Healthy Twists

Two more days…two more days…two more days of work until my vacation! I’m totally doing the pre-vacation dance. And the countdown.

Actually, that’s not even true that I’m done in two days. I’m working overtime at my museum on Saturday and Sunday, and we leave for Boston on Monday. Somewhere in there I need to do laundry, pack, work out, hit up the library, buy travel snacks, etc etc. But my last day of my “day job” is Friday, and we’re doing a press conference in the morning, so it’s going to be a crazy couple of days. Then I don’t have to think about press release or website updates until May 25

If you’re new to Healthy Twists (HI!!), last December I won a trip to the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health as part of a Stonyfield Oikos blogger contest. I won airfare, transportation to and from the retreat, and a two-day stay for two so I’m packing up my yoga-loving boyfriend (/sarcasm) and heading east, turning the trip into a longer Boston excursion, complete with such activities as a Red Sox game and a trip to Mike’s Pastry (apparently that’s non-negotiable, which is fine by me because I love a GOOD cannoli).

P.S. I am just a little excited about the food at the yoga retreat. It’s like, perfect Hallie food! I’ll be nice and cleansed when I get to Boston and start drinking wine every night.

I’ve lined up some guest posts to keep you entertained while I’m gone, because I don’t think blogging is going to happen. I might try to blog once from the retreat since we get wi-fi there, but we’ll see. I’m super excited about the guest posts though, because I’ve got a mix of things from some of my favorite healthy living bloggers as well as some posts written by friends “in real life” who have really cool things to share.

Any vacations planned this summer? What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken? I think I have to say my ten-day trip to Israel was probably the most amazing trip I’ve ever taken.

Anywho, I was going to blog my dinner last night, but it was a huge fail. I mean, it actually was OK, but Mitch wasn’t a fan, the greens I cooked were awful so I threw them out, and I was pretty grumpy about the whole thing. AND I thought I lost my memory card, so I bought 2 new ones today, only to realize the card was in my camera the whole time, it was just upside down so my camera didn’t recognize it. Oh well.

But tonight, I made something really good! I got home from Bikram (oh, and how I needed that sauna yoga tonight) at 8:30, starving, so I needed something that would take no time to make and be filling and  nourishing.

I came up with a version of “fried rice,” using quinoa (which I made yesterday for the meal-o-fail) and a higher egg-to-grain ratio. So you could call also it a scramble or a deconstructed frittata, if you will.

“Fried” Quinoa Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small head cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced
• 2 tbsp onions, chopped
• 1 tsp butter
• pepper flakes and/or black pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 eggs or 1 egg and 2 egg whites
• 1 tbsp milk (optional)
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
• Sriracha or chopped cilantro, to serve

Directions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté the cabbage and onions for a few minutes in the butter, then add the zucchini and continue cooking until everything is soft and begins to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes total. Add pepper to taste.
2. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs (+/- milk) until well combined.
3. Lower the heat to medium and add the quinoa to the pan. Stir-fry the mixture for about a minute until the quinoa is warmed.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the pan and move everything around with a spatula until the eggs are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil near the end of cooking.
5. Serve with Sriracha or chopped cilantro.

This came out really good and I pretty much ate it in 2.5 seconds. I think this looks a lot like another stir fry I wrote about on the blog, but I think the quinoa, the egg, and the smidgen of butter really made this dish. Of course, you could use just about any vegetable you had on hand or substitute rice or noodles for the quinoa. I just LOVE quinoa and don’t make it often enough.

Random question of the day: How did your parents meet? Mine met in the Bahamas, where they were both taking solo vacations at Club Med. Reading about the Fitnessista’s vacation reminded me of that. Hilarious.

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