Fall Flavors: Quinoa Harvest Salad

My Quinoa Harvest Salad is bursting with fall flavors! Apples, pears, dried cranberries, quinoa and spinach are doused with a cider vinaigrette for a healthy, seasonal salad!

Quinoa Harvest Salad

When Fall hits I start wanting all the seasonal ingredients I can get.  I decided that our first salad of the season would combine some sweet/tart flavors mixed with multi colored quinoa.  I love to make large salad that we can eat with meals and as a snack all week long.  This one is perfect for that.

Tart apples, sweet pears, and tart dried cranberries are mixed with quinoa and baby spinach then tossed with a delicious cider vinaigrette.  It's the perfect harvest salad!  Never made your own vinaigrette?  Let me show you how easy it is.

Enjoy!

What Ingredients do I need?

Produce
Pears - I used D'Anjou
Apples - I used Envy

Baby spinach

Nuts and Dried Fruit
Dried Cranberries

Grains

Quinoa - I used a multi-colored variety

Pantry Items

Olive Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Dijon Mustard

Garlic clove

Substitutions and Variations

• Change up the salad greens:  Use any dark leafy green such as chopped kale or arugula

• Try adding squash: Roasted butternut or sweet potatoes

• Add nuts:  Think pepitas or pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds - or go nut free

• Change up the dried fruit:  go with raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, or even apricots
• Try a different grain:  bulgur, farro, or quinoa would all be great choices

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• Make Ahead:  cook your quinoa on the weekend and then refrigerate until you make the salad during the week.
• Apples come in many varieties:  try Gala, Jazz, or Golden Delicious

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Quinoa Harvest Salad

serves 6

Salad

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 apples, diced (I used an Envy apple)
2 pear, diced (I used D'Anjou)
2 cups baby spinach
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

1/4 olive oil

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tsp garlic, minced

pinch of salt & pepper to taste

Cook quinoa according to the package directions. Don't forget to rinse the quinoa to remove the bitterness.
Remove the quinoa from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl combine the cooled quinoa, apple, pear, dried cranberries, and baby spinach.  Toss to combine.  

In a small jar mix together the apple cider vinaigrette ingredients.  

Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to coat.  Serve at room temperature or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.  

Fall Flavors: Harvest Spinach Salad

My Harvest Spinach Salad is loaded with fall favorites like butternut squash, chopped apples, pecans, cranberries and couscous.  It's the perfect side salad this fall.

Harvest Spinach Salad

I have the perfect side salad that's easy to make and has all the fall flavors.  It has no fuss ingredients you crave:  chopped apples, pecans, dried cranberries, roasted butternut squash, couscous, and spinach.  Plus it's all doused with with an apple cider vinaigrette.  

Here are some occasions that this salad would be perfect for:

• Side Salad with weekday dinners
• fall picnic
• entertaining friends
• Friendsgiving 
• Thanksgiving 

There is a little prep work to roast the butternut squash and cooking the couscous,  however, you can use leftovers if you have them, or cook them on the weekend and store them until ready to use during the week.  The salad has it all going on, flavors, crunch, savory, and sweet.  This is one heck of a salad!

What Ingredients do I need?

Produce
Butternut squash 
Apples

Baby spinach

Nuts and Dried Fruit
Pecans
Dried Cranberries

Grains

Israeli couscous

Pantry Items

Olive Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Dijon Mustard

Garlic cloves

Substitutions and Variations

• Change up the salad greens:  Use any dark leafy green such as kale, red leaf lettuce, arugula, or swiss chard

• Try a different squash: Use roasted acorn or kabocha squash. Or go with roasted sweet potatoes

• Change up the fruit:  Pears would be a great substitute

• Any nut will work:  Think pepitas or pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds - or go nut free

• Change up the dried fruit:  go with raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, or even apricots

• Try a different grain:  bulgur, farro, or quinoa would all be great choices

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• Butternut squash can be bought pre-cut in to cubes in the produce section

• Apples come in many varieties:  try Gala, Jazz, or Golden Delicious

• Israeli couscous aka pearl couscous are the larger balls of semolina.  Moroccan and North African dishes contain the more popular small couscous.  This is actually a pasta and not a grain. 

• Make Ahead:  batch cook your couscous and roast your butternut squash on the weekend and then refrigerate until you make the salad during the week.

