Perfect Breakfast Potatoes

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If you've been following my blog you've probably noticed by now breakfast is kind of my thang. I love a delicious breakfast meal served up any time of day. I mentioned before how I've posted all these main entrees for breakfast but I've never posted the sides I serve with them. 
I've been making these potatoes for many years, so I'd hope I can say I've perfected the recipe. I've tried different cooking methods, different oils, played with seasonings and now here are the exact results I was looking for. Perfectly tender interior, with a gorgeously browned exterior, slightly moist, with just the right amount of flavor and seasoning. You can use plain old salt and pepper (if you want to be boring =) or you can add some pizzazz with the delicious seasoning blend listed. Below are a few things I wanted to list, that in my opinion, make the perfect breakfast potatoes:


1. Pre-bake the potatoes. If they are cooked halfway before you fry them then they don't end up under cooked in the middle.
7. Leave the skins on when dicing. Less work (no peeling necessary), more taste and more vitamins. With that said why wouldn't you?
2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil was my favorite oil for frying. I've tried butter, bacon fat and vegetable oil and EVOO is where it's at. Not only do the potatoes taste better fried with EVOO but they are much better for you.
3. Season generously. I'm not saying over salt your potatoes, I'm saying a little flavor goes a long way. I love the flavors that garlic and onion powder add to these. Alternately if you love Potatoes O'Brian you could add diced onion, and diced green and red bell pepper.
4. Cover potatoes with a lid while frying, this helps the potatoes maintain some of the moisture as well as helping them evenly cook through.
5. Don't over-stir. If you stir too often you won't get the perfectly golden edges. Just think of flipping a pancake, you don't want to flip it before it's golden, it's the same with breakfast potatoes, you shouldn't "flip" them until they are golden.
6. Serve immediately. Potatoes get soggy after sitting too long after cooking. It's a silly thing but I always get frustrated when people are late for a breakfast meal I'm serving. Breakfast meals/sides aren't nearly as good cold or reheated. This includes breakfast potatoes.


All the above are my personal opinion. I'm not a professional chef (just wannabe =). They are tips I've found through personal experience through trial and error. I hope you love these potatoes and maybe even make them as often as I do (I make them at least once a week, sometimes even three).



Breakfast Potatoes
Yields about 5 servings 


Ingredients:
5 small Russet Potatoes (total weight should be about 1.5 lbs)
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
1 1/2 - 2 tsp Herb Seasoning, to taste (recipe can be found here)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile rinse and scrub potatoes then pierce each potato several times with a fork. Bake potatoes in preheat oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool 30 minutes then chill overnight (alternately you could dice and cook potatoes immediately, I've just found it's more convenient to bake them ahead of time when I'm already making baked potatoes for dinner or baking another dish. Also, potatoes seem to cut cleaner if they've been chilled). 
Dice chilled potatoes into 1/2" cubes. Pour extra virgin olive oil into a 10" non-stick skillet and heat over medium high heat. Once oil barely begins to smoke, carefully pour diced potatoes into hot oil. Immediately sprinkle with Herb Seasoning then toss potatoes with a heat proof spatula. Cover pan with lid and cook potatoes, stirring every few minutes as they begin to lightly brown on bottom, about 8 - 12 minutes until potatoes have reached desired tenderness. Serve immediately. 
Note: sometimes I like to sprinkle them with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese after frying (cheese is good over nearly everything). Also, they are delish drizzled with ketchup, yep I'm all American with my side of Ketchup =). It's like french fries without ketchup, it just shouldn't be done.

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

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Slow cooker meals, aren't they just amazing? Throw the food in, say goodbye, then several hours later say hello to dinner. It really doesn't get much easier. I saw this photo/recipe on foodgawker.com and new I had to try it. I think I've finally realized another reason I love slow cooker meals, because I always have dessert after dinner so if I'm making dessert it's nice to have a simple dinner to throw together. Also, I can never get over how tender and flavorful the meat is that's been slowly simmered all day in the slow cooker. 
You will noticed if you follow the link that the recipe is nearly entirely different, yes I will admit rarely do I ever stick to someone else's recipe. It's just too fun to add my own twist. Feel free to try it either way I'm sure the original rendition is amazing too. Enjoy!




Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki
Yields 4-5 servings


Ingredients:
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (regular would work too)
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp orange marmalade
1 1/2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp cold water
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
Cooked long grain white rice, for serving
Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)


Directions:
Place chicken in a slow cooker, set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, light-brown sugar, honey, orange marmalade, ginger, garlic and pepper. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker, cover with lid and cook on low heat 5 - 6 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred. Strain sauce from slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. In a small mixing bowl whisk together 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water and cornstarch. Pour cornstarch mixture into liquid in saucepan and heat mixture over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to gently boil. Allow mixture to gently boil about 20 seconds until thickened. Return chicken to slow cooker and pour teriyaki sauce from saucepan over chicken. Toss mixture gently to evenly coat. Serve warm over cooked rice garnished with optional sesame seeds and serve with diced fresh pineapple if desired.


