We don’t need a once a year holiday to feel grateful or to eat a big dinner. Katie and I exchange gratitude lists every day and have since the beginning of our relationship of over 3 years. I often talk about what I’m grateful for at work and my co-workers share in this as well. It just feels good to talk about the good stuff in life rather than dwell on the crappy side of things.
As far as food goes, I make dinner every night and it pretty much always looks like this.
Dinner is served!
Tonight I made a quinoa pilaf with toasted pecans and dried cranberries, roasted butternut squash, from our garden, paired with Fuji apple and Field Roast Applewood Smoked Sausage (it’s vegan, of course), steamed broccoli and kale and mesclan salad (also from the garden).
It was delicious!
- A full plate of food, we get full, yet never feel stuffed eating like this
Yummy quinoa pilaf. don't worry, I'll give you the recipe.
QUINOA PILAF
serves 2
1/2 cup quinoa
3/4 cup mushroom broth
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
olive oil, salt and pepper
In a small pan, bring broth to a boil. Stir in quinoa, cover and lower heat to simmer. Steam for 19 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, in a saute pan, heat a small amount of oil and saute onion until a bit browned. Add nuts and cranberries. Stir and heat through until nuts impart a wonderful fragrance. Stir into cooked quinoa and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Butternut squash, Fuji apple and Applewood smoked Vegan sausage tossed in olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper, place in baking pan, cover with foil and bake for 35 -40 minutes at 350 degrees.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Katie and I will probably do our usual routine: stay in our jammies, make homemade pizza, watch movies, play pool and eat pumpkin pie!
Vampire Gran's Kitchen 
Mmmmm…. rules to be me!
Oh, and my darling wife is absolutely right… she is funny in more ways than you can imagine. But then, that’s what I love about her.
Oh, hey, speaking of the garden, where are the purple brussel sprouts I was promised? We want brussel sprouts! We want brussel sprouts! We want brussel sprouts!
Oh crap… it’s snowing outside tonight. So much for brussel sprouts. Better luck next year.
Tell ’em about the cookies! Tell ’em about the cookies! Did you tell ’em we get a 4 day weekend this weekend? Life is way too exciting in VampireGran’s house. I’m already as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. Mmmm… and so very in love. It doesn’t get any better than this!
XO,
Katie
Wow I really love the idea of eating nice things everyday! Your platter looks divine by quinoa and those colorful veggies 🙂
Thank you, Tes! That quinoa pilaf was wonderful. We do enjoy eating healthy foods. Our bodies thank us for it every day.
What a wonderful gift, gratitude, and to share it so generously. That’s very special. And your meal looks absolutely delicious – yum. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, both of you. 🙂
Sunshine xx
Thank you, Sunshine! I’m grateful for your writing and your totally entertaining blog. I’m grateful that you check in on me and see what we are eating. I’m grateful to have a cyber friend who lives in an amazing city across the ocean.
Patty xo
Hey Patty, I just got caught up with your recent posts to this blog. I just love your site and reading about your food, and seeing the great pictures of your creations, your garden, and life adventures! I also LOVE Bananagrams! Won it last Christmas in a gift game, and it is now part of my life! That pic. of you and Linda O. from 1964 is a hoot. I sure remember those days at SHS. There is a huge new SHS now, have you seen it yet?
Anyway, back to food. I have a lame question, I was wondering if you have to rinse quinoa? It is so small, I have trouble keeping it in a strainer to rinse it.
Thanks,
Mary
Hey Mary, I love that picture of 10 year old Patty too; she hasn’t changed all that much… same cherubic face and sweet almond eyes.
Ask her how old her wife was when that picture was taken.
Katie
Hi Mary! Funny, I was just thinking about you the other day and wondering if you were still checking out the blog. Glad to hear from you!
There is a constant debate over the rinsing of quinoa. I never rinse it. I think that in the olden days it needed to be rinsed because the outer layer was bitter. The more mainstream it is becoming, the cleaner it appears to be. The quinoa sold at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods should not need rinsing. I buy it in the bulk bins as WinCo and I never rinse it.
Try it and let me know what you think. I think the important thing is to add a pinch or two of kosher salt to the water before cooking.
If you do find it to have an unpleasant flavor and you prefer rinsing it, I suggest a very fine mesh strainer.
Cheers!
Patty