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Harvest Spinach Salad

serves 2

4 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked Israeli couscous, cooked according to package directions (1/2 cup dry couscous)
1 - 1 1/2 cups butternut squash, chopped
1 medium apple, cored and chopped
1/3 cup pecans
3 Tablespoons dried cranberries

Vinaigrette

1/4 olive oil

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tsp garlic, minced

pinch of salt & pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Add your chopped and cubed butternut squash to a baking sheet and drizzle with some olive oil.  Bake about 30 minutes until golden brown and soft.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile cook your Israeli couscous according to the package directions in a pot on the stove.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Make dressing:  in a small bowl or mason jar add all the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk or shake vigoursly until well combined.

To assemble salad:  In a medium bowl add spinach, apple, butternut squash, couscous, pecans, and cranberries.  Drizzle with salad dressing and toss to coat.  Serve.

Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread - King Arthur Flour's Bake the Bag!

Yum

I started a new baking challenge from King Arthur Flour to bake items using their White Whole Wheat Flour. The challenge is called Bake the Bag and they send you a recipe each week where you bake bread, cookies, etc from the flour bag until you've used the entire bag.

What a great way to find some new recipes while gaining experience in baking with white whole wheat flour!  You can join this challenge as well by signing up on their site here.  

First up is this Whole-Grain Banana Bread.

This bread is fabulous!  Very moist and tender with a nutty, earthy flavor profile that screams Fall! 

What is Banana Bread?

Banana bread is a form of quick bread (no yeast involved) that is of cake like texture...or like a large muffin, that is baked in a loaf pan.  You use really ripe bananas to moisten the bread and give it great flavor as well.  I know people that buy bananas just to make banana bread rather than eating them!  Do you do that?

Can banana bread be customized?
Once you have the basic recipe down, banana bread can be made a million different ways.  You accomplish this by adding in "add-ins" like cinnamon, chocolate chips, cranberries, or any dried fruit.  You can also change the fat used in the recipe by substituting sour cream, yogurt, applesauce...etc.  This recipe calls for nuts as optional ingredient and I like a good nut in my banana bread.  Since I didn't have a whole lot of walnut I decided to put a mix of nuts in my bread.  Pecans, walnuts, and sunflower seeds made for a wonderful harvest mix and give this bread a great nutty, earthy flavor!

Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread

Banana bread is typically served as a breakfast bread but can also be served warm with ice cream for dessert.  Oh yum!  I totally suggest that you try it toasted with a little spread on top for a nice change as well. 

What equipment do I need?

Need a good loaf pan?  This one is the one I use all the time.  For a more economical version, this one is really nice to have.  You will also need a good rubber spatula such as this one or this one.  Plus, a wonder mixing bowl is a must!  Options such as this one, and this one are perfect.  

Banana bread is the bomb!  You must have a good recipe in your recipe box!  You're gonna love this banana bread and this recipe will become a favorite in your house like it did mine.

Enjoy!

Whole-Grain Harvest Nut Banana Bread

source:  King Arthur Flour

2 cups thoroughly mashed banana; about 4 or 5 medium bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour or Premium Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nut, a mix of pecans, walnuts and sunflower seeds 
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan; if your pan is glass or stoneware, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Weigh your flours; you’ll find their weight by toggling to “ounces” at the top of the ingredient section above. Or measure them by gently spooning them into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and chopped nuts into the banana mixture. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix again to thoroughly combine the ingredients.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter.
5. Bake the bread for about 60 to 75 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a paring knife (or other thin knife) inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs (but no wet batter). If you have a digital thermometer, the bread's temperature at the center should register about 205°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 15 to 20 minutes of baking. Note: If baking in a glass or stoneware pan, increase the baking time by 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Remove the bread from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.
7. Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.

Breakfast Baking with King Arthur Flour: Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

We have something new in our neighborhood call "The Village".  It's a outdoor street-like restaurant and shopping area filled with new things...and Sur La Table!

I was so happy to get a Sur La Table in our area.  A foodie's candy store is always a kitchen store.  Plus, with the benefit of an onsite cooking classroom in the back I was in heaven! Browsing through the classes offered I spotted one where they partnered with King Arthur Flour to present a fun, hands-on class featuring Breakfast Baking.

If you don't know about King Arthur Flour, you are missing out! King Arthur Flour is America’s oldest flour company, founded in Boston in 1790 bringing top-quality flours to bakers in the United States. Today they reside in Vermont and produce some of the best flours I've ever used.

