Grape and Quinoa Salad

This recipe comes from a cookbook called "Home Cooking the Costco Way".  It's a yearly publication from the warehouse store Costco.  They gather recipes from the companies that sell food at their store and give it away on Thanksgiving weekend.

I've been wanting to try quinoa for a while.  I have some health-conscious friends who swear by this healthy grain.  When I found this recipe, I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 1/2 cups red and green seedless grapes, cut into quarters
1/2 cup dry-roasted hazelnuts, coursley chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Mix quinoa, grapes, hazelnuts and green onion in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk canola oil, lemon juice, sugar and salt.  Pour dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir to combine.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Mine's not as pretty as the one in the book, probably because I only had green grapes.  But I'm sure it still tasted just as good.

Now, be forewarned, if you've never used quinoa before, as it's cooking it doesn't have the most pleasant scent.  It kinda smelled like weeds.  But the finished product was scrumptious.

Mexican Meatballs

I am a huge fan of this recipe. If you follow it completely, you get delicious meatballs, but it's also really easy to change and edit to your taste. I went on a meatball making binge after making these. Each batch was different than the last, and we loved them all!

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 gloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried or 2 tbsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 lb. lean ground turkey
8 oz. uncooked or cooked smoked chorizo sausage, finely chopped (I made my own chorizo by flavoring plain sausage. Will share that recipe later.)
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. Mix together in large bowl the eggs, bread crumbs, cilantro, garlic, oregano, 1 1/2 tsp. of the chili powder, salt and cumin. Add the ground turkey and chorizo sausage; mix well. With damp hands or a small ice cream scoop (I used my hands) form into 24 to 30 meatballs. Combine oil and remaining 1/2 tsp. chili powder, brush over meatballs. Bake meatballs 22 to 25 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees). With slotted spoon, remove meatballs to a serving bowl.

We ate with rice. They were awesome. If you make the meatballs as uniform in size as possible, they cook more evenly. I have to say, I love baking meatballs. I have always hated cooking them on the stovetop. Anytime I find a meatball recipe, I make them and cook them to this recipes directions. Love baking meatballs! Then you can even make them earlier in the day and refrigerate til it's time to bake.