Lefties

Green lentils salad

I am not a fan of left-overs (left-handers however, big fan). I try to master the art of cooking exact serving sizes so not to have to wrestle with re-heating and re-eating the same food a few nights later (with the exception of soups and stews... I'm okay with that). However, being the imperfect perfectionist I am, undoubtedly there is always a left-over to deal with. In this case: lentils.

You may remember my last battle with lentils, and having to hide them in MRN's lunches to try to get rid of all the left-overs. This time I cut down the serving size and changed up the recipe (basically-- guessed on amount and made something up). It ended up being a much bigger hit (though, considering it wasn't a hit at all the first time, the only way for it to go was up. But I'm nothing if not persistent. It may be because I added bacon... but hey-ho; anything to get some veggies on the plate).

Alas, even with the doctoring, we still had left-overs (that I knew I would have to eat; because while I won a battle with the beans, I knew not to push my luck by hiding it in MRN's food). So I decided to add cold lentils to a salad. I'm a big lunch-time salad fan. But I don't love making them at home. It's one of the (many) things I miss from the US-- all those lovely entree-sized salads. YUM. I have to admit, though-- this home salad was pretty good and hearty. I mean, it's not a Cheesecake Factory chopped salad (I love me a chopped salad), but it was a fair substitute. What I've found with home salads is it's all about the dressing-- and I'm not talking from the bottle; I'm talking the easiest home-made salad dressing in the world, adapted from my grandmother's soy-vinaigrette concoction that she's been making since I can remember. There's many varieties of this recipe (you can make it thicker and creamier by increasing the lemon to olive oil ratio to mustard; or add some minced garlic for a extra kick), but the real benefit is that you simply can't mess it up. It's a real, grab what you have in the fridge, whisk it up and voila yummy dressing.

For the lentils:

• 1/2-c Green puy lentils
• 2 small carrots, peeled and diced
• 3/4-c Chicken broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• Diced, crispy bacon (optional)

Place lentils in bowl and cover with boiling water; Let stand for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While lentils are soaking, heat olive oil in pan on medium-high, add onions and cook 5-7 minutes until start to get translucent. Add carrots, spices and cook about 10-minutes, until carrots are soft. Toss in garlic and cook for 2 minutes (until fragrant). Stir in lentils and chicken broth and reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. If you're using bacon, dice and fry, stir into finished lentils. Great with pork or salmon, or (as I've used it), on salads!

Easy homemade salad dressing:
Basic:

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (or water if you don't have lemon)
• Whisk together and toss with salad

If you want to get fancy:
Add a heaping teaspoon of dijon mustard (regular or whole-grain; whatever floats your boat), 1 clove garlic, minced, and some fresh ground pepper to the dressing. The mustard will make the dressing thicker, and oh so yummy.

Nom-Nom-Nom

If you don't know it by now, I love to cook. I do get hooked on favorite recipes, but I also like to try new ones. The last couple of years I've focused on learning how to cook red meat-- since I married a Brit and all and they love their meat. But seeing as I was raised a vegetarian (for all intents and purposes-- although we ate fish and sometimes turkey), other meats were sort of a mystery. And while I cook all sorts of fish, shellfish was one area that I tended to avoid. It was the special treat meal that you'd order in restaurants and pay through the nose for. But, like all food, someone has to prepare it-- so why not me? So I started tackling shellfish... prawns, clams, mussels... but one thing remained at arms reach-- my favorite ever: scallops.

I don't know why I found them to be intimidating, but maybe it was because I LOVE them, and didn't want one bad experience at home to turn me off to them forever. But thanks to my wonderful brother- and sister-in-law, I gained the courage to try them at home. And they are delectable. Forget spending $20 at a restaurant-- you can make this at home for $5-- for two people! This is Gordon Ramsay's recipe (via my bro- and sis-in-law who made this for us at a dinner party). I've made it several times, experimenting with the quantities of the ingredients (and adding the salt when pan searing the scallops) to get the balance right (MRN doesn't like tomatoes so I use less; I like more spice, so more chiles)-- and I think I've finally hit pay dirt. This is pure yumminess and perfect for a summer evening (not to mention a very easy recipe that is guaranteed to impress your guests).