When I discovered King Arthur's All Purpose Flour I was making a family favorite of homemade egg noodles for a large group of people. The result from this flour was the most tender, soft noodles I've ever made. I've been using King Arthur's flours ever since. 

So I jumped at the chance to attend a backing class in conjunction with King Arthur Flour.  It was fabulous.  We made 3 different baked items in about 2 1/2 hours. Today I'm bringing you an autumn twist on a coffeecake, Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake.  

This is the perfect breakfast or dessert dish.  It has a wonderful Streusel topping with a cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle of the cake.  I love the pumpkin flavoring and the cake turned out moist and tender.  Just perfect.  Another plus it that it doesn't make a ton of cake so I'm not tempted to keep eating it day and night!  It takes a 9" round cake pan or you can use a loaf pan if you prefer.  Just the right size in my book.

Try this wonderful cake and let me know what you think. Remember to try King Arthur Flour as well.  You will definitely enjoy the product it produces.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

PREP:   20 mins. to 30 mins.
BAKE:   40 mins. to 45 mins.
TOTAL: 60 mins. to 1 hrs 15 mins.
YIELD:  about 12 servings


Topping
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
4 tablespoons melted butter

Filling
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, optional

Cake
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger and nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan.

2) To make the topping: Whisk together the sugar, salt, flour, spice, and nuts. Add the melted butter, stirring just until well combined. Set the topping aside.

3) To make the filling: Mix together the brown sugar, spice, and cocoa powder. Note that the cocoa powder is used strictly for color, not flavor; leave it out if you like. Set it aside.

4) To make the cake: Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.

5) Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.

6) Pour/spread half the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it all the way to the edges. If you have a scale, half the batter is about 13 1/2 ounces.

7) Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.

8) Spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

9) Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

10) Bake the cake until it's light brown on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes.

11) Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve the cake right from the pan.

Yield: 1 cake, about 12 servings.
Source: www.KingArthurFlour.com   Published: 11/02/2013

Harvest Salad

It's starting to be apple and pear season.. yea!

I LOVE apples and pears.  Mostly apples...  I miss the summer fruit...but grew up eating apples constantly.  Whenever I'm hungry to this day still mom says "Eat an apple!" 

I love experiencing the different varieties and flavors of apples, there are so many to choose from!  One of our favorite things to do is go to the local farm over here called Tapia Bros. and choose some tree ripened apples...they smell soooo good!

So the other night we were having a quick steak sandwich and I saw this recipe from Madison, over at Espresso and Cream for her Autumn Chopped Salad, and decided to make something similar.  Espresso and Cream is a fantastic blog.  If you have time go over and say Hi.  Thanks for the great recipe Madison!

This is my favorite salad right now...

I love the mix of fresh pears, apples, cranberries, and pecans....it's a Harvest Salad!

Now I got carried away making this salad and forgot to take all the step by step pictures....however, all you do is really chop everything up and throw it in a salad bowl. It's a chopped salad you see.  The dressing is a blend of sweet and tangy...sweet from the poppy seed dressing and tangy from some balsamic dressing.  I gave the proportions I used but feel free to experiment to suit your taste buds.

Tip:  Make sure to pick an apple you like.  I used a Pink Lady cause I love the sweet tart blend.  Also, make sure that your pear is ripe but still a little firm.  Who wants mushy pears!  I used a nice Bartlett pear.

So here's the end result.  I must say that I put some of the salad in a container for leftovers prior to adding the dressing so it wouldn't wilt.  It held up beautifully for 2 days.

Try this, it's truly amazing with all the fall flavors, bright and crisp!  Look how pretty!  Man, I want some now!

Harvest Salad

Adapted from Espresso and Cream Autumn Chopped Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 c chopped romaine lettuce

2 medium pears, diced

2 medium apples, diced (pink lady are nice and sweet)

1 large carrot, grated
½ c dried cranberries
1/2 c chopped pecans
½ c feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 c Poppy seed Salad Dressing
¼ c (scant) Balsamic Vinaigrette

Instructions:

Chop all you ingredients, lettuce, pears, apples, carrot, and pecans.  In a large salad bowl combine the lettuce, pears, apples, carrot, cranberries, pecans, and feta cheese.

In a separate medium bowl mix your dressings together.  Drizzle over your salad to you desired amount and toss to covers all ingredients.