Woohoo! So, Loryn is coming down to B-Town to visit me this weekend. In fact, she is on her way now. This is the first trip for quite a while that is just for fun (for the most part) with very little on the agenda. Loryn is going to train me in photography 101 with and emphasis in macro photography for my up and coming etsy jewelry business. More on this later.

Anyway, I don’t know if it has been mentioned yet, but Loryn is a vegetarian and I just love to cook for her. It makes for a complete different set of challenges in food preparation. Tastes and food combinations change quite a bit when you take the meat out of a dish. The key I have found is not to approach vegetarian cooking with this idea. You have to think of it as a whole dish, with nothing missing, and build up complex flavors and aromas (not that you shouldn’t do that with all cooking, but I have to focus on it more for vegetarian cooking).

Currently I am experimenting with quinoa. I have never made it before, but I know that Loryn really likes it, so I bought some at Sahara Mart today on my way home. I am making a black bean recipe from allrecipes.com that has very high marks. Right now my house smells wonderful, all cumin and oniony.

I changed the recipe a little (I so rarely follow a recipe exactly that it is more of a statement if I said I DID follow it) and added some red bell pepper and tomatoes. I also made my salsa recipe (listed below) to add as a topper.

Kristin’s Fool-Proof Salsa

• 1-14.5 oz can Red Gold Basil, Garlic & Oregano Diced Tomatoes
• 1-14.5 oz can Red Gold Green Chilies Petite Diced Tomates
• 1-vidalia onion diced
• 1/2 a bunch of cilantro diced
• 1-lime juiced
• dash of kosher or sea salt

Boy, it sure takes me a long time to post a blog. The food is done and Loryn should be here very soon. Here is the finished product:

It tastes very good. I will have to start keeping quinoa in my pantry as a staple from here on out. She’s here!

Bon Apetit!

–Kristin