Sunday, May 18, 2008

More of the Magical Grain...and Freebies!

When I first saw the recipe for Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Sweet Potato on the PPK boards, I knew I had to make it as soon as possible! Though my photo did not look quite as pretty as the one on the PPK boards, the dish is so damn good that it makes up for it! I normally am not a fan of cilantro at all, but I think that it really works well with this salad and I didn't mind the cilantro-iness (new word? haha- it sounds too weird to be a word). Yep, it's official- quinoa is my new favorite grain. Ever since I first tried it a few months ago, I have fallen in love! I have no idea how I survived my first few months of veganism without this grain.

These cookies were sort of a surprise to me. I ordered an Alternative Baking Company cookie from Vegan Essentials about two weeks ago, and I was blown away! So much so that I went as far as sending a comment to the company on the ABC website saying how great these cookies were. Well, what do you know that within a few days I received a reply to my email from ABC saying that they would send me some free cookies- YAY!!! Now I really love this company. Anyways, the three cookies you see above are the ones that I received in the mail a few days ago. The one on the far left is a Peanut Butter Cookie, the middle is Lemon Poppyseed, and on the right is Chocolate Chip. They are sooo gooooood. As for my favorite....hm......it's probably a tie between the peanut butter and chocolate chip- but they are all wonderful!

8 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Quinoa is definitely one of my favorite grains too; and I LOVE that V'con recipe!

The peanut-butter ABC cookie is phenomenal!!

Alicia said...

I love quinoa too, specially because it cooks so fast. Yeah, I'm that lazy! I've also found out that it freezes very very well.
And the combo with sweet potato sounds great!

Erin said...

I don't eat quinoa nearly as often as I should. Your salad looks like a great way to enjoy it. And hooray for free stuff, especially cookies!

Rural Vegan said...

I love quinoa but I don't end up cooking with it very much. I definitely need to broaden my quinoa horizons! Yours looks great!

Ruby Red said...

I love ABC cookies too - they're amazing! If you haven't tried the Mac the Chip or Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice, you absolutely must do so. The Mac one is so good because it's made with barley flour, my favorite cookie-making flour. The peanut butter is my third favorite! You're so lucky for getting the freebies.

I've tried the quinoa black bean mango salad from V-con, but the quinoa salad with sweet potato looks equally good. Orange fruits and veggies are just so yummy!

Anonymous said...

Quinoa has got to be my favorite grain. I go through pounds and pounds of it a month. It's perfect!!

Ooh I must must must try those cookies, they're calling my name!

LK Sisters said...

ABC cookies are great - when I was living in a dorm without any oven to bake my own cookies, I would love to get these. They are especially good heated in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds. Absolute favorite - double chocolate cookies - so chocolaty and gooey if you heat in the microwave! The oatmeal raisin and pumpkin are also good.

Vegan_Noodle said...

Free cookies!! how cool! I've liked all the ABC cookies I've tried too. And plus they are huge so they can last two servings (sometimes) :-)