Pan Seared Scallops with Spicy Corn Salsa

Ingredients:

• Fresh, large scallops (3-4 per person)
• (1) 14-oz can of sweet corn
• 1/2 packet of grape tomatoes (approx 100 g/3.5 oz), diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3 small green or red chiles, finely minced
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• dash of soy sauce
• juice from one lime
• curry powder
• fleur de sel (or kosher salt if you don't have it)
• olive oil (for cooking scallops)
• rocket leaves (optional)
• fresh coriander (or cilantro for you California peeps-- also optional), chopped

For scallops:

• Heat olive oil on high heat in saute pan (should be VERY hot so that oil is almost smoking)
• Remove muscle (if still attached) and rinse and pat dry. Slide scallops in half. Dust both sides with curry powder and sprinkle of fleur de sel (I usually dust the second side once in the pan).
• When pan is very hot, add scallops and sear for 1 min per side (watch them carefully because you may need less time depending on your stove top).
• Remove from pan and set aside

For salsa:

Combine all ingredients except scallops, curry, fleur de sel and olive oil in bowl and toss to combine.
Heat salsa is large saute pan for 2-3 minutes until warm.

To serve:

If serving with rocket, place a few leaves at the bottom of an appetizer-sized bowl or plate. Spoon salsa over rocket leaves. Place 6-8 scallops over salsa (or however many you're serving per person; if they're particularly large, and you are serving this as an app, may want to reduce to 4). Sprinkle with fresh chopped coriander (or I use parsley because I'm not a coriander fan...).

A cooking kind of weekend

Inspired by GP I suppose, it was a lovely weekend filled with family and cooking, as you've spied in the last couple of posts. Sunday was no different and since we FINALLY had some sunshine (and it nearly hit 68F! WHOOP!), we decided to grill (though we ate inside since it was still freakishly cold). MRN requested something "normal" (though he was kinder in the nomenclature) so there were hamburgers but then I got to be more creative, making:

Marinated lamb kebabs (marinated overnight in red wine, red wine vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic and an assortment of fresh herbs including rosemary and thyme) speared with red onions, yellow and red peppers and served on toasted pine nut cous cous (made with homemade chicken stock).


"Mom's potato salad" (right) which is a standard Hawaiian concoction that contains very little potato combined with pasta, hard boiled eggs (shredded), carrot (also shredded), crab meat, onion, black olives and mayo.

&

Homemade "Waldorf" salad with shredded chicken (left)-- my random concoction which this time became a Waldorf by based on what I happened to be able to find in the pantry; in this case, apple, celery, raisins, red onion, walnuts, chicken, S&P to taste and some mayo). This is one of my favorite things to make and eat with all the layers and textures. It's also great as a hors d'oeuvre which you can serve in Tostito "scoops" (which you can't find here, so I served it with corn chips on the side instead).

and last but not least,

Peach crostata (Ummm... half eaten; couldn't beat away the eaters to let me take a photo first)--a variation on apple and a perfect substitute for the summer. But I really must learn patience to convert measurements. The whole guessing on the amount of butter is making for some interesting results.

I also used GP's chicken stock recipe to freeze and store stock for future use (and use it for the cous cous that was served with the lamb). However, it yielded LOADS more than the recipe's stated 3 liters-- try 6. Whoops. So I froze 3 liters, reserved 2 cups for the cous cous and used about 1/2 a cup for a lemon/olive oil/rosemary sauce for the lamb... the rest I'll make into chicken noodle soup with the left over chicken from the stock (half of which was used for the chicken salad). And by the way-- cooking cous cous in chicken stock-- so much better! It gives it a whole new dimension and is so much tastier (thanks Ina!).

So not only was there lots of cooking this weekend, but one item ended up resulting in all sorts of applications (the chicken, the stock, the veggies...). And now when Ina's recipes call for "good chicken stock" (which it what it actually says) I can pull it out of the freezer instead grabbing a stock cube. I'm sure food will taste magnificently better for it. (So I'll keep telling myself.)

