Quinoa harvest salad

This post written by the original Ebby. 

I discovered quinoa a couple of years ago, and am so glad I did. Though not technically a grain (it's not a true member of the grass family), that's how I think of it and how I use the stuff. It substitutes quite nicely in dishes using rice and small pasta shapes. And it's fun to say! KEEN-wa! Quinoa is equally great in sweet and savory salads, and the one I'm sharing today is a perfect accompaniment to a Thanksgiving day spread.   

There are two types of quinoa that I'm aware of: red and white. Today I used red because I love the color, though in the past I have substituted one for the other without any problem. Be sure to rinse the uncooked quinoa thoroughly with water to wash off its soapy, bitter coating, called saponin. Don't skip this step!

While the quinoa is draining, melt butter over medium heat. Cook some onion, celery, apples and quinoa in the butter for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the broth and orange juice, boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Easy!

Once the quinoa is cooked, throw in the cranberries, nuts, cheese and salt. If you have fresh parsley (unlike me), you can add a few tablespoons of that too.  It's delicious and colorful and just right for fall. Enjoy!

Quinoa Harvest Salad 

1 C. quinoa

1 Tbsp. butter (or olive oil)

1/4 C. chopped red onion

1/3 C. chopped celery

1/2 C. coarsely chopped baking apple

1 1/2 C. low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 C. orange juice

1/2 C. sweetened dried cranberries

1/3 C. chopped pecans, toasted

1/4 C. shredded parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley (optional)

Rinse quinoa thoroughly and drain well.

In 2 quart saucepan, melt butter or heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, apple and quinoa and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in broth and orange juice. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Stir in cranberries, pecans, cheese and salt. Sprinkle with parsley.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Orange-avocado mixed greens salad

This is a newly-found recipe that looked delicious when I first saw a photo of it. I do love a good salad. I noticed that the serving size was "6," so I thought it might last for our entire family for a few nights. Well, I kind of ate the entire thing in one sitting. All by myself. So, I will keep the serving size as "6," but if you really enjoy eating, and salads in particular, you can make that serving size a "1" like I did.

Toss together in a large bowl:

8 cups torn mixed salad greens

1 avocado, sliced

1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

1/2 small red onion, sliced

Divide mixed salad ingredients amongst plates (or plate) and top with Italian or vinaigrette dressing.

Do I even need to tell you that I loved it? I didn't think so.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Oatmeal spice cake

I continue to learn new things about my husband all the time. I recently discovered that this is one of his favorite cakes that his mom makes. I had no idea! I decided to try making it myself and it is most definitely a full, moist, scrumptious cake. Of course, I am a lover of all things sweet and cake is one of my hugest weaknesses. Thank goodness I was blessed with strong willpower because I would be eating things like cake and cookies and ice cream and candy during the majority of my waking hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together in a medium bowl:

2 1/4 cups boiling water

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

3/4 cup butter, softened

Cover bowl with a towel and set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, beat together:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl, combine:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Add the egg-sugar mixture to the flour mixture and then add the oatmeal-water-butter mixture and stir everything together.

Pour cake mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake in preheated doven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool.

To make the topping, add the following to a medium saucepan:

1 1/2 cups coconut flakes

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and let boil for one minute.

Let cool and spread onto cooled cake. I wish I had a photo of the entire cake with the topping. I was a bit too eager to dig in! So much for willpower, huh?

Click here for a printable recipe!

Quick adjustments in Lightroom

I discovered this handy little Hue/Saturation/Luminance/Tone adjustment trick by complete accident. I inadvertently clicked on the teeny tiny "target" circle that you can see on the upper left-hand side of the Saturation palette and suddenly it turned into a target with two triangles sticking out of each end. I played around with it until I figured out its purpose, and guess what? I love it! I use it all the time. It is a super slick little trick. My accidental find turned out to be a "happy accident," as they say in the art world.

First, I import my photo into Lightroom and click on the Develop tab on the upper right. I scroll down so the Saturation palette is visible.

This is what the "target" circle looks like before it is clicked on.

And this is the icon that appears after it is clicked on.

Once this adjustment icon appears, my cursor suddenly changes, too. Ok, please take the time to appreciate the cursor depicted in the below photo. I could not figure out a way to get a screen shot of it so I created it from scratch. AND IT TOOK FOREVER. Isn't it pretty? Wonderful? Awesome?

