45 degree lunch

                 

It's dark today with a cold misty rain.   Not a peanut butter and jelly kind of day.  It's a good feeling to be in the kitchen on days like this.  Much like curling up with a good book and a favorite blanket.  I'm reading The Visitors by Sally Beauman, it's about Egypt and I am enjoying it very much. But my book had to wait as the chilly house needed to be warmed with the smell of garlic and good food.

This is all very basic and I am not ashamed to say I eat some kind of version of this every week.  Today the base was quinoa, but it can be any kind of grain or carb...even a potato or a piece of flatbread.  After that is decided and cooking I chop as many vegetables as I can get.  Through the winter it will be anything in the crisper but now it is fun to pick through the garden and see what I find.  The garden is in a sorry state, I am picking the last of the vegetables. To make a heartier version you can also add canned beans or leftover winter squash. Or if you are like my husband and love cheese prepare as usual and instead of a bowl use a medium ramekin, top with a thick slice of cheese and toast it until it is all melty goodness.

Today:
quinoa cooked in a beef broth
zucchini
green pepper
garlic
mushrooms
swiss chard
kale
tomatoes

After that is combined and cooked in a skillet, I put it over the cooked quinoa and top with a spoonful of capers, fresh basil leaves and several thin ribbons of parmesan cheese.

And that is lunch here on a brisk New England day.  To make it even better Maggie is home and made gingersnaps.  It's officially fall!