Quinoa, Carrot and Zucchini Casserole

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As I was looking for our new weekly recipe that would use carrots I remembered a talk I had attended a couple of years ago about food and meals.  The talk was given by a wonderful farmer, Annie, who I have become friends with since.  It really is a small world I had been asked to be on a committee and sitting across from me was Annie.  But that is another story for another time.  During this talk Annie spoke about eating the foods that are in season and that she eats the same meal over and over and over again.  She read from an old farmer’s journal and she read one weeks worth of meals – lunch was a salad with tomatoes, greens and beans from the garden – it was the same for the whole week.  For dinner was chicken, zucchini, beans and tomatoes and that was the same for the entire week.  That talk started me thinking about when did we go to having a different item for each meal of the day, was it part of the consumerism mentally pushed on individuals during the last century, was it when the vast majority of people stopped farming and went to the farm stand or store for their supplies?  For awhile I was eating the same thing for lunch and dinner and slowly went back to buying an assortment of produce and preparing different meals for each evening, since the garden is not producing, and usually having one or two leftover nights per week.

I started to pull out the ingredients for last nights meal and realized that I would probably eat this casserole for 2 or 3 meals, but that I could probably cook another 5 meals with the produce that had been delivered on Thursday and there are not that many nights in the week and would some of this food go to waste?  It made me realize that I really do not need to have this much produce delivered to me, but it is the smallest box – so I think I will stop the delivery and go back to looking at my in-season produce card and buying only those items and probably eating the same 2 or 3 meals per week.  Another way to cut back and simplifiy!

Quinoa, Carrot and Zucchini Casserole (thanks to http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/quinoa-carrot-zucchini-casserole.php) – serves 4

Ingredients (I changed up the recipe some, mainly because I did not have all the ingredients)

1 cup quinoa
1/4 cup dried raisins
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbls coconut oil
3/4 cup celery, chopped small
1/4 cup onion, chopped small
2 medium carrots
2 small zucchini
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 3/4 cup boiling water or soup stock

1. Soak the quinoa in water for at least 15 minutes or  up to 1 hour.  Stir the quinoa so that it is immersed in the water, cover.

2. Wash and chop all the vegetables.

3. Drain the quinoa, rinse with cold water and set to drain until later.

4. In a saute pan, heat the coconut oil on medium heat.  Add the celery and onion and saute until translucent.

5. Add the carrots and saute for about 5 minutes.

6. Add the zucchini and saute for about 5 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Add all the spices, except the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, lower the heat and saute until they start to brown.

8. Bring 1 3/4 cup broth to a boil.

10. In a 3 – 4 quart oven proof casserole with lid (I could not find mine, wonder where it is – so I used a casserole dish and covered with tin foil) add the quinoa, sauteed vegetables, broth, raisins, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.

11. Bake for about 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

12. Before serving take the bay leaves and cinnamon stick out.

I loved this and was really surprised that Stella did not, since she likes all the ingredients.  So I guess I will be having this for lunch and dinner for several days.  When I make this again I will probably double the veggies.

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