and Amazon Prime list you have!

I started off letting these delicious beef short ribs soak up all the juiciness. As in, I let them sit for a couple hours because I didn’t buy them till the day I decided to cook this. If you have a chance, I recommend letting them sit overnight.

2lbs Short Ribs
2 cups beef broth
2 cups red wine
1 6oz can tomato paste

We don’t drink so it has been awhile since I needed to open a bottle of wine and subsequently discovered I had left my cork screw at a friend’s house during her last party. However, thanks to my clearance shopping I remembered I had a fancy bottle opener I had bought as a could be present and opened that up. It was amazing! I don’t know why I had let it sit this whole time. (Other than I haven’t opened a bottle in over a year)

Next it was veggie prep time! One of the things I love about the instant pot is the ability to saute in the appliance! Saves time and dishes my friends. In this instance since I wanted to saute the veggies and get a nice sear on the short ribs I decided to divide and conquer. So I tackled the veggies and The Beard handled the meats.

2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 container of mushrooms
Thyme & Rosemary
Parsley

We removed the meat from the liquid and seasoned with salt and garlic powder. Save the liquid! Then we seared them on each side for a few minutes till we got that beautiful brown char.

Then I added them into the Instant Pot nestled in safely among the yummy veggie medley. From there I added the leftover wine mixture along with some sprigs of thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and freshly crushed garlic.

Select the meat/stew setting on the instant pot and in 35 minutes this meal was ready! Thirty-five minutes people! Here is the finished product greeting my eyes and nostrils when I removed the lid.

Topped off with roasted potatoes and garnished with parsley this was a perfect Friday Feast. Talk Meaty indeed.

Taste the Rainbow Chard

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Last night I decided I needed to use up some veggies in my fridge. Of course when deciding to use up ingredients it more often than not requires you to purchase more ingredients to go with it. At least in my world because my fridge is fairly empty at the moment and I wanted to eat more than rainbow chard.

I have a strong affinity for the produce section. I sometimes end up with a cart full of random veggies just because they were so pretty! Then halfway through the store I remember I should grab some protein and other ingredients to go with them! Except for bacon, I NEVER forget the bacon.

So what started as a “What do I want with the rainbow chard” thought turned into a delicious grocery list. I decided to add in mushrooms, shallots, garlic, bean sprouts and bacon along with Italian seasoned meatballs.

I started rendering the bacon and removed it once it was fairly crispy. I didn’t want it to cook completely since I was going to add it back in. Next I added the chopped shallots, mushrooms and chopped chard stalks. Once those began to turn translucent I added the meatballs.

While searing the meatballs I had visions of snuffleupagus from Sesame Street singing On Top of Spaghetti. This moment was brought to you by the letter N and the number 3 which represents the 3,000 hours of watching my niece who was in love with Sesame street as a child.

Alright, back to supper. Next I added my rainbow chard greens, the key ingredient that started it all, bean sprouts and crushed garlic. I’m getting hungry just reminiscing. Good thing I have left overs for lunch!

I plated my dinner and got cozy with my favorite honey candles! Now, you can find these on amazon but they cost a fortune compared to getting them at TJ Maxx. I have completely wiped out their supply at my local store so it’s time for me to start hitting up the surrounding areas. So if you stumble across them give them a try or send them to me!

*Copyright goes to The Beard for his incredible artwork.

Sorta Spaghetti

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 / beautyatbeard / 2 Comments

Do you ever have a moment where you just thank God for Netflix? That was me Friday night. Let me set the scene. Sitting in bed sipping tea, dog snuggled up at my hip, attempting to tackle a cross stitch pattern and watching episode after episode of various cooking competitions.

I don’t know about you, but when I watch TV in general it makes me hungry. Everything the characters eat I suddenly crave. Within a 30 minute span I can want tacos, pizza, pancakes etc. That’s also just a typical Tuesday…but you get the point.

