Have you ever had the experience of walking into a party, seeing a spread of food and diving in without any notion of how many calories or grams of fat you were consuming? If you’ve been there before, I totally understand – I’ve definitely overindulged that way in the past too. But these days, especially as we get older, eating everything in site with reckless abandon may taste great going down, but isn’t so good once the new year rolls around.

Instead of feeling like you don’t have a lot of healthy options at your next gathering, why not bring a dish you know is healthy that you and others can enjoy?  Focus on healthy, low fat clean eating ingredients such as beans, greens, whole grains and lean meat. Substitute olive oil for butter and Greek yogurt for mayonnaise.

One of my favorite dishes to bring to a potluck during the holidays, or any time of year for that matter, is super simple and absolutely delicious.  It features high fiber, gluten-free quinoa, chick peas and spinach.  A liberal amount of orange zest plus raisins and cinnamon add fantastic flavor.  It seems like every time I make this, it’s a bit hit, as I discussed on Good Morning Connecticut yesterday morning:

Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy and share at your next event.

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

1 cup quinoa
1 cup water
¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 oranges)
½ tsp. sea salt
zest from two oranges
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup raisins
1 cup cooked chickpeas (or canned organic chickpeas)
6 cups washed and chopped spinach leaves
salt to taste
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup toasted sliced almonds
1 orange, cut into wedges

Rinse the quinoa well and drain in a fine-mesh sieve. Combine water and orange juice and bring to a boil in a 1-½ or 2 quart saucepan. Add the salt, orange zest, and the rinsed quinoa. Return to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit, covered for 10 minutes to fluff up.

While the quinoa is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet that has a tight-fitting lid.  Add the onions and sauté over medium-high heat for 10 minutes until soft. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes.

Add raisins, chickpeas and spinach. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the spinach has wilted. Adjust heat if necessary. Drain any excess water after cooking the spinach. Season to taste with salt.

Combine the vegetables into the quinoa. Stir in cinnamon. Garnish with the toasted pine nuts and orange wedges.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

What’s your favorite healthy, clean eating dish to take to bring to a party that you know others will love? How do you avoid holiday overindulgence?

I’ve been having fun experimenting with quinoa in the last few months. Recently, I added it to one of my favorite Real Simple recipes, bean and sausage stew. It makes for a hardy one pot meal but with minimal effort and so much flavor.

I also like that quinoa works as a breakfast pooridge, part of a main dish or a healthy side dish. Check out this week’s video tip on adding pesto to quinoa — a great accompaniment to almost any meal.  I talked about this specific recipe a while back, so fast and easy. Now you can see just how easy it is in the video.

Do you have a favorite quinoa recipe? How do you like to prepare it? Another of my favorites is this delicious quinoa stew. Enjoy!

That’s why I was so excited when Whole Grains for Busy People arrived in the mail last week. I’ve been following Lorna Sass, whole grains expert, for awhile. I have some of her other cookbooks but I noticed that the recipes can take awhile. And being that I’m usually short on time, they aren’t always conducive to the type of cooking I do.

I love finding new sources of inspiration for the kitchen. I’m very much of a cookbook chef, one of those people who relies on recipes for a dose of creative thinking. And once I find some dishes I like, that’s when my creative expression comes through. I love adapting and enhancing them in interesting ways.

So I was ecstatic when I heard about her latest cookbook when I was listening to NPR. It was in the midst of the winter fund drive and I was driving around listening to the pitch as I did errands on a Sunday.  I heard them mention the cookbook as a thank you gift and I was all over it. The funny thing is, I regularly give them a contribution with or without a thank you gift, but that was even better motivation.

I like the cookbook because the recipes are simple and mostly quick. I also like that she includes numerous gluten-free recipes which is perfect for me since I try to avoid wheat. Above all, the recipes just sound enticing — salmon stew with quinoa, southwestern stew with squash, black beans and corn, and oat-crusted turkey cutlets, just to name a few.

If you’re a whole grain fan like me, I encourage you to give it a try. And if you’ve already been using the cookbook, do tell about your favorite recipe.

Talking about basil in last Friday’s audio tip got me thinking about one of my favorite side dishes – quinoa with basil pesto. Quinoa (pronouced keen-wah) when mixed with fresh pesto, makes an easy, healthy and delicious side dish.

For those of you that don’t know, quinoa is a whole grain from South America that’s gaining popularity in this country. I love it because it’s gluten-free, low in fat, high in protein, cooks in only 15 minutes and it’s delicious. I use it as a breakfast pooridge or side dish, and include it in my meal planning almost every week (this week I’m eating quinoa with spinach and pine nuts). You can find quinoa at health food stores (buy it from the bulk bin for the best value), at Trader Joe’s, and now even at most large supermarkets. At my local Stop & Shop, I can find it in the natural foods section.

This recipe is so amazingly quick and simple – you cook the quinoa and add fresh pesto to it. I love pesto because it’s so easy to make and has multiple uses, plus it tastes fabulous. Check out the pesto recipe below or use your own. It’s something fun to experiment with based on your taste.

Quinoa with Basil Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
½ tsp. salt
2 cups fresh basil leaves
½ cup walnuts or pinenuts (I’m a big fan of walnuts)
2-3 cloves garlic
¼ cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
2. Rinse and add quinoa and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.
3. Make quinoa by combining basil, nuts, garlic and cheese in a food processor. Drizzle olive oil in and mix.
4. Add pesto to cooked quinoa, mix well and serve.

Give it try and let me know what you think, I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of walnut pieces
1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsleybr> pinch of salt
Directions:

Rinse rice in fine mesh strainer till water runs clear.
Boil the water and add rice and salt, cover and reduce heat.
After 15 minutes add cranberries and walnuts to top, do not stir.
Cook 15-25 minutes more, until all the liquid is absorbed.
Remove from heat, add parsley and fluff with fork, cover and let set for 3-5 minutes and serve.