Dorm Recipe Building Block: Quinoa

Quinoa is on of the best grains you can eat. It has lots of fiber, magnesium, and other things, but what I love about quinoa is that it is a complete protein, which is extremely rare in a plant derived food. The only other vegetarian food that I know that is a complete protein is soy/ tofu. If you know any others I'd love to hear about them, so please comment bellow! It's technically a seed and not a grain, but it acts kind of like a couscous or rice or other small scale grain. I to sleep at some point, so that's all I'm gonna say about the background of quinoa, but if you'd like to know more about the awesomeness of quinoa, go to this website where I did most of my reading, or google it :)

Anyway, now how to make it!
Quinoa is really simple to make and can be made in a microwave, so it's perfect for dorm cooking!
So all you have to do is put two parts water to one part quinoa...

Stick it in the microwave for four minutes, take it out and stir it, then put it back in the microwave for another minute.

If you take it out, there aren't little rings around the quinoa, then you probably need to put it back in for another minute. If there are rings, let the quinoa sit for a few minutes to let the rest of the water absorb.

See the rings around the grains? This quinoa is cooked

Then taste it. If it's nice and soft and not too al dente, the viola, you have quinoa. If it's still a little crunchy, you may have to put it in for another minute and possibly add more water. But that's all there is to it! Now you have a super protein packed grain that can become the foundation of so many meals!

What kind of meals you ask? Well this time I added cilantro and olive oil while I was still cooking the quinoa (as you can probably see in the pictures) and then I had made salsa and forgotten to buy tortilla chips. So I poured the salsa over the quinoa and had a refreshing meal.

My go to quinoa meal is to add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and all kinds of fresh veggies to it to make a quinoa salad. I usually then take a tortilla, slather it in hummus, add the quinoa salad and make myself a nutritious wrap that is soooo delicious I can't even tell you! Even my mom likes it and she doesn't usually like my healthy recipes.
You can even use quinoa as an oatmeal substitute and flavor it with cinnamon and agave/ stevia/ honey/ whatever sweetener you use and eat it for breakfast. There are many other options to flavor quinoa for breackfast like fresh berries, dried cranberries and almonds, or my personal favorite, cocoa powder and peanut butter! It tastes like reses for breakfast, but it's actually pretty healthy! Don't forget to sweeten it though, because cocoa powder is very bitter.
Those are just a few of the things you can do with quinoa. I plan to post a more detailed description of these quinoa meals and others, so subscribe!! And if you like to use quinoa a certain way, I'd love to hear about it! Post in the comments bellow!

Juice day

Today was the last day of the juice fast my church was doing and I didn't have much juice in my dorm room, but I did have 2 small limes and a tiny bit of guava juice, and I recently discovered a patch of mint growing outside the library (very exciting). So I made guava limeade with mint or a virgin guava mojito, or whatever you want to call it. And I must say it was pretty delicious!

Getting in the Holiday Spirit with Eggnog!

At this time of year I'm always making eggnog with my family. It's one of my favorite parts of the holidays. Now for those of you who are thinking "I don't like eggnog," bare in mind that store bought eggnog is nothing like the kind you make at home. It's delicious, light, creamy, and frothy.


Here's my 'til now secret (don't tell my dad) Family Recipe:
1 1/2 cups of milk
3 "eggs" (I highly recommend using a carton of egg beaters or better'n'eggs or the like because it is pasteurized. The eggs do not get cooked saw regular fresh eggs pose a health risk, and the egg beaters are much safer.)
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Just put all of the ingredients in a leak-proof container and shake it up until it gets frothy. Then enjoy!
If you do not drink it right away, just shake it again before you do, so it doesn't loose its foam.



I made it last night and got a lot of positive feedback. I didn't have nutmeg, but for some reason I had allspice so I used that (btw I love allspice. It's a very distinct flavor that is in gingerbread), but you could also use cinnamon. You could use almond/soy instead of regular milk or substitute stevia or agave for the sugar. I don't know of any vegan egg alternatives, but I'm sure they exist because Lula's (a vegan ice cream shop in the East Village) has an "egg cream".

Makin Guacamole!!

So guacamole is a super easy, healthy and delicious snack that also happens to be perfect for sharing! That's why I'm making it my first post. It's my second week of school and I've made guacamole 3 times, and guess what, the people on my floor love me for it!

All you really need is an avocado and salt, but if you want to get fancy add onion, lime or lemon, and if your really fancy, cilantro. My favorite chips to use are anything Trader Joe's brand because they're always non-GMO and still affordable (I love Trader Joe's!! If you don't know what GMO is I'll post an explanation about that soon. It changed the way I look at food!).

The avocados can get a bit expensive, so if you can, have everybody chip in a dollar or so. It cost a little less than $6 for 2 avocados, an onion, and a lime, and I already had salt. I opted not to spend three dollars on a big bunch of cilantro that would barely be used, but it does add to the taste of the guac, so if you wanna splurge more power to you.

So treat your floor-mates to something much yummier than most (if not all) of the stuff they've been eating from the dining hall!