So how does this relate to spaghetti? I’m getting there, just hold on a second. One of the baking shows I watched had a competition where they had to make a dessert look like a savory dish. Can you guess what that dish was? Spaghetti! See how I tied that all together? *Brushes off shoulder*

I decided that I would make The Beard & I a delicious plate of pasta on Saturday. However, I didn’t want just any ole jar of sauce! I wanted to make my own! So I started with some tasty ingredients. I like a sauce to be hearty, as in the pasta is there, but the sauce is the real meal. On the cutting board is a red onion, zucchini, eggplant and parsley.

I chopped all that up and began sauteing until slightly soft. It already smelled amazing!

Meanwhile The Beard was cooking up some delicious sage sausage for our sauce.

Next I chopped up some parsley. I was pretty excited when I found these dried oyster mushrooms at the store, so I decided to chop them up and reconstitute them in the sauce!

I added two cans of organic stewed tomatoes to the mix. I know the picture is pretty steamy but this is real time photography folks.

While my sauce was simmering away I added our gluten free spaghetti to the boiling water. We don’t eat a lot of pasta, even the gluten free kind. Following a Paleo diet doesn’t mean you substitute everything gluten free for the items you are trying to avoid. We are also big fans of using a spiralizer, but occasionally we indulge in some GF pasta.

This is where things got weird. The spaghetti was the Simple Truth Brand, which I bought at Kroger. While I have purchased many of their products I have never tried their pasta. After tossing it in the pot the water started to turn a white-ish cream color, like someone had dumped cornstarch in the mix. From there it continued to thicken and the noodles turned into a gelatinous mess! We strained the noodles and the sink filled up with noodle gravy so thick we had to get the sprayer to wash it off. Since I didn’t know what the mystery goop was we opted to forgo the spaghetti noodles! Thankfully there was a box of Penne in the pantry! Pasta party round 2!

While the pasta was boiling once more, I whipped together a chopped salad with cranberries, flax seeds and a pomegranate vinaigrette. So good!

Finally the penne was ready and cooked to perfection, thanks to The Beard, and dinner was ready!

Our hearty, savory and sorta spaghetti was delicious! In the kitchen, just as in life, you gotta roll with the punches and be happy with sorta anything!

Decadent Date Night

April 28, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

The Beard & I have set aside each Wednesday night as date night. Sometimes we go out to dinner, other times we do a quick stir fry and binge watch episodes of The Walking Dead or Vikings that I am behind on. The main purpose is that we spend time together. This week I decided that I was going to make him a decadent dinner. He’s an amazing boyfriend and by George he deserves it!

I was at Lucky’s, one of my favorite grocery stores, when I remembered a recipe I had mentally book marked awhile ago for a stuffed steak roll. We are all about meat, and despite whatever crap Arby’s is advertising, I got the meat!

One of my habits, good or bad, is that I never give a recipe a chance. I read it all while mentally substituting ingredients to what I think would be better. So buckle up and I’ll share what my brain came up with.

Behold the Lardon! Like any delicious dinner, it starts with some variation of bacon.

While this was rendering I heated my oven to 425 degrees and proceed to slice my fennel bulb and Peruvian purple potatoes. Purple is one of my favorite colors so when I saw these at the store, somehow several of them ended up in my cart. I coated these with melted ghee, salt, pepper, bacon and a few garlic cloves.Bake for 30-40 min.

Now the Mise en Place. That’s just a fancy french term for getting everything set up or just chopping the heck out of everything. Below I have the mushrooms, shallots and fennel stalk. (I put the fennel fronds in the freezer to save for stock)

After these were sauteed in my pork drippings, it was time to build my masterpiece. I originally wanted a flank steak but they were out and so I ended up with a flat iron steak that I tried to pound down. The flat iron ended up taking longer to cook so I would recommend a flank cut if you can find it.

Next I covered up my delicious sauteed veggies with some slices of provolone.

Then topped it off with some freshly chopped spinach. It’s just so pretty…

Now it’s time to sear this future hunk of deliciousness. Because my flat iron steak wasn’t thin enough I had to start with it in one giant roll and cut into pinwheels afterwards. If you end up with Flank, you should be able to slice from the beginning.

Can you feel the saliva puddling up on your tongue?