I Think We Would Be Great Friends

I heart Gwyneth Paltrow. Not in a stalker kind of way-- I mean, I haven't even seen all of her movies (though Sliding Doors has to be one of my all time favorites), nor do I own the soundtrack to Country Strong (haven't seen that one either)-- but I do have the music from Duets (love me some Huey and Gwyneth). But in the way that I think she seems like a really cool, down-to-earth chick, despite of her Hollywood legacy and status. She just seems like she's a kindred spirit; and, even though I've never met her (and the likelihood of meeting her seems pretty slim), sometimes I feel like we're ships passing in the night-- my having lived in the places she has (or nearly near-- she in London, me in Manchester; she in Santa Monica, me in the SF Valley; both in NYC). She's someone that I'd love to sit down and have a meal with (and cook with!). Not to mention since we both married Brits, it would be fun to compare notes and lost in translation stories.

I picked up her new cookbook, "Notes from my Kitchen" in Waterstones yesterday (the US version is called "My Father's Daughter"). I'd flagged it as something to check out when it was first published but hadn't come across it until this week. I was drawn in right from the introduction-- she talked about food just like me! Her passion for food and how it's woven into her family life is the way that my love of food has been instilled in me from a very early age. I come from a long line of amazing "home chefs" and from a food culture (as opposed to foodie although there are certainly some of those too)-- on both sides of my family: father's (American Southern) and mother's (Hawaiian-Asian). Not many people know that food in Hawaiian culture is intrinsically about family. It's where loved ones gather to share their lives; it's a symbol of love and welcome-- I always joke that you can't walk into a Hawaiian household without breaking bread-- or at least taking something home with you. And there's never a shortage of food either. You will leave stuffed to the gills and with a doggie bag. MRN (and his initially unsuspecting family who've now been properly "Hawaiianed") teases me about it constantly. For me, as it seems it is for Gwyneth, feeding people is showing them how much I love them.

There's many things that I love about this cookbook (I haven't made anything yet since I just got it but I've already dog-eared lots of pages). First-- it's beautiful. Not just the food pictures (I hate cookbooks without pictures. While the recipes might be great, you eat with your eyes first, and I find food pictures to be inspiring and mouth-watering), but the layout, the fonts and the icons (easy references for if it's quick, freezer friendly or "make-ahead," vegetarian, vegan, a one pot meal or a fancy meal). Yes, once a typography lover, always a typography lover. And perhaps the BEST thing? The English version is written in British English-- measurements and all (and cooking times in both C and F-- although now I'm going to have to figure out if "teacup full" is a US "cup"... I think this cookbook might end up with my scribbles reverse-translating back into American English...). She's also translated ingredients for what we can find here in England (e.g. single cream... which I still haven't figured out if that's half and half)-- so no lengthy Internet searches to find substitutes and no more guessing as to how many cups of butter I need for a recipe (because I usually guess which has made for some interesting outcomes). Okay, and the BEST-best thing? She even has a recipe for turkey breakfast sausage patties-- my all time favorite breakfast item from the US that I can't get here. Yay! Now I can make my own! I also love that she's included her tips for a "well stocked pantry"(or cupboard in the UK)-- and that I have most of the things on the list in my own pantry (aside from some of the vegan and health food items that I need to order online or pick up when I'm in London). But mostly, it's the recipes themselves. I don't think I've ever had a cookbook where I want to try everything in it (sorry, Ina). But seriously, there isn't a recipe that doesn't seem absolutely delectable. Bonus? They all seem to be straight-forward and relatively easy (as we know, my requirement for cooking). Score!

I've always believed that you can make absolutely delicious food without all of the brouhaha. It seems Gwyneth would agree.

(The U.S. version)

Salmon with French Green Lentils

Another (delicious) and SUPER easy Barefoot Contessa recipe, this time from Barefoot in Paris. (One of my favorite BC books; also contains her cauliflower gratin recipe which literally makes MRN swoon). Are you thinking, "... lentils and salmon are French?" I know I did. But apparently, it's very French-- particularly the lentils, which I learned about on a trip to Paris earlier this year (that was as much a culinary delight as you would expect). These peppery little treats are smaller than their lentil cousins, and are the finest but most expensive of the lentil family. They are also the meatiest, richest tasting and remain quite firm after cooking making them excellent for salads (so say the experts). Also known as Puy lentils (because they were originally grown in the soils of Puy, France), green lentils are popular ingredients in French rustic cooking. I've had them as part of a hearty lunch, served with pork; though I much prefer this version with salmon. Leave it to Ina.

