Southwest Quinoa Salad & Marinated Cucumbers

I cooked way too much quinoa. Partly because there were other recipes using the grain that I wanted to try - one was the "As-You-Please Grain and Bean salad" on pg. 70 of the New Vegan cookbook. It's a mix-and-match recipe which is a super handy format for using ingredients on hand. With fresh cilantro in the fridge, I went the SW route using: Quinoa, Black Beans, Baby Corn, Sunflower Seeds, Red Onion, Cilantro, Sesame Oil, Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt, & Tamari. Lorna's "menu" consists of 6 categories: The Basics (3 C. cooked grains & 1 C. cooked beans, For Crunch, For an Herbal Accent, For a Pop of Intense Flavor, For Color Contrast, Oil, Acid, Seasoning. You choose items from each category to create your own unique salad. I love this concept.



When I blogged about getting the cookbook, Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts by Martha Rose Shulman, KleoPatra commented that she had the cookbook and wanted to make the marinated cucumbers on pg. 130. This got me thinking about the cucumbers my mom used to make when I was young. I have tried unsuccessfully to make them several times, so I was happy to have a recipe to follow. I cut the cucumbers differently though; my mom would cut them in circles leaving the seeds, and mine are spears with the seeds removed. It's a nice summer side dish to have in the fridge because it tastes better the longer it marinates.

Books & Dishes

I'm so excited to have a new vegan cookbook. "The New Vegan" by Lorna Sass. Anybody heard of this? The dude in the bookstore said that Lorna Sass rocks their world. They are a vegan couple and they exclusively cook from this cookbook and another written by her. That's quite a recommendation, so I decided to give it a go. Some recipes that sound darn good include: Stuffed Collard Rolls with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, As-You-Please Grain and Bean Salad (like Vegan Lunch Box's Magical Loaf Studio in that you choose from a menu), Sweet Polenta with Maple-Glazed Walnuts (is that one talkin' to ya, Catherine?) Anyhow, you'll see some vittles from this cookbook in the near future.


I love used books, and this one is a great find. "Vegetarian Feasts: An International Selection of Appetizing Recipes for All Occasions", by Martha Rose Shulman. A nice bonus is the chapter titled "Vegan Main Courses." Some yummy titles include: Curried Millet with Garlic, Potaje De Garbanzos (Tomato and Chickpea Stew), Soybean 'Ground Beef', and Leftover Grains Muffins. Anybody know about this cookbook?






I also picked up these cute books for the girls. Olivia is in love with Maurice Sendak's "Little Bear", so that was a must grab. And "At The Seaside" was a natural choice since we were playing at the beach daily.









I found some Fiesta Ware for a great price in an antique shop. The colors just don't look right in the photo -- the pink should be more of a carnation and the yellow is mellow. She only had 3 yellow cups & saucers, but I guess I can easily pick up another to even it up if I want. The pink is supposedly retired.






My favorites are these two plates. Again, the color isn't right -- they are the softest hint of pink. On the back, they are stamped with "Portugal." I hope I can capture the pretty color of these plates sometime soon, perhaps with a dish from one of the above books.