Tag: side

Veggie Quinoa

- Meaghan Penrod

So don’t get me wrong, I love quinoa.  I make it a lot. The texture is killer and the nutritional benefits are through the roof! But…I mean…it can be kinda boring.  Unless you add a ton of flavor to it, it’s kinda bland. So over the years, I’ve tried different things to spice it up a little! Usually, I’ll just mix 1/2 quinoa and 1/2 brown rice together and then cook it. That way, my husband doesn’t realize he’s eating quinoa lol But if I’m planning on having straight up quinoa as a side, this is one of my favorite ways to make it!

Essentially, I just use any veggies I have on hand and add it to the quinoa! Typically I always have peppers, onions, and mushrooms…so those are the usual suspects.  But I’ve also added corn, peas, tomatoes…pretty much whatever is on hand! And when I tell you this comes together in less than 30 minutes, I mean it.  I rarely ever make anything that takes longer than that! haha

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Crazy Easy Mac and Cheese

- Meaghan Penrod

So the other day at the grocery store, they had pork shoulders buy one get one free.  Great deal! So on Monday morning, I put my pork in the slow cooker with plans to have pulled pork for dinner.  Usually while I’m at work, I’ll brainstorm some ideas for what else I’m going to have with whatever meat I thawed out…but on this day I was stumped.  We had just had mashed potatoes for dinner the night before and I didn’t want to do potatoes two days in a row….and rice didn’t seem like a good choice.  Then suddenly it hit me, MAC AND CHEESE.  We had pulled pork and mac and cheese at our wedding, so clearly it’s a household favorite haha

Normally I like to make mac and cheese and then bake it to get it crispy, but I wasn’t going to get home until kinda late and I wanted something that would come together fast! I kinda just threw this mac and cheese together (in 15 minutes, no lie) and it turned out SO GOOD.  So I’ll let you guys in on the recipe…really nothing fancy.  Just simple, easy, and DELICIOUS.  I used earth balance vegan butter and almond milk to cut down on the dairy, but you could totally use any kind of butter or milk that you’d like!

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