I am so happy tomorrow is Friday, this week needs to end! There is so much going on at work and I’ve been a bit cranky flying solo with hubby on business travel. Juggling a busy work schedule and tackling all the chores at home has made this week not quite as relaxing as I anticipated. Motivating myself for regular workouts has been a challenge after a mentally draining day at work, I have to remind myself I’ll feel much better after and need that win after a frustrating day.
The poor pups have been pretty bored and frustrated with me coming home so burned out, they’re lucky I’ve been remembering to serve their dinners on time!
But being solo this week has been a good opportunity for a little money-saving experiment. I’ve avoided hitting the grocery store and focused on using up what I could in the pantry and freezer. Last night’s dinner turned into a tasty treat of fiesta quinoa.
I threw two cups of water, a few sun dried tomatoes, dash of salt, chili powder, cumin, and a pinch of cayenne into the Vitamix to create a feisty broth to simmer 1 cup of quinoa in. While simmering, I added some frozen corn, frozen spinach, and chopped fresh cilantro. And ended up with a spicy and savory dinner in about 20 minutes.
The corn added a nice texture to the cooked quinoa, keeping a bag of the Trader Joe’s frozen organic corn in the freezer has been a life saver for lentil stews and a quick veggie add to many dishes. Also helpful to cool down hot soup.
It was a good thing I avoided grocery shopping because I found this on our front porch this morning.
And gorgeous, fresh broccoli inside – dinner!
Since I’ve been on a tahini kick lately, I decided I wanted a creamy tahini sauce coating the broccoli and discovered hemp seeds go very well with tahini.
Tahini Hemp Sauce
- 1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds
- 2 tbsp. tahini
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1/4 cup water
Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend to a creamy texture. Use as a salad dressing, dip, or coating for lightly steamed veggies. Makes 2 servings.
The texture of the sauce is much creamier that other hemp sauces I’ve done with the addition of tahini.
I poured it over lightly steamed broccoli and artichoke hearts.
For another fast, healthy dinner disguised as rich and creamy comfort food.
The sauce coated the veggies very well and added a nice tang and smooth texture, perfect for a vegan main dish or side dish.
Now I think I’m gonna get into Friday mood early with a glass of wine and a bubble bath.
CSA days on your doorstep are great days. And good thing you didnt groc shop or you’d be in produce overwhelment :)
So true, but I need to make it to the grocery store at some point this weekend. :-P
That quinoa dish looks great– I tend to do a lot of pantry cooking when I’m on my own too; going to the g.store just seems like too much work!
Thanks, it’s fun getting creative with limited resources sometimes as long as I have a stash of frozen veggies. :-)
Such cute little dogs! ^^ And that hemp sauce looks super yummy – I’m hoping I can buy some hemp seeds soon to make this.
Thanks, they’re fun company when hubby is not home. Amazon is a great source for cheap shelled hemp seeds by bulk, I go through one of these every 3 months or so:
http://www.amazon.com/Nutiva-Organic-Shelled-Hempseed-5-Pound/dp/B000GAT6MM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1327785836&sr=8-4
And they last a long time stored in the freezer.