Quinoa Salad with Toasted Almonds and Roasted Tomatoes

I'm a snob.  I don't eat fresh tomatoes in the winter.  Those pinkish perfectly round orbs sitting in my grocer's produce section are closer to the texture of felt than they are tomatoes - and have ALMOST as much flavor.  BUT...  By concentrating the flavor of some hot house cherry or plum tomatoes from Mexico I can get through the winter - particularly for this quinoa salad

I like the texture of the slivered almonds - and they lose their blandness when you toast them and get a nice nutty crunch.

Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked quinoa
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup of pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
baby arugula
feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:

3 tbsp good olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 packet Splenda
salt & pepper

Whisk dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Let the cooked quinoa cool before adding ingredients.
Then mix everything together (except arugula and feta).

Plate over arugula and toss w/ the dressing.
Sprinkle feta on top.

Cook's Notes:

Salt and pepper your tomatoes and roast at 275 F  for 3 to 4 hours until shriveled but still have some life in them.  I make sheet trays full at a time and store the extras in a jar of olive oil in my refrigerator.  A great accompaniment for farro, quinoa and salads of all sort.  And the leftover oil makes and incredible salad dressing!

Almond Pudding Cake

Cake....  Uhmmmmm..  Luscious soft vanilla cake, still warm from the oven, covered in fresh berries and a dollop of REAL whipped cream with a mint sprig on top.  Can't you just smell the wonderfulness of it?

That WAS the picture I was going to post here, but the cake disappeared before I could get the camera set up!

This is good.  This is REALLY good.  This is now my go-to Bariatric Birthday Cake

8.7 Grams Protein

2.7 Grams Effective Carbs

Preheat oven to 350 F

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup Splenda Granular
5 eggs, large
2 cups almond flour

1 small pkg Sugar Free Vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

Have ALL ingredients and utensils at room temperature!!

In your mixer bowl, cream the butter and Splenda until it is fluffy and turns light yellow. 

Add eggs - one at a time - completely incorporating each before the next. 

Whisk almond flour and SF pudding mix with baking powder in another bowl

Add dry mix to wet mixture a little at a time while beating. 

Add vanilla extract and stir well

Scrape into greased 9"-10" Springform pan (or 9" round cake pan) 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool - some..  Slice and serve

Cook's Notes:

This is a great base for any flavor cake.  

• Substitute lemon extract for half the vanilla extract and use lemon pudding - Lemon Cake!
• Poke it full of holes and pour hot SF Lemon Jell-0 over the top!
• Toss in a handful of chopped pistachios (or any nut) and a package of SF pistachio pudding mix (and few drops of green food coloring for effect)

More ideas?  Post them in the comments below!

Almond Breakfast Cereal

The only REAL reason this blog exists is for me to have a place to "scratch my own itch" - to keep recipes for things that I've had cravings for from my OLD life, now that I've embarked on my NEW life. So, recently, it was cereal.  I was walking down the grocery aisle and my eyes fell on all the labels.   Cheerios, Kashi, Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, Raisin Brain.  Time was, I could rip open the top and eat the whole box. I mean it’s so good. 

BUT, nutritionally it's crap. It’s expensive sugar in a bowl, so I’ve cut it out of my life. I still miss it - and that means I had to make a version I could eat. 

I was worried about not feeling full from it for long, but that wasn’t an issue. It filled me up all the way until lunch. And it was easy and fast.

Almond Breakfast Cereal
2 Tbsp almonds
2 Tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup water
1/2 banana**
handful of blueberries**

**You could add whatever fruit you wanted, this is what I had on hand.



Put the coconut milk in a bowl and add your chia seeds. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes and thicken

Pulse 1 tablespoon of the pumpkin seeds and your almonds in the food processor a few times. Decide how “chunky” you want it. I didn’t grind mine to a pulp,  but it resembled granola.

Place the mixture and the rest of the seeds into the bowl with the chia seeds and milk once it’s thickened and add your fruit on top. Add water (or milk) to your desired consistency. 

A sprinkle of cinnamon finishes it off beautifully.

Cook's Notes:

• With the added fruit I found it had enough sweetness, but a sprinkle of your favorite sweetener is OK if you need it.
• I like the coconut milk, but you can substitute almond, soy or cow (or moose, or ferret) milk
• Next batch I'm adding some slivered almonds too, for the "crispy flake" texture.
• This is SO open to experimentation!  Today I added some vanilla protein powder to the liquid and it was even MORE yummy!