I've included Ina's recipe for the lentils as is, below-- but this makes far more than 4 servings, so my recommendation would be to cut it in half (as it is, we'll be lucky to get through the rest of the lentils this week). Next time I'd also omit (or at least reduce) the red wine vinegar because it gave it a bit of a sweeter undertone which I didn't love. For the salmon I didn't follow Ina's recipe (gasp!) because it seemed like too much faffing about for me (as the English say)-- heating pans for specified amounts of time and then searing and turning. Instead I just simply rubbed the salmon with olive oil, generously salted and peppered and then roasted, skin side down, on a aluminum foil covered roasting pan at 400 F (about 200 C) for 10 minutes. You don't get that lovely sear that Ina gets, but it's still delicious.

I'd say this recipe was a "good"-- I loved it (minus the red wine vinegar) but MRN only liked the salmon and not the lentils (but might I add, he ATE all the lentils on his plate, and I didn't skimp). We may want to chalk it up to his not liking veggies generally (and the fact that I tend to add a lot more than recipes call for and hide it in his food... sue me. I'm trying to keep him healthy so he lives a long, long time). But since he wasn't jumping up and down and ultimately he's my guinea pig, sadly I can't give it two thumbs up. Thumb and a half?

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound French green lentils such as du Puy
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus extra for salmon
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 11/2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
• 11/2 cups chopped carrots (3 carrots)
• 11/2 cups Homemade Chicken Stock or good canned broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
• 4 (8-ounce) center-cut salmon fillets, skin removed

Directions

For lentils:
Place the lentils in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 15 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a sauté pan, add the onions, leeks, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the celery, carrots, chicken stock, lentils and tomato paste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add the vinegar and season to taste. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

For salmon (this is where I digress-- for Ina's actual recipe, click here):
Rub with good olive oil and salt and pepper generously. Place in oven for 10 minutes-- I have a fan assisted oven, so this is the perfect amount of time; but if you have a standard oven, may want to check to make sure it's cooked. Should be just cooked through, not pink; Although if not serving right away remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil. It will continue roast out of the oven to the perfect temp).

To plate:
Gently run spatula under salmon, just between skin and bottom of fish, to separate fish from skin (after all- you don't want to serve guests something inedible that will make their lovely plate of food unsightly!). Place fish on plates and spoon lentils on either side (or as I did, spoon lentils first and place fish on top). Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme.

Hollandaise is a heart attack waiting to happen

Seriously. But it's oh-so-good.

No, I'm not pulling a Julie and cooking my way through Julia Child's ever famous bible of cooking. Mostly because the book itself is freaking intimidating. I mean, there are seven pages-- SEVEN-- dedicated to hollandaise. If a sauce that literally has three ingredients in it takes 7 pages, there's no freakin' way that I can make anything more complicated.

I cheated, though. Julia says that if you're making hollandaise for the first time, you should really whip it by hand. But then the very next page there's a recipe for making it in the blender that "even a child could make." So, even though it was my first time, I used the blender. Intimidated by the prospect of the eggs curdling or the butter separating, I copped out-- and out came the blender.

It was easy enough for a child to make. I over-salted it... and it was probably a bit more thick than it should have been (product of over-whipping of the yolks). And the sheer amount of butter in it-- astounding. An entire stick... relative to the 3 egg yolks and tbsp of lemon juice... this is definitely not something that should be on the daily menu. But as a treat? Yes please.

Julia Child's Hollandaise

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 4 oz of butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

Cut butter into tabs and melt on med-low heat until foaming. Place egg yolks, lemon, salt and pepper in blender and blend on high for 2 seconds. Drizzle melted butter slowly into blender while blending on high (be careful of splashing-- I solved this by putting a funnel in the top of the blender and pouring the butter into the blender). Be careful not to pour too much in because the eggs will curdle). Once incorporated, serve immediately. If not serving right away, place in tepid water bath (eg put in glass measuring cup and place measuring cup in water bath) to keep it warm, but not so it cooks). You can also stir in additional salt / pepper to taste.

I thought this could use a little bit more lemon-- so I may try that the next time. Super easy (despite the multiple page description)... and deliciously delectable. And easy thing to add to the menu (for eggs Benedict, as a sauce of veggies like asparagus, or a number of other things, I can imagine!). After all as Julia says, you can never have too much butter.

