EAT: Quinoa Loaf and Baked French Fries

It’s meatless Monday. Here’s a simple suggestion for dinner:

QUINOA LOAF

This recipe is based on the Whole Foods Recipe for a Quinoa Loaf. I never have all of the ingredients for the original recipe so I add different things each time. This is how I made it yesterday:

Saute the following ingredients for about 5-7 minutes in a little bit of grapeseed oil:

• 1 lb of chopped mushrooms
• 1 small chopped onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Let the above cool just a bit, then add it to a bowl with the following:

• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (Trader Joe’s brand is my favorite!)
• 1/2 cup cashew pieces
• 2.5 cups cooked quinoa (cook it in vegetable broth to give this dish more flavor). Cook this first, so it is a little cool when you add it to the bowl.

Add the following to a food processor (or blender) and blend until smooth. It should have a hummus-like texture.

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (or cannellini beans)
• 3/4 cup of oats (I was out of them and I used garbanzo bean flour, it still worked well)
• 1/4 cup of tamari (or soy sauce)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (can be omitted, but why wouldn’t you include it?)

Add the bean mixture to the quinoa mixture, and combine. Transfer the mixture to a sprayed loaf pan, and cook at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. Top with lots of ketchup or gravy.

This can be made the day before and stored in the fridge. Leftovers are good in a wrap (I like to add leftover french fries to the wrap too).

BAKED FRENCH FRIES

This is a super simple recipe, but I am sharing it anyways. We make these at least once a week.

Ingredients: 4 medium russet potatoes, grapeseed oil, seasonings

• Cut the potato into fry-type pieces – leave the skin on if it is an organic potato.
• Take 1 TB of grapeseed oil, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast and rub it into the cut-up potatoes.
• Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.
• The MOST important part about baking french fries is moving them around every 5 minutes for the first 20 minutes of cooking. That allows you to use a small amount of oil and they won’t stick to the baking pan.

Top the fries with lots of ketchup or chili, if you want to eat them like a Michigander.