Rainbow Thai Quinoa

I've been eying this recipe for the loooooooooongest time, and finally had the opportunity to make it myself last Sunday. Cashews? Colourful veggies? Peanut butter dressing? Sounds like it was like designed for moi :'D

Rainbow of ingredients for Rainbow Thai Quinoa

How can this plate of fresh ingredients not bring a smile to your face? It's the definition of gorgeous! The only colour absent from my plate is yellow, which could easily be filled with some yellow bell pepper, corn, squash, or zucchini. Any dish with a whole rainbow of fresh produce in it has to be healthy for you.

Making this dish (or it could be called a salad, I suppose) is super quick and simple. Minimal cooking and lots of chop, chop, chopping! Most of the time is spent cutting up vegetables and herbs. To speed up the already short process even more, cook the quinoa ahead of time. I cooked mine in the morning before heading off to church, and threw the whole dish together for lunch when I arrived home. Easy and delicious, what more could a lazy chef like me ask for?

Rainbow Thai Quinoa ready to eat!

Although the peanut butter didn't dominate the dish like I had expected, it added the perfect hint of nuttiness and richness. I like everything sweet, so I adjusted the sauce a twinge with more honey. This quinoa dish has so many dimensions, and is a party for the taste buds to try and decipher all the components. Sometimes a little sweet, sometimes a little spicy (raw onions!), sometimes a punch of cilantro... I could eat bowls and bowls of this stuff. For lunch, for dinner, for snack..okay but maybe not breakfast. That's when I need my pancakes.

I highly recommend you push this dish to the top of your 'recipe bucketlist' because it is mind-blowing-ly delicious. This Rainbow Thai Quinoa tastes wonderful slightly warm but also great cold from the fridge. Meaning it make great left-overs, if there is any.

Rainbow Thai Quinoa

Very lightly adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

Yield: 4 really large servings

Ingredients

For quinoa

• ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1½ cup chicken or vegetable stock (or water + crumbled stock cube)
• 3 handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• ½ red onion, diced*
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 green onion, diced
• 3 handfuls of roasted unsalted cashews
• A few squeezes of fresh lime juice, optional

For dressing

• ¼ cup all natural peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey or agave
• A dash or vinegar (apple cider vinegar is fine)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Water to thin, if necessary
• A few cracks of freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Cook quinoa with stock in a medium pot according to package. I brought mine to a boil over high heat, then turned down the heat to the lowest and cooked for 15 minutes. Let cooked quinoa sit with lid covered for 5 minutes. Add the baby spinach with quinoa and lightly mix together in pot. Cover pot with lid; the residual heat and steam will wilt the spinach.
2. Cut, shred, and chop all vegetables.
3. To prepare the dressing, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl or custard cup. Microwave for 10 seconds or so to melt honey and mix thoroughly. Add water by the tablespoon until dressing reaches desired consistency. A viscous but steady stream flowing off spoon is good.
4. Add sauce to quinoa and spinach mixture, gently mix to combine. 
5. Pour dressed quinoa into a large mixing bowl, add all vegetables and nuts, and mix until combined. Serve with a few squeezes of lime juice if desired.

*If your stomach is very sensitive to acidic foods, omit or cook onion. Or replace with shredded purple cabbage.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

2nd Tier: Quiches, Scones, and Devonshire Cream

DIY Mother's Day High Tea at Coconut Crumpet's home

Not having enough room on this middle tier, there are a mix of sweet and savoury goods here. My massive Lemon Cranberry Scones hogged a lot of room and there was already an overload of finger sandwiches on the lower tier. To solve this space problem, I used a few dinner plates to hold the rest of the servings of food, including the French Onion Crab Rounds and desserts. 

Continue reading for some delicious scone recipes!

1st Tier: French Onion Crab Dip and Healthy Tuna Salad

Need something quick to stuff into your sandwich or a few appetizers for your guests to nibble on? Below are two quick and versatile recipes! 

You never know when you'll get inspiration to create some delicious food. It may not always be gourmet, but it's still a crowd pleaser. My mom got this two ingredient Crab Dip idea from Costco when she was eating a sample. On the day of my Mother's Day High Tea, I forgot to put this together earlier and had to do it as our guests were arriving. Luckily, it literally takes under 5 minutes to do.

French Onion Crab Dip

Yield: ~2 to 3 cups

Ingredients

• 1 small package of imitation crab meat
• 1 small box of Heluva Good French Onion dip

Directions

1. Chop crab meat into very small pieces. About half centimetre cubes.
2. Mix crab meat with dip until evenly distributed.
3. Serve with Mary's Organic Crackers. They are my favourite, and my grandma's new found favourite!

-♡-

This tuna salad recipe is so quick and easy, it's almost ridiculous. I usually make this when there is a big tub of yogurt or assorted veggies that need to be eaten. It's as healthy as a tuna salad can get!

Healthy Tuna Salad

Adapted from an old recipe I found online

Yield: Enough to fill 3 sandwiches

Ingredients 

• 1 (6 oz) can of tuna 
• About ½ cup thinly chopped vegetables of your choice (ex. celery, carrot, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, corn kernels)
• ¼ cup plain yogurt 
• 2 tbsp sweet relish 
• 1 green onion, or fresh chopped herbs 
• ½ tsp mustard Freshly ground black pepper

 Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Adjust consistency and flavours as you mix.

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

A quick post today to share one of my favourite salad dressings. I have used this dressing on so many salads as it is a crowd pleaser and can be made in such a short period of time. 

For mother's day brunch earlier today, I made a simple mixed greens side salad involving this Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. To add some colour, I threw in some sliced strawberries and chopped sweet yellow bell pepper. I actually let the strawberries and peppers sit in the dressing while I attended church and poured it over the greens when it was time to plate. That way, the greens don't get soggy by the time you serve the salad.

Since this is a thin and runny dressing, a little bit goes a long way. Just remember the ratio of balsamic vinegar to honey to olive oil of 2:2:1 so you can use any utensil laying around to measure.

A common combination for this sweet balsamic dressing is with spinach, strawberries, and goat cheese. Maybe throw in a few toasted nuts and dried fruit for more texture. Yum!

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Yield: Enough for 8 handfuls of greens

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, add all ingredients and whisk until well combined.
2. If the honey is too solid, microwave for a few seconds to melt and whisk again.
3. Can be stored in the fridge until ready to add to veggies.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