High 5 For Friday

This week's High 5 For Friday is brought to you courtesy of Lauren from My Grey Desk.

Let's get started!

1.  We had a sleepover birthday party for my daughter.  A great time was had by all!

2.  The PSSA results are in and my son scored in the advanced category.  So proud!!

3.  Tried quinoa for the first time this week.  It was delicious and healthy!  Definitely adding this one as one of our regulars!  The recipe can be found here...

4.  I got to spend some of my day yesterday with a friend....we went shopping and got some amazing deals!

5.  I got a lot of my sewing projects finished up this week.  Feels good to finally have them completed!

Hope you all had a great week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Quinoa with Black Beans and Corn

Quinoa is a relatively new discovery for me.  I made this recipe last night for dinner and it was a huge hit!  Even the kids loved it!  Definitely will be making this one again.  I just followed the directions on the quinoa box and added my own ingredients....Here's how I did it...

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Saute onions and garlic in coconut oil til slightly browned.

Meanwhile, rinse and drain quinoa well (will be bitter if this step is not completed properly)

Add quinoa, veggie broth and spices (except cilantro) to the onion and garlic mixture.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add corn, black beans and cilantro

Serve!  Even better the next day!

Next time I am going to try throwing in some tomatoes and maybe even some shredded zucchini.  

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

I don't know about you, but I just LOVE sun-dried tomatoes.  I recently had a tomato and mozzarella sandwich at Panera Bread that had a sun-dried tomato spread.  It was amazing!  So, I came up with my own recipe to try to duplicate the spread.  This is what I came up with....not to brag....but I think mine might just be a smidge tastier!  :)

2 cups oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 c parmesan cheese

1/2 c olive oil

4 T chopped onion

3 cloves chopped garlic

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1/4 c fresh basil

1/4 c fresh parsley

Place all ingredients in the food processer until a coarse paste consistency is reached.  This adds pizzaz to any sandwich.  

Enjoy!!