All I Want... Right Now

Sometimes when I think I'm hungry, I'm not really all that hungry. Or perhaps I really am? But nothing appeals to me. Often, it's a combo of the two. As was the case last night. I ran to the market hoping for something miraculous to eat and nothing at all popped out at me. I looked at the ground beef thinking "burger? no. meatballs? no" then I put it back. Picked up some chicken breasts thinking "stuffed with goat cheese and tarragon? no. barbequed? no. lemon chicken? no" then put it back. Looked at the shrimp, no appeal. Looked at the steaks, ditto. I even thought about a nice simple dinner of liver, bacon and onion over spinach. One of my all time favorite comfort meals I learned to make in Paris. Even that held no love.

Earlier in the day I had been avidly reading back logs of The Pioneer Woman's blog and ran across a recipe for the most amazing sounding gooey delicious cheesy olive bread. I couldn't get it out of my head. I thought about it endlessly. The whole time in the market, I thought of nothing but that bread. And fought the urge to eat it. When you read the recipe.... you'll know why. It's both compelling and worth about 10lbs on the thighs. But worth it. I gave in. Since nothing else was getting me... and that was all that was interesting... I just picked up the ingredients. And all I can say is it was worth all 10 - maybe even 12 - pounds that I gained since last night's dinner. Oh, and that was all I ate. Yep. Just the bread. Nothing else. No salad. No meat. Just bread. And man, was it good. I was in heaven. I was communing with the cheese and bread and olives. OHHHH so good. Try it... you won't regret it. Thanks Ree... your recipe ROOOCCKKSS!!!!

Here it is, enjoy! The Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread.

Quinoa

Wow... I love quinoa. The grain is so versatile and delicious. I have it on hand at all times. Last night I fixed a pasta supper for a friend's girls and made a simple sauce with a lot of garlic slivered into it. It was a hit. Not a bite left in the pan or on plates. And because of my hankering for garlic - sometimes you just need garlic, I figure - I'm making a quinoa pilaf with a lot of garlic. I've decided it will be the base for little quinoa cakes. Sort of like quinoa latkes. So, here's the plan for my protein filled grain:

QUINOA CAKES

1 beef bouillon cube
2 1/4 cups of water
5 smashed cloves of garlic - fairly big ones!
1 1/4 cup quinoa
Pinch of hot smoked paprika
1/2-3/4 cup thawed, squeezed dry, frozen spinach
2 eggs
2-3 carrots grated


Directions:
Mix bouillon into water and heat on stove in large pan. Peel garlic and smash up either on cutting board or in mortar. Add garlic to water and bring to boil. Add quinoa and bring back to boil. Add smoked paprika to taste - be careful, it's spicy! Put burner on low and cover pan and simmer about 45 minutes until quinoa is done.

Cool quinoa. When cool mix in bowl: quinoa, shredded carrot, spinach and eggs. I hesitate to season this too much, as the bouillon is salty and the paprika is spicy. But, salt a bit and pepper a bit if you like. Mix all this up together and on a foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a little Pam, make small cakes about the size of a silver dollar pancake. Bake these in the oven at 350 until they are golden and set, about 34-50 minutes. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if you like, and a nice big salad or with grilled chicken! Delish!



My house smells delightful... mmmmmm garlic!!!