quinoa with black beans, red/yellow/orange peppers, and honey lime vinaigrette

i found a recipe on pinterest the other day and decided tonight was the perfect time to try it. the original is here: http://www.theperfectpantry.com/2010/04/quinoa-recipe-black-bean-quinoa-and-red-pepper-salad-with-honeylime-vinaigrette.html

the recipe seemed insanely small (one cup of quinoa?!), so i changed it a little. well, when don't i? ;) here's my version:

quinoa with black beans, peppers, and honey lime viniagrette

1 box trader joe's quinoa (2 1/2 C uncooked quinoa)
5 C water
1 T cumin
2 t kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

add above ingredients to a stockpot and bring to a boil. cover and reduce to simmer for 15 minutes.

while  the quinoa is cooking, prepare:

1 red pepper, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
5 green onions, sliced
2 cubes frozen cilantro or 1 bunch fresh
2 cans black beans, about 3 C

add everything to the pot with the quinoa. juice 1-2 limes, two pinches of kosher salt, a little more fresh pepper, 2-3 T raw honey, and then drizzle an equal amount of rice wine vinegar and cold-pressed canola oil, about 1/4 C of each. stir well and serve. this makes enough for 5-7 main dish servings or quite a few side dishes.

i'm so excited for tomorrow's leftovers!

surprise spoiler! a couple new blankets...

they are not yet in the mail (but will be tomorrow afternoon), but i have two blankets to show. one blanket is for a good friend whose baby was born WAY too long ago. the other is for a new baby...much more timely on this one. i am pretty sure the mommas in question do not read my blog, or at least not regularly enough for this post to spoil the surprise. ;)

i have no idea why the bottom pictures won't load properly, but you get the idea. and, yes...that IS r2d2 on a little girl's blanket. ;)

now, to mail those blankets...

more fowl business

a week after returning from iowa, we had a chicken die. much research and expert calling (thanks, misty) later, i decided she must have had a blocked vent and, because of the cold, died quickly. in all my concern, i started trying to figure out if something (disease, etc) was causing the feather loss i had assumed was molting. there was a small spot above the tail, but under the wings that was bear. the skin was not red or irritated. we have no rooster. they were too young to be molting. ??? many google searches turned up nothing until misty found a couple pictures that were exactly what we were dealing with. just in case you find yourself with the same problem, this is what it looked like:

the reason? not mites, not lice, not disease, not anything medical...just...boredom. i have one unaffected chicken who happens to be the boss of the coop and she is the pecker. solution? more protein, more room to roam in this rainy portland winter, and more time consuming food. enter, chicken bread (or, whatever you could call it to make it sound better).

chicken bread

3 C quick oats
1 C polenta or cracked corn (scratch grains)
1 C whole wheat flour
11 oz tuna (one family size envelope)
3 eggs, with crushed shells
2 hard boiled eggs, with crushed shells
2 C raw whole sunflower seeds
7 oz coconut cream

put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix. the easiest thing to do with the eggs is to just crumble the shells in your hand. for the hard boiled eggs, just crack the shell on the counter and then just smash the egg, shell and all, with your fingers. divide the mixture between five mini bread pans and bake for 1 hour at 250. be sure to spray the pans...i forgot and they stuck terribly. the girls, however, don't care. ;)

a little christmas

okay...another long absence, so i have a little catching up to do. christmas!

before we jumped on a plane for iowa, we had a show for the dance studio.

and a little violin trio with grandma once we got to iowa...

sadly, this year i was not camera crazy, so that's about all the pictures i got that turned out without a working flash. ;) merry Christmas!