I don’t usually shop the deli counter at our grocer (for those in the area, I mainly shop at Sprouts), but last week I was feeling a bit pressed for time and thought I would splurge on one of their prepared salads. Maybe it is the warming weather (It was 84 degrees yesterday!), and the fact that Spring is right around the corner, but I have been craving light and fresh tasting salads. This one really hit the spot, so I decided to recreate it. It was delicious on it’s own, but would be just as nice served alongside a sandwich or burger.

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
• 1 (12 oz) bag frozen shelled edamame
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice of 2 lemons
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook quinoa. In a pot bring two cups of water to a boil. Add quinoa, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from heat, let cool.
2. In a large pan over medium heat warm 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add chopped onion, red bell pepper, celery, and jalapeño (I tried to chop things so that the pieces were close in size to the corn and edamame). Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic. Cook veggies until softened, but not too soft, you want a little bit of bite left in them. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. In a small bowl stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro, salt and pepper.
4. Stir all ingredients together (including the cooled edamame and corn). Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

This soup has recently become a favorite in our household. It is creamy, hearty, flavorful, and filled with just enough spice to make it interesting. I found this recipe in Heidi Swanson‘s cookbook, Super Natural Cooking, and have adapted it slightly. I have made it three times in the past two weeks, and am already thinking of making it again!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week and no Friday Favorites. I thought it would be kind of lame to have two Friday Favorites posts in a row, so next week will be double the fun. So yeah, I have been off the internet all week nose deep in projects. I have been knitting and sewing like crazy as well as snuggling with a really cute little 17 month old. I will share what I have been working on in the next couple days.

Anyway, I posted a picture of these banana-oat pancakes this week on Instagram and had a request for the recipe, so I thought I would share it here. The recipe comes from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking book. They were moist, light, fluffy, and full of flavor. This recipe suggested sprinkling walnuts on the cakes before flipping, but we used sliced almonds–they were perfect.

• 3 small bananas, mashed
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oat flour (I just buzzed a cup of oatmeal in the food processor until it was a smooth flour)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Stir together the mashed bananas, butter, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat in the eggs. Whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt and spices in another medium bowl.

Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir the batter just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Check to be sure the batter is thin enough for your pancakes: you may need to add a touch of milk or water. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes before using.

Heat a nonstick griddle or a heavy skillet. If your surface is not nonstick, brush it lightly with vegetable oil. When the surface of your pan is hot enough that a drop of water sputters across it, give the pan a quick swipe with a paper towel to remove excess oil, and spoon the batter onto the hot surface, 1/4-cupful at a time.

Let the pancakes cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form around the edges of the cakes, 3 to 4 minutes. When the cakes are just beginning to set, flip them and let them finish cooking on the second side, until golden brown on both sides, about 1-1/2 minutes more.