Broccoli Quinoa Glow Bowl

Just so you know, I hate the name I gave this recipe. I couldn’t think of anything better. The name isn’t so good, but the dish is, a good trade-off if you ask me…

Words can’t express my thankfulness for dishes like this. Throw everything in a bowl, mix it up, then enjoy. The leftovers taste even better as the flavors of the dressing marinate the veggies.

I used my dark purple carrots from Crisp County Acres, check out their website here. I took the BQGB to a super bowl party and everyone kept asking what the dark purple things were; beets, cranberries? No, friends, those are carrots! It was a fun little fact to share with people. It opened up a great conversation about buying local foods and knowing who grows your food.

I’m still figuring out the art of making salad dressings at home so I did use a little store bought dressing for the BQGB. Feel free to use your own homemade dressing, which, I’m sure, would be even better the concoction I came up with…

{Broccoli Quinoa Glow Bowl}

[Ingredients]

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups low sodium organic vegetable broth
• 3-4 carrots, quartered
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1 stalk green onion, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, cut into thirds
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 orange bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp fresh diced basil
• 1 tsp fresh diced cilantro
• 3 TBSP Asian sesame dressing
• 2 TBSP orange marmalade
• 2 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
• Salt & pepper, to taste

[Directions]

1. In a rice cooker or in a pan over medium heat, cook quinoa in vegetable stock.
2. While quinoa cooks, wash and cut vegetables and herbs. Add to a large bowl
3. In a medium bowl, mix together bottled salad dressing, soy sauce, and orange marmalade until combined.
4. Add cooked quinoa to bowl with cut veggies and herbs. Mix until combined. Add sesame seeds and dressing, again, mix to combine.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cheers,

Danielle

Eat Local Series :: Carlson Farm

Never one to disappoint, Norm’s half chicken was a big hit!

I have to say that I so enjoyed the simplicity of this meal. I reheated leftover grits, roasted some veggies, and put the half chicken on the stove in my dutch oven. With a snap of my fingers, dinner was ready. Go ahead and call me a Domestic Diva or Cooking Queen – I’ll answer to either 🙂

My husband could not stop raving about how delicious the chicken was (less because of me, more because of the way it was raised). The man CLEANED every piece of meat off the bones and was utterly defeated when he learned I hadn’t cooked both halves.

Keeping with eating local, I used a BBQ glaze by American Spoon, which is based out of Saugatuck, MI.

You can buy the glaze here: https://www.spoon.com/maple-bbq-grilling-sauce.html

On a side note: Their Bloody Mary mix is the answer to every Bloody Mary drinker looking for a twist on their hot tomato cocktail. American Spoon adds horseradish to their mix which gives a nice little firey kick to your taste buds.

{Half Chicken with Maple BBQ }

[Ingredients]

• 1 half chicken from Carlson Farms
• 2-3 TBSP Montreal Steak seasoning
• 1/4 cup Maple BBQ Grilling Sauce
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• ~1 cup vegetable stock

[Directions]

1. Add the olive oil to the bottom of your dutch oven, place on stove over medium-high heat. 
2. Generously season chicken with seasoning, patting the seasoning into the chicken.
3. Place chicken in dutch oven, meatier side up to start, and cover. Reduce heat to medium.
4. Cook for 3-5 minutes then flip. Add a splash of vegetable stock to dutch oven to ensure that the chicken will not stick to the bottom and to keep the meat moist.
5. After 3-5 minutes, return the chicken to meat side up and glaze with about 1/3 of the sauce. Add additional stock to the bottom of the dutch oven, if necessary. Cover and allow to cook for a few minutes then flip and repeat.
6. For the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, return the chicken to meat side up, and glaze with remaining sauce. Turn off heat and cover until ready to serve.

Cheers,

Danielle