Recipe Source: slightly adapted from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Gluten-Free Breakfast Cereal Bowl

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Wake up to something delicious and nutritious this morning.

Breakfast is my favorite meal, and for as long as I can remember, cereal has been my breakfast of choice. The cold milk mixed with sweet, crunchy cereal and topped with fresh fruit, is pure bliss.

I love cereal so much that upon my return to the United States after living in Spain for 6 months, my first meal was cereal. A huge bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats (always with Almonds) with granola (sadly not homemade) on top. Yep, totally packed with gluten and I totally enjoyed every single bite of it.

Anyway, when I took gluten and dairy out of my diet, cereal pretty much fell by the wayside. Much to my dismay (at the time at least), my daily bowl of cereal was replaced with green smoothies, quinoa muffins, gluten-free scones, and puffed rice cakes with almond butter and apples.

Of course, now I couldn't be happier with my lifestyle and breakfast options. But that doesn't mean I haven't been missing cereal. At least until this recipe came along. I was inspired. I could now combine my healthy, amazing gluten-free breakfasts with my beloved bowl of cereal.

To put it simply, I've found the perfect bowl of gluten-free breakfast cereal.
See the Full Recipe »

Alyssa's Favorite Raw Snacks

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A post completely dedicated to my dehydrator

I've started playing around with raw foods lately. I don't know what sparked my interest, but as I was reading all the gluten-free blogs that I follow, raw foods just kept popping up. Not often, but enough that I was interested, so I started doing some research and eventually this lead me to purchase a dehydrator.

I found two amazing sites that I have continued to go back to when I'm feeling inspired to make something raw.

1. Choosing Raw
This blog is amazing. Although Gena is not dedicated to gluten-free eats, the majority of her recipes are, and she's vegan, so everything is dairy free as well. Perfect for me! She has a mixture of raw and cooked recipes, and each one looks just as amazing as the next. Also, Gena is a full-time student, so her recipes tend to include lower budget ingredients and are usually pretty easy to put together. What could be better? If you haven't checked our her blog, I highly recommend it!


2. Rawamzing
I don't know how I stumbled upon this amazing site, but boy am I glad I did. The recipes, the photographs, the ingredients, all stunning. Susan's raw foods are absolutely mouth watering. Many of her recipes are a bit more involved than those on Choosing Raw, but the end result seems totally worth it. (I have to admit, I haven't made any of her recipes yet - they're my goal, not my reality at the moment).

These women have inspired me - along with the delicious meal that I had at Crudessence on our trip to Montreal - to try experimenting with more raw foods. I've started with the basics: dried chips, fruits, cereal and desserts (my Carrot Cake Bites & Chocolate Coconut Balls are both awesome!). So far, everything has turned out great - especially my Zucchini Chips - and I'm excited to continue to experiment and learn more about this new world of food.

The following THREE RECIPES (I know a bit over zealous, but I'm leaving for the weekend and want to leave you all with some yummy recipes to try) are a few of my trials!


See the Full Recipe »

We're moving!!

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I have big news: the Queen of Quinoa is moving!

Make sure all your links are updated - we're going to be living at queenofquinoa.me!

I'm sorry if it seems like I've been a bit MIA lately, but I've been busy getting my new site up and running. I'm super excited about this move and can't wait to see you all over there! Please bear with me as we work out the kinks and I would love to hear what you think.

In case you missed them, here are my latest posts:


Detox Salad {gluten-free & vegan}



Balsamic Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp


Mango Cardamom Juice

Candy Dinosaur eggs & party hats

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Do you remember our Dinosaur Birthday party collection.... we have added a few items to the collection to help make your planning a little easier! Many people have asked where I got the candy Dinosaur eggs. The store I originally bought them at does not ship.... so after much searching I now sell these little candy treasures in my Etsy shop! You can use for an dinosaur party or for rocks or anything you need specked round items for! 



You can use these candies for and dinosaur birthday party as part of the favors like we have shown above (printable favor toppers available in our Etsy shop - Wants and Wishes here.)
Or you can make mini dinosaur nests with some eggs.


These are so easy to make.... maybe put them in white or brown cupcake liners and build a nest in there!

1. Start out to chocolate wafers, Oreos with out the filling (I used chocolate honey grahams- my grocery store was out of chocolate wafers!)
2. Place a couple cups in a ziplock bag (take out all the air and zip up)
3. Crush by rolling over with a rolling pin, until it is nice and crumbly
4. Place some dinosaur eggs on top and serve!


Another addition the is coming soon is our Dinosaur party hats professionally printed.... ready to assemble. They will come in kits of 5 (all 5 different designs will be included!)


Also, I just had to share these photos of one of my fabulous clients.... Amy.... She's a photographer (as you can probably tell.... her photos are amazing! I wish I was half as talented as she is!) You can check out her talent here on her Facebook page, Amy L.B. Photography


I just love how she bedazzled the hats with fun toppers and rick rack around the edges! I especially love that little pom pom string. I recently used it on a project too and just love that stuff! Again, I'm drooling over her photography skills!