I tossed this in the oven for about 10 minutes to make sure it cooked through, then sliced and seared the pinwheels. I will eat things pretty rare but The Beard prefers a little less pink.

My best suggestion when cooking is learning to let the flavors speak for themselves. Not everything needs a sauce, or lots of salt. We had earthiness from the mushrooms, richness from the bacon, an anise like flavor from the fennel, crispiness from the potatoes, and of course pure joy with the roasted garlic.

Our decadent dinner was delicious and we capped it off with chocolate coconut macaroons which I bought, because I had already made enough stuff for one evening! So I challenge you next week to have a decadent date night with your significant other, your friend, or your family. Life is about experiences and sometimes you’ve just got to treat yourself!

H2O Melon

April 7, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

My current obsession is dehydrating. Everything. I can’t stop my brain from looking at various produce or recipes and thinking how I can convert that into a fantastic trail meal. With The Beard planning to hike the AT in 2017 I am a woman on a mission to provide him with nutritious and delicious meals. I will become the Top Trail Chef!

We have several hikes planned for this year in which we can try out my various concoctions and then we can narrow down a menu of our favorites.

Recently in the midst of packing for my trip to Eastern Europe I decided, like any normal person, that I should dehydrate a watermelon. I kid you not, as I was packing my suit case my trusty Excalibur machine was whirring in the background with juicy slices of watermelon. I told you, I have a problem.

Now, the concept of dehydrating is to remove moisture. When you take something that is 92% water and decide to remove said water it will take awhile. As in possibly days depending on the thickness of your slices. Or forever, give or take.

At this point they were getting closer but still a bit mushy and I needed to leave the house so again, like any normal person, I loaded the dehydrator in the car with my suitcase and took it with me over to The Beard Cave.

Finally the majority of them were finished and I had my melon jerky! For those of you wondering, it tastes just like watermelon. Surprise!

Ode to Quinoa

April 6, 2016April 6, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

I stumbled across a recipe for Cherry Pistachio Quinoa a few weeks ago but didn’t have a chance to make it since I was in the middle of preparing for my Europe trip. (more to come on that later) I’m a doer, which is why Pinterest is dangerous for me. While most people are just pinning away recipes or projects that they will never do anything with, I’m headed to the grocery, craft and hardware store immediately!

So after overcoming my jet lag I headed to the grocery as there was nothing in my house post-Euro trip. At least I did manage to clean when I got home. Sometimes I contemplate creating my own sticker chart. I feel like I should get credit for my efforts.

Anyways, back to Quinoa. I have a confession. I have never cooked this before. *Gasp heard around the world* I know, from the person who has watched every reality cooking competition and can rattle off substitutions for anything it is shocking. But being Paleo, we don’t eat a lot of grains. Recently the Beard has added rice back into the diet as we need to up the calorie intake. As I’ve been considering dehydrated trail meal options I thought we would give Quinoa a try. Best decision ever.

I started with chopping up a Shallot. These are delicious little suckers and you should put them in everything. I cooked those in a saute pan until they became translucent and then added my quinoa with water and white wine.

While the quinoa was absorbing all the liquid I set about chopping the rest of my ingredients. I splurged and bought the pre-shelled pistachios from the bulk bin aisle. I only needed half a cup and was pleased that my ability to measure pistachios with my eye balls was spot on! Talk about life skills….

If you have a mini food processor or a ninja mixer like I do that is the way to go. Ain’t nobody got time for hand chopping!

Next I mixed together lemon, olive oil and pepper. Lots of cracked pepper. Then I tossed in my pistachios, chopped cherries and dressing.

Can you hear the angels singing?

I had a big bowl for dinner and had enough left over for The Beard who is anxiously awaiting his jar. I also plan on dehydrating this meal in the future. Cook the quinoa as normal, mix in the dressing and let cool. Spread on the dehydrator trays at 135 degrees for 8-12 hours. When complete you can store in vacuum seal bags with dried cherries and pistachios.

Quick note: I typically cook with what is on hand so if you don’t have pistachios substitute almonds. If you don’t have dried cherries, dried cranberries work wonderfully too. If you don’t have quinoa, well you should probably just make something else.