I place the cursor over a color that I think might need some saturation adjustments. The part of the cursor that will select the color is the middle part of the +. You can see in the above photo that the very center of the + is directly over the color red. Since Elijah is standing in an apple orchard, I want to make the red stand out.

After I have clicked once to get a reading on the color, I click again and this time I don't release the mouse button. With mouse button held down, I drag my mouse upward in order to increase the saturation. If I want to decrease the saturation, I would drag my mouse downward.

In this case, I move it up until the reds in the photo are to my liking.

Here is what the palette looks like without it even being touched!

I want to increase the green saturation a little bit, too, so I click my cursor once on a green part of the photo (grass) to get a reading.

I click and drag my mouse upward until I am happy with the green saturation adjustment.

This trick also works with Tone Curve adjustments, so I scroll up to the Tone Curve area of my palette and click on the target circle. This works in the exact same way, except with tones instead of color saturation. You can see below that I click my cursor on the lightest area of the photo, the sky. I want to slightly increase all of the highlights in the photo. After my initial click that tells Lightroom what we will be adjusting, I click and drag my mouse upward.

Here is what the Tone Curve palette shows after my adjustment.

Now I want to darken the shadows just a tiny bit, so I click on the darkest area of the photo and then click and drag downward.

Here is what the Tone Curve palette shows after that adjustment.

I have one final change I would like to make and this time it is an adjustment to Hue, which can be found in the same palette as Saturation. I click on Hue and then on the target. With my cursor, I click on an orangey-yellow color in the photo and then I click and drag downward a tiny bit.

The orange and yellow hues decreased slightly.

At this point I am satisfied with Hue-Saturation-Tone adjustments and I am ready to move onto other changes!

This trick can also be used to adjust Luminance, but I rarely touch Luminance. Anywhere the tiny target appears, you can adjust with a simple click and drag!

Sun-dried tomato dip

This post written by the original Ebby. 

Let's just cut right to the chase: you want to make this NOW. It is sensational, fabulous and utterly irresistible. I can't stop thinking about it. Or eating it, for that matter. Someone take it away!

The best way to serve this appetizer, in my opinion, is smeared across crostini fresh from the oven. Heaven. But sometimes I'm just lazy and impatient, and during those moments serving this with crackers works just fine. Or you can bypass the extras and use a spoon to cram it straight into your mouth. Because let's be honest, the dip is all you really want, anyway.

Here we have the glorious dried tomatoes. These are actually great eaten straight-up, right out of the package. But today I have other plans. Chop them up as finely as you can. You'll need a sharp knife. Or a food processor. Just be careful not to make them into a paste.   

Next, heat the olive oil and cook the garlic for a few minutes. Don't burn the garlic! Add some wine. You can drink the remainder of the bottle if you're in the mood. Or save it for another time. Did you know you can actually freeze wine and use it in recipes later? Not that I've ever actually done it, but I hear it works great.

Okay, so the oil, garlic and wine are hanging out in the pan. Throw in the chopped up tomatoes and let them simmer happily for about 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has absorbed. Your mouth will be watering heavily at this point.

While the tomatoes are cooking, combine the cream cheese, basil and parmesan cheese. When I made this last, the basil at the store did not look edible. I did, however, have pesto. Two tablespoons of that worked wonderfully; a great option if you can't find basil that isn't brown and wilted!

Mix it all together. Try not to drool into the bowl. But go ahead and take a taste! 

Then it gets really good. After the tomatoes have cooled slightly, add them to the cream cheese mixture and blend. 

Holy cow, this is unbelievable stuff. You can chill it and eat it later or chow down immediately, which is what I prefer. Take this to parties and the office and your neighbor's house and everyone will love you. Or sneak into the closet, shut the door and eat it all. You deserve it.  

Sun-dried tomato dip

1-2 cloves garlic, minced 

1/2 C. dry white wine

1/2 C. dried tomatoes, chopped

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/3 C. fresh basil, chopped 

3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese 

Cook garlic in oil until soft. Add wine and tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Mix cream cheese, basil and parmesan. Add tomato mixture and combine. Serve with bread or crackers.

Click here for a printable recipe!