Happy Birthday to uuusssss...

It was our birthday last week-- our, not in the royal sense, but in the "Mikie and Aloha" sense. Despite having spent the last 18 birthdays apart, being a twin means that a birthday is always shared.

Being a twin gives you a sense of belonging. There's a collective, shared being that never really leaves you-- even if you live across the world from each other (like we do-- Hawaii to England does not an easy commute make). While we don't share "twin power"-- I don't feel it when she's in pain (thank goodness-- her child birth would not have been a pleasant thing for me); I can't read her thoughts. But I do know when she's hurting; we have the same taste in clothes, music, food, books, movies; and, we share some of the best friends we'll ever have. She's my best friend. Simple but true. We're closer than close. And while I don't get to see her everyday, I certainly feel her everyday. She's part of my DNA-- literally and spiritually.

My parents were always great with birthdays and holidays. While many twins become "one," my parents were always encouraging of our being individuals-- exploring our own interests, doing our own activities-- even though we'd eventually come back together. They even got us our own birthday cakes-- until we decided we liked the same thing and wanted to share. See-- that was the great thing about my parents. They let us choose when we wanted to be the same. I think it's made us stronger for it.

I made my grandmother's pineapple coconut cake for my birthday this year. MRN was going to buy, and then make, a cake, but I like to do it (and as I told him-- my being anal pretty much gets him off the hook every time). The funny thing? My sis was going to make the same cake until her husband told her he'd already ordered one. Without previous communication on the subject, we had unknowingly chosen the same birthday cake. Freaky.

So I made the cake, and MRN and I sang happy birthday to me and Aloha-- as is my custom. Once a shared birthday, always a shared birthday. And I'm okay with that.

Postscript: A couple of people have asked me for the recipe, so I've posted it below. It's reeeaaaallly complicated. Not really. It's the best recipes that are the easiest.

Grandma's Pineapple Coconut Cake
> 1-Box yellow cake mix
> 1 (or 2)-8 oz cans of crushed pineapple (do not drain)
> 1-tub of cool whip
> 1-7 oz package of shredded coconut

No joke. This recipe was my grandmothers-- and she got it from a container of cool whip! I've actually made this cake from scratch (I can't get any of the above items in the grocery store in England, so I made the cake and whipped cream from scratch, got some weird thing called desiccated coconut, which is basically minced coconut, from what i can tell, and got a real pineapple and cut it up and tried to mash it. It tasted okay, but it wasn't nearly as good as the cool whip recipe. i was able to order all of the above from a website that imports american food to here, except the cool whip-- so i settled for store-bought whip cream which I have to say isn't AS good, but the unsweetened whip does balance the slight sourness of the pineapple and the sweetness of the coconut!).

In any case-- the original recipe tells you to bake it in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan, which is just as good. Just follow the instructions on the cake mix and when you take the cake out of the oven, while it's still hot, use the handle-end of a wooden spoon and carefully poke holes all over the surface of the cake (about half-way down-- not all the way through; I don't do this with any sort of precision or planning...). then pour 1 can of crushed pineapple on top of the cake (or more if you like it-- juice and all) and spread evenly over the entire surface with a spatula. the pineapple will soak into the cake while it's cooling and make it really yummy. If you're using more than one can, I'd reserve some of the liquid because it could make it too soggy and cause it to fall apart when you serve it. Once cool, spread cool whip on top and sprinkle with coconut.

For special occasions i've adapted the recipe to make a layer cake (because it's oh-so-pretty). So, same as above, bake cake per instructions on box. When you take the rounds out, flip them onto cooling racks (usually I'll put one on the platter I'm serving on, and one on a cooling rack). as with the sheet cake, poke holes into the rounds and spread the pineapple over both rounds and allow to cool (I usually use about 1.5 cans of pineapple for both). when cool, spread whipped cream on top of your bottom layer on the cake platter; Carefully transfer top layer to cake platter; frost the top and sides with whip cream. Sprinkle top with coconut and carefully press sides with more coconut.

