Garden Salad

1 cucumber diced
1 big tomato diced
1/2 onion diced
1 avocado peeled and diced
2 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 cup corn
2 cups chopped mixed greens (I used romaine lettuce, spinach, bok-choy)
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (basil, parsley, dill, cilantro)
2 TB apple cider vinegar
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste



Mix all of the ingredients in a big salad bowl and serve immediately.

Araksya's Tip: I like to add crumbled cheese on top 

Quinoa Pasta with veggies

Ingredients:


6 slices bacon chopped
6 oz quinoa pasta*
6 oz sliced mushrooms
1 small onion sliced
1 bell pepper sliced
1 cup zucchini chopped
2 cups spinach
2 cups marinara sauce
2 cups water
1/3 cup fresh parsley and cilantro chopped
1 TB dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh
olive oil (if needed)
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese


Cook bacon in a big skillet until cooked through but not too browned. Add onions, mushrooms, peppers, and zucchini and cook until they are tender, stirring occasionally.
Then add quinoa pasta, marinara sauce, water, dried basil, salt and pepper, cover the skillet and cook until pasta is done.
Add spinach and fresh herbs, stir well and serve with parmesan cheese.


*Araksya's tip: You can use regular pasta instead of quinoa pasta. You can also add 1/2 cup regular quinoa with pasta
like I did to give it more texture.

Casserole in a bowl

Ingredients

1/4 lb ground beef (or any kind of meat)
1 cup marinara sauce
1/4 cup sweet peppers chopped
4-5 mushrooms sliced
3 cups spinach
1/4 cup sliced zucchini
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any kind you like)
2 small or 1 big naan bread
salt and pepper to taste
1 TB olive oil
1 TB butter


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet and cook the meat until brown. Add marinara sauce and sweet peppers and cook 2-3 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper.

Take 2 oven-safe bowls/ramekins and divide the meat sauce mix into the bowls. Layer the raw mushrooms on top of the meat sauce.
Meanwhile, in the same skillet cook spinach with butter just until they start to wilt. Add that to the bowls. Then layer the zucchini on top of the spinach and cover them with cheese.

Put the bowls in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Then cover the bowls with naan bread and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the bread gets toasted. You can finish the last step under the broiler to get a nice brown color on the bread.




Makes 2 servings

Araksya's tip: The bowls will be hot the whole time you're eating so please be careful.