Tag Archives: cook

Fiesta Quinoa Salad

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There are a few key words in some recipes that jump out to me to tell me that it’s gonna be something I’ll really like.

Some of these key words would be chocolate, healthy, cookie, cupcake, cookie butter, biscoff, chocolate – so important it deserves to be mentioned twice, peanut butter, southwest, and last but certainly not least-fiesta. Helloooooo who would not want something with fiesta involved?! Fiesta tacos, fiesta enchiladas, fiesta brownies, fiesta cookies, fiesta ice cream, fiesta salad. I can totally hop on all those first trains.

The fact that fiesta was in the name of the recipe I got adapted my fiesta salad from, was what partly motivated me to make it. I also bought quinoa because the blogoverse is like obsessed with it almost as much as cookie butter…please tell me how anything can even be compared with cookie butter?!

Anyways, I tried quinoa for the first time. I’m no longer a quinoa virgin! ;) woohooo. It was scary. It was scary good. I loved this recipe, it was super flavorful and perfect on the side with some salmon. I’d even eat this salad as a main course, it would be killaa  with some grilled chicken! I’ve seen so many other interesting recipes with quinoa that I’m anxious to try now that I have finally tried it and gotten through the scary first time of preparing the stuff (one of those recipes is a cookie recipe. cookies with quinoa?! crazy!)

Fiesta Quinoa Salad

(adapted from mom de cuisine)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 cup black beans, washed and drained

1 cup corn, cooked

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

2 Tablespoons lime juice

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup cilantro (chopped), or to taste

  1. Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water according to package directions-about 15 minutes, or until water is soaked up. Drain quinoa and rinse with cool water. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, black beans, and corn. Mix in cooled quinoa to combine.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, ground cumin, and chili powder. Pour dressing over quinoa salad and mix with fork to incorporate.
  4. Mix in chopped cilantro, and serve. May be prepared a day in advance. Store in airtight container in fridge.
Random Fact of the Day: Women are more likely to be threatend by a prettier woman than by a pervert.
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Week in Review (5/13-5/18)

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What a week!! I gave the blog a new little look in case you haven’t noticed, and I made some yummy food! :)

Sunday I went a little out of the order that I usually do things around here, I posted a special post for Mother’s Day! I love my mom SO much, so I thought she deserved her very own post. I also shared with you guys a yummy recipe for chocolate pound cake, that is super chocolatey and rich :)

Monday

Tuesday I shared with you guys how to make homemade peanut butter! I made dry roasted honey peanut butter, but the recipe is so adaptable that you can make pretty much any kind of peanut butter you can think of. So many possibilities for mix-ins, like oreos or chocolate chips for a sweet twist! I also  had my first playoff game for soccer. As luck would have it, lightning started coming out 5 minutes into the second half and the score was 0-0, so we had to stop the game and wait for a while to see if the lightning would stop. Of course the lightning never stopped, so we decided to make up the rest of the game (35 minutes) the next day and….

Wednesday to continue from Tuesday, we finished the rest of the 35 minutes in our game (after driving 45 minutes just to get TO the game), and we won 3-0! I scored, too!! :) It would have been nice if we could have just done that on Tuesday so we wouldn’t have had to come back to finish the rest of the game, but a win is a win so I was pretty happy that we would continue our playoff journey to Friday’s game against the number 1 team in the state.

Thursday I talked about how to tell when a goldfish is pregnant, you never know when that information will come in handy!!  I also shared with you guys a recipe for taco seasoning. Perfect for adding some flavor to chicken, beef, or oven fries! Another exciting thing that happened Thursday was that my sister came home from Spain!! So nice to finally have her back :)

Friday I had my next playoff game. It was for the regional finals, we ended up losing after a tough game. I’m really proud of our team for the way we put our hearts into that game and left everything on the field. We lost to the number one team in the state and they are ranked 3rd nationally. We lost 3-1 with them scoring their 3rd goal in the last two minutes. It wasn’t ideal that we lost, but if we were to lose to someone, that team and game were an alright way to finish the season. It sure is going to be weird going from playing with and seeing these girls on my team everyday to hardly seeing them at all. I loved our team this year, and am so proud that we accomplished way more than anybody ever expected us to!

Random Fact of the Day: The Hawaiian Islands were originally named the ‘Sandwich Islands’

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Week in Review (4/30-5/4)

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Hey there! Another week in the life of Beautiful Disasters has come and gone, once again. Let’s review!

Monday I shared with you guys my April Secret Recipe Club post! I loved hosting my blog this month and the recipe I made, Cinnamon Pull Apart Bubble Bread, was absolutely incredible. So yummy and delicious! Obviously you can hardly ever go wrong with cinnamon and sugar. ;)

Wednesday I finally proved that I have an ounce of self control and was able to put the spoon down and actually BAKE with cookie butter! I made some cookie butter cookies that are absolutely cookilicious. It’s a word.

Thursday I had a soccer game, so our team took the bus all the way there. Got there. Saw lightning. Waited about a half hour. Then they decided to reschedule the game. Seriously one of the most annoying things you can do to a soccer player right there. So much wasted time! Anyways, I really just felt like I needed to do something when I got home. Wanna know what I did? Biked 13 miles on the exercise bike. Now I don’t know about you but that A FREAKING TON to me! It felt great though. I’ve been thinking about doing a triathlon this summer, and if I want to do it, I know I’m going to have to be able to bike a lot more than 13 miles!