You have to work fast if you make the layer cake version when it's warm because the whip becomes a soggy mess. but even if it starts to melt, if you throw it in the fridge, it will firm back up again. also, don't worry about the holes in either version because the crushed pineapple will fill them in and you never even see them when you slice into it! :)

The Art of Disguise

I'm not the first person to "hide" food within food. There's been many a cookbook written about how to get your kids to eat healthy food (perhaps the most recent by Jerry's wife Jessica Seinfeld).

Now, I don't have kids, but I do have a husband. No, he's not particularly finicky, and in his defense, he will try absolutely anything that I put in front of him. But there are certain things that he doesn't prefer, and veggies rank up at the top. Now, I love vegetables-- I have no problem eating them. But even I need a little inspiration once in a while.

It's no secret that I love my crock pot. I have two cookbooks (compliments of my friend M) that are all about slow cooking (remember the Italian Pot Roast recipe). But I also make stuff up when I'm in a hurry and need to whip something together fast. Beef stew is my go-to "hurry up" recipe. I don't follow a specific recipe-- I just dump in a little of this and a little of that-- basically anything that I have in my fridge or cupboard. It's a great cold weather comfort food and the perfect one pot / one dish meal. I made it for the first time this year (since it's so freaking cold here), but I decided I was tired of the same-old root veggies that I always use. Plus, I wanted to make it truly hearty without having to serve it with a carb-heavy side like rice or bread. A root through my fridge and pantry revealed kale and quinoa. Hmmm... I wonder if I could make it work? I prepped the stew as I usually do (well, at least I think it's how I usually do... it probably changes slightly every time). About an hour before serving I finely chopped the kale and added it to the stew. Then I stirred in about 3 cups of quinoa that I had prepared while the stew was cooking. Result? The kale gives you the all-important green leafy veggie not typically served with stew that is really good for you (powerful antioxidant, high in beta carotene, vitamin K, C and calcium. Not to mention it contains sulforaphane- a natural chemical thought to have anti-cancer properties). Plus, mixed into the stew, you can't really tell it's there, so MRN ate it without notice. And the quinoa made the stew really thick and hearty, plus gave it a slightly nutty taste which was delicious. Bonus? Also super good for you, high in protein and a good source of fiber and iron. And for those with gluten allergies-- entirely gluten-free (the quinoa, not the stew).

Two thumbs up from me (and the none-the-wiser guinea pig).

MB's Beef Stew

• 1.5 - 2 lbs lean diced beef (fat removed-- I buy the beef already diced at the butcher or grocery store, I'll usually cut the pieces a little smaller if they're too big)
• 2 8 oz cans of soup (your choice-- I usually use a tomato-based like beef broth w/ veggies, oxtail or plain veggie)
• 2 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
• 6-8 new potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 medium sized carrots, peeled and rough chopped
• 2-3 medium parsnips
• 2 small onions, cut into 1/8 chunks
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 leek, sliced
• fresh chopped parsley for serving
  
• 1/2 bunch of kale, finely chopped (you can chop in a food processor-- I didn't really measure the amount-- I just kept adding until I was happy with the amount)
• 2-3 cups of quinoa
  
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• olive oil
• flour
  

Instructions

• Add all fresh vegetables except kale into the crock pot
• Spread diced beef across a layer of paper towels and dab dry with another set of paper towels
• Sprinkle kosher salt and fresh ground pepper on both sides of the beef
• Sprinkle flour over the beef
• Brown beef in hot pan with olive oil in batches (do not cook thoroughly-- brown all sides, about 30 seconds each side)-- You don't have to do this step; you can just add the beef to the pot without browning; but I find that the beef gets more tender if you brown the meat first)
  
• Add beef to crock pot
• Pour canned soup and tomatoes over veggies and beef
• Set crock put to high and cook for 7 hours
• About an hour before serving, prepare quinoa
• Stir in quinoa and chopped kale
• Taste for salt and pepper (I'll usually add more pepper at this point because I love pepper; I'll also usually stir in some sort of Hawaiian salt mixture that contains additional herbs like ginger and thyme and oregano, maybe some chili powder; basically this is pretty fool-proof, anything goes recipe)
• Spoon into bowls and sprinkle fresh chopped parsley

This will last a couple of days (for 2)-- or serve probably 6. If you do have left-overs, on day two I'll usually add another can of chopped tomatoes and about 1/2 c water because the quinoa will soak up a lot of the liquid.