Yesterday I volunteered to cook dinner for my family. I wanted to make black bean quinoa. My mom gave me the go ahead. So I used the pre-soaked black beans to make the quinoa. My mom had cooked some black beans a few days ago in soup. She had soaked them already, and left some for me to cook.
So I cooked my black bean quinoa and decided to make a side dish of roasted tomatoes. I had seen roasted tomatoes on Pinterest and decided to copy it.
Here is the finished product. =) It went quite well. I couldn't have asked for more.
For the quinoa, I boiled the quinoa until all the water soaked up. Quinoa is really easy to make. Just 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water and boiled in a covered pot. While the quinoa was cooking, I boiled the black beans, capsicum, peas and carrots in a non stick pan. I didn't add oil. Trying to not use oil.
After the quinoa was cooked I turned off the stove. I chopped up some cucumber and oranges and mixed everything together - the black beans, capsicum, peas, carrots, quinoa, cucumber and oranges. I tossed it with some apple cider vinegar and a little salt. It turned out okay. The black beans were not soft enough though.
For the roasted tomatoes, I sliced each tomato into 4 slices and tossed with olive oil, salt and mixed herbs. Then I lay them on a baking tray and topped with parmesan cheese. I baked for a really long time in the small oven. Maybe 30 minutes or more. It turned out nice with the cheese and all. The tomatoes were soft and juicy.
Overall it was a good dinner. My mom boiled some sausages for my dad and boiled some eggs.... maybe in case my dinner turned out inedible! Haha. Anyway it turned out okay. Edible. The quinoa and roasted tomatoes were fresh, light and healthy. Just what I needed.
Labels: dinner, eating light, home cooking, meals