Friday I showed you guys a tasty pasta salad recipe. Only recently have I discovered my love for pasta salad. It’s perfect!! Refreshing, delicious, light, yet starchy. Tasty, tasty, tasty! Friday was quite the busy day for me. This is what went down…I went to school (of course!), then I had two meetings for soccer, got my nails done for prom after waiting an hour and a half in the nail salon, then I got my spray tan for prom after waiting a little bit there, too, then I finally got home around 8. I’d like to clear one thing up, I AM NOT the tanning type! This is like the first time I have ever gotten one, but I have a yellow dress so I felt like you kind of need to look tan for that. Plus, I have some pretty funky tan lines from soccer.

Today I have PROM!! WOHOOOO! So excited :) I have a game this morning though which is a wiiittle bit inconvenient, but hey, it’s keeping this interesting. I will just be running around ALL DAY today. Then, of course, everybody always does something the following day, so we’re going to 6 Flags Great America. Can’t even remember the last time I went to Six Flags, but I’m a sucker for roller coasters, so I’m super excited!! I’ll post pictures for you all next week

Random Fact of the Day: Philematology is the scientific study of kissing.

P.S. Feliz Cinco de mayo!

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PaStA SaLaD

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So you may have noticed the change that has gone on around here since Easter/Lent being over. Treats and desserts galore.

I finally decided to make something that is acceptable for a meal, again. I decided to give pasta salad a go.

Now whenever I think of pasta salad I think of summertime and graduation parties. I happen to miss summertime really bad right now. I am beyond ready for summer.

However, I am not always a fan of the graduation parties. They can be fun for the first couple, then they just kind of become a thing where you get free food. It’s always the same people doing the same thing.

I should add something in here and that is that I’m pretty sure I have never ever had pasta salad at my house. Weird. I don’t know why. I mean, I’ve obviously ate it before…but we have like never actually made it. So here we go. Pasta salad. Pretty much one of the easiest, most adaptable recipes under the sun. Add what you want, take out the icky stuff, and you have bowl of yum. Hop onto the summer dreaming train and make some pasta salad ;)

Pasta Salad

(serves 4)

2 cups pasta (I used rotini, bow tie would be great as well)

2 teaspoons vinigarette-style salad dressing

2 teaspoons creamy (maybe ranch) style dressing

1 cup broccoli florets, cooked

1 cup corn, cooked

1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup onions, chopped

1/4 cup fresh thyme

  1. Cook pasta according to directions, al dente. Drain pasta when done and let dry on paper towels while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Combine the two types of salad dressing in a small bowl.
  3. Chop all veggies you will be using, make sure broccoli and corn are cooked (steamed). Place chopped onions, chopped celery, black beans, broccoli, corn, thyme, and pasta into a large bowl. Pour salad dressing mixture over top. Incorporate all ingredients together. If serving cold, place in fridge for up to an hour.

Random Fact of the Day: The Rolling Stones have had four of the top ten highest grossing North American tours since 1985.

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Cookie Butter Cookies

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I had a near death experience about a week ago. Maybe I’m exaggerating. But let’s face it, I like never exagerrate! My life is totally like Spider Man’s, where every day brings new challenges, deathly risks, and flying. Alright, maybe not the flying part. I don’t think Super Man can fly anyways…

But back to my near death experience. It was a lovely Sunday morning and I had just made a pizza dough (for the cinnamon pull apart bread) and I decided to let it rise for the necessary 2 hours in the turned off oven, covered with a towel. I set the timer for 2 hours and was feeling like I was on top of everything. So prepared, setting a timer and all. I then proceeded to make the biscuits that I posted last week. My mom happens to love biscuits, so I thought I’d make her happy by making some for her. I then preheated my oven to 425 degrees F. Still feeling awesome because I had preheated where it was timed perfectly for when I needed to put my biscuits in the oven. Something started to smell a little funny in the house. This was not a haha funny. This was a HOLY SMOKES I’M GONNA DIE funny (of course, the word funny didn’t come to my mind at the moment, though).

I kind of ignored it at first hoping my nose was just going crazy. Then as I was about to put the biscuits in the oven, I realized I had forgot that I had put the pizza dough in the oven to rise. With a towel on top.

I immediately freaked out threw my hand in the oven, realized it was FREAKING HOT, grabbed an oven mitt, and threw the pizza dough and towel out of the oven. This was all happening with my fake baby crying and fire alarms going off. Thank God my parents were not home! The towel was green to begin with, but came out an orange-ish brown color. The pizza dough became kind of like a bread. Funny enough, I actually tried the pizza dough and it was delicious! It tasted like it would be perfect for rolls. Hmm…maybe a good idea for the future. So as it turned out, my near-death experience turned into something kind of amusing and I figured out a new idea for the future with the pizza dough.

Now that you have heard my near death story, I’d say it is time for cookies. Better yet…cookies made with cookie butter! These babies are yummo to the max! If you love delicious things then I recommend that you make these. I don’t know why anybody wouldn’t like delicious things, therefore, I see these cookies in your future!! ;)

Cookie Butter Cookies

(makes about 3 dozen)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup cookie butter like Trader Joe’s Speculoos or Biscoff or you can make your own homemade version!

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (all-purpose will work too)

milk, as needed

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate pretzels

1/2 cup chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Melt butter and cookie butter in a microwave-safe bowl in microwave in 30 second increments. When fully melted, mix butter and cookie butter until fully combined. Set aside and let cool.
  3. Place cooled cookie butter mixture in large mixer bowl and cream with sugars. Mix in vanilla extract and eggs. Add in flours, salt, and baking soda. If dough is crumbly, add milk until dough achieves desired consistency.
  4. Mix in chopped chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate chips.
  5. Scoop dough onto cookies sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes or until set and slightly underdone. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack. Store in an air tight container. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: The huddle in football started due to a deaf player who used sign language to communicate. This way, the other team didn’t see the signals

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