July Vegan Food Swap

I had intentions of jumping back into blogging.  In fact, I still act like I blog every day.  I take pictures of my food, I blog in my head as I'm eating (I can't be the only one who does that, right??), and then I put my Little Brontosaurus to bed and sit down on the couch and...

What can I say, the little guy wears me out!

But, I did at least take the time to sign up for last month's Vegan Food Swap, hosted by Cat at The Verdant Life.  

I had a ton of fun making up a box for Ashley at Season of the Vegan, and received a lovely box from my partner, Barbara (who is not a blogger, I didn't forget a link!).

Along with some fun snacks for me, Barbara sent some snacks for the little saurus, and a nice box of red quinoa.  

RED quinoa!  

I know this isn't a new thing, but it is the sort of thing I'd never spend the extra money on myself.  Barbara sent a lot of graet quinoa recipes that I haven't gotten the chance to try yet, but I thought this would be the perfect time to share my new favorite quinoa recipe.  

Buttery Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa

This is one of those recipes that was thrown together one day with what I had lying around.  I pulled out the mandolin, started thinly slicing some Brussels sprouts, about a cup and a half.   I added the Brussels sprouts to a pan that had already started cooking some minced garlic and olive oil, about 1 clove, and 1 Tbsp, respectively.  The Brussels sprouts were cooked until they were soft.  At the same time, I was cooking a small pot of quinoa, maybe 3/4 cup.  While it cooked, I tried to figure what to do with the quinoa.  I don't mind plain food, I eat a lot of my food plain.  Plain potatoes, plain rice, plain quinoa.  Not bare, I use salt and pepper, sometimes olive oil, but really very basic.  Well, the small person I live with does not agree with that.  So on a whim, the quinoa got thrown into the pan with the Brussels sprouts.  Added to that was 2 tbps of vegan margarine (we use Earth Balance around here), as well as salt and pepper to taste, and a few splashes of white wine vinegar.

This has become not just one of my favorite ways to use quinoa, but Brussels sprouts too!  It is all around one of our new favorite side dishes.  I have Brussels sprouts in the fridge, and plain quinoa in the pantry, I can't wait to make this with some of the red quinoa thrown in, to make it extra pretty!

Thanks Barbara, and thanks to Cat for hosting the Vegan Food Swap!