Bite Sized Quinoa Pizzas

There are a few key things I like in a meal - ease in preparation, nutritional value, and quality of leftovers.This recipe scores high on all counts, and I'm excited to hop on this muffin tin meal bandwagon with a recipe of my own. The star of the show is quinoa, making this dish lean protein packed, and if I did the math right only 2 grams of fat per serving. Ummm.. come to mamma! Printable Recipe Here!! 

To start off, you will need about 2 heaping cups of cooked quinoa (1 cup uncooked) in a large mixing bowl.

This is going to be the meat of the meal. I used tri-colored quinoa but regular quinoa is fine. I just like to  mix things up sometimes.

Go ahead and press a garlic clove or two and if you're scared of vampires go for three.

Mix in two eggs

And add some grated cheese - mozzarella is the classic pizza choice, but you can use cheddar, pepper jack, fontina, whatever floats your boat!

I added about a teaspoon of oregano..

..and a tablespoon of basil. I wish I had remembered to pick up fresh basil, that would have been much better.

And for the heck of it add a few shakes of paprika followed with a pinch of salt and dash of pepper.

In the spirit of pizza, we've gotta add tomatoes! Dice about 1 cup's worth give or take. I've found that with tomatoes it comes down to personal preference.

And mix it all together. I also added a cup of frozen sweet corn to add a pop of sweetness to the bites.

This mixture amounted to about 9 regular sized muffin cups, and 20 mini muffins.

Go ahead and pop them in the oven at 350 for 12 minutes, or until you see the tops browning.

Serve warm with cheese and avocado on top, dip into pizza sauce or enjoy them just the way they are!

I will normally double this recipe, because it reheats like a charm, and they are perfect for easy lunches in a hurry or on the go. 

Let me know how you like them!

Terra

Veggie Sandwich

Ahh the sandwich. A classic lunch food. For those of us who get bored with the day in, day out routine that lunch can so often be, here is a fast and easy twist on the classic lunch sandwich. Before I begin, keep in mind that all these portions are for just one sandwich and my personal preference. Making two or three? Double or triple what I did. You get the picture. Let's get started. 

Chives, green onions, whatever you would like to call them, chop those babies up. This is for the spread.

 Then get a bowl or small plate and mush up some cream cheese. This will make it easier to deal with later.

Add the chives, and some spices to the cream cheese. Mrs. Dash is seasoning gold. I put it on everything.

So I used some Mrs. Dash garlic and herb, along with some salt and pepper. You can do whatever though, onion powder, garlic powder, even fresh garlic.

Mash, mash, mash till it's all good and blended.

Yay here is the fun part. Picking your sandwich content! You can be as crazy or conservative as you feel that particular day. This is what was in my fridge. Sometimes I'll add cucumbers, avocado, bell peppers, spinach, whatever. I just stay away from the onions because they are already in the spread.

Spread you new spread on one piece of bread, and on the other, I put three slices of pepper jack cheese. I like to use the cream cheese as a glue for vegetables that like to make a run for it while you eat..like the sprouts. So I packed my sprouts on there and cut up a tomato on the other half.

And just in case there isn't already enough flavor here, I drizzled just a teeeeny bit of balsamic on the sprouts.

 

And that's it! Slap that lettuce on there, and put that sandwich together. Take a picture if you're proud.

Side note: If you are like my boyfriend (Alex) and can't stand cream cheese, there is an equally delicious spread which requires no dairy at all. It's basically a modified guacamole. Mash up avocados, throw in a pinch of salt here, some garlic there and a dash of cholula sauce. Easy shmeasy.
 Enjoy!