Star Wars birthday party collection

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Welcome to the dark side.... My nephews LOVE Star Wars and have been begging for me to create a Star Wars party for them. My brother and sister-in-law were going on a cruise and I was babysitting for the next week so I thought I would be their favorite Aunt and create a Star Wars party for all of them! We invited the other nephews over and had a blast! It was so much fun... We all dressed up and each had our own part. Which side would you be on? Our Star Wars printable are available in our Etsy shop.

Decorations:I had everything set up and it just looked like it need something else.... looked a little bland or missing something, so I whipped this Death Star balloon up in a couple minutes. (please excuse the sloppiness. It was done in the wee hours of the night/ morning when I wasn't fully thinking straight) But you get the idea. It was really easy to make and created the dramatic look I was looking for..... Plus it was only .35 cents! I love inexpensive ideas!  I just attached the balloon to the backdrop with tape. Make where you tie the balloon to be the back of the Death Star to hide the tie.

I used some "Christmas Icicles" to create a space feeling, with matter, rocks and particles swirling around in space. Awesome right.... who knew Christmas decorations would be so resourceful!

The banner was interweaved with the dark matter. 

The desserts we had were Star Wars worthy for sure! 



We made mini "Death Star" chocolate pies. We used these really cool slanted dishes from Crate and Barrel. 1. Fill the bottom with crushed Oreos2. Fill with chocolate filling (I like Pioneer Womans Chocolate pie it's one of my favorites! A must try if you have never tried it!!!)   3. Top with some additional Oreos and a peanut butter cup or I made these little chocolate cups 4. Top with one our tags from our Star Wars Birthday Collection

Chocolate Cupcakes with our Star Wars cupcake toppers 


I found these Star War pez dispensers and knew I had to incorporate them! ps the kids LOVED them! I found them at Party City

Wookie cookies.... I searched long and hard for something I thought would be wookieish... I think I found the best solution... Little Debbie's Star Crunch cookies. I haven't eaten one in 15 years.... They were just as good as I remembered when I ate them as a kid. This makes for an easy favor. I placed 2 into each favor.


Stormtropper marshmallow pops. It's really hard to get a dark true black frosting so I bought the black frosting out of a tube and just made simple  markings to resemble Stromtroppers. 


Which side are you on? ... good vs evil... Welcome to the dark side!


You can't have a Star Wars birthday party without lightsabors. I wanted something that actually glowed so I found little glow in the dark "sticks" I had red, green and blue. Also had coordinating red and blue airheads.

Since Star Wars is good vs evil {and we all dressed up and split between the 2 sides} I had good and evil for every treat so they could continue the acting out and battling each other.


We also had silly string in green, blue, red and black. This was one of the activities.... I know I'm probably too old for it, but I still love a good silly string fight!

TIP: It was hard finding all the colors. I found that Hobby Lobby carried them all.


Candy bar wrappers are also included in the Star Wars collection



As I was searching for foods that were in the actual books and movies I stumbled upon the Star Wars Wikipeadia, they had a whole section of foods that were in the book! I loved this and it really helped me. These are actual donut/ pastries which they ate in Star Wars! (they loved their donuts!  there are tons of donut names) I chose to serve Iced donuts with dark matter sprinkles and Smuggler's Delight (antidote to Giggle Dust), which we also had!  



Princess Leia cinnamon rolls for the good side



We had mini waters for the drinks. I didn't want something sweet with all the other sweets I was serving.




Jedi training was in full swing with the little kiddos! This one was extremely talented with a lighsabor (he also enjoyed the glow in the dark lightabors.... he liked taking all of them and twirled them round in the dark. We had a battle in the dark with a fort we built!)


I made the little Jedi outfit without a pattern. I just sewed brown fabric together made slits on the side and a hole for the head and they had a twine rope belt. It was simple, but allowed them to be in costume as well.


We had stormtroppers protecting the dessert table until everyone got there....


Darth Vader had some mad skills... He was the honorary guest that I designed the party for


Activities:


Silly string fight outside- depending who they were they received coordinating colored silly string. The silly string ran out way too fast! Note for next time buy at least 2 cans for each kid and include myself! I told you I love a good silly string battle!


Giggle Dust.... remember those powder filled jelly donuts above "Smuggler's Delight", they are the antidote to Giggle Dust.


Austie didn't eat one and well... when the giggle dust was flying around it, it got the best of him!

I custom made the "giggle dust" with tissue paper squares. I just cut tissue paper into strips and then into squares. We threw and collected the giggle dust over and over again, rolling around in it and taking turns with everyone throwing it at a single person.
As they all sat down, they sat according to "their sides" without being told! Good vs Evil (see the giggle dust still in Princess Leia's hair)

This picture cracks me up.... as "Darth Vader" and a "Stormtropper" enjoy the desserts with their feet up, relaxing from the battles of the day, enjoying a donut with dark matter sprinkles.