Grilled Eggplant & Quinoa Roll Up Recipe: Gluten Free Barbecue Side Dish Idea

Our family LOVES a good meal off the "Q" - that's what I call anything barbecued {grilled or smoked}. My family thinks I am off my rocker every time I say "Q", which somehow drives me to say it like a broken record.  "Love me some Q",  "Hurry up and heat up the Q".

We love to Q SO Much that you might even find us standing outside by the grill with crisp white snowflakes falling. Yep, Fall, Winter, Spring & Summer we will still be cooking it up on the Q. {You are beginning to see why my family goes bonkos over my Q'isms aren't cha?}

It's easy to find recipes for barbecued main dishes - but I have been on the hunt to widen my recipe box of Q'd healthy side dishes. So, here is the latest concoction: Grilled Eggplant & Quinoa Roll-ups.

Grilled Eggplant & Quinoa Roll-ups

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Eggplants
• 6 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1 pinch of salt

Quinoa and Feta Filling

• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 dash of vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic - chopped or pressed
• 1/4 tsp of ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp of chili powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta

Cold Raw Crispy add-ins

• 1 red beetroot, coarsely grated
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated
• 1 red pepper, cut small
• 1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro

Directions:

1)Prepare Quinoa and Feta Filling by cooking 1 cup of quinoa as per package directions. While quinoa is simmering begin sauteing the chopped onion in the dash of oil. After onions are sweetly fragrant and soft add garlic, salt, turnmeric, chili powder and garam masala and cook another 2 minutes while stirring. Add salt to taste.  Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

2)Wash and prepare the Cold Raw Crispies - rinse and chop cilantro. Grate carrots and beet. Rinse and dice red bell pepper. Set aside.

   

3)Combine olive oil, ground cumin and salt in a small bowl. Trim stems from eggplants and slice into 1/4" slices lengthwise. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with oil combination and grill on barbecue for a couple minutes on both side until it begins to soften but prior to getting crisp.

4)Assembly time - one by one take a slice of grilled eggplant and sprinkle with feta, fill with a layer of quinoa mixture and sprinkle the cold crispies on top...then roll up. YUM!!!

Serve immediately.

 Goes great with my Greek Grilled Chicken Skewers. 

-Simply Sublime

Paleo Recipe Must Try's : Black Doughnuts, Raw Cheesecake, Morning Cakes, Cauliflower Fritters

AS I have been meandering some around pinterest some delightful dishes have been appearing. This put me on a quest of my own. I was on the hunt for unique, colorful and satisfying paleo dishes. Savory or sweet it did not matter. So,  I decided to post some  of the B E A U T I F U L and delicious paleo recipes I found  in this post.

I plan on trying them the scrumptious morsels within the next month, so I will let you know how tasty they really are.  I think you will quickly see why I picked this to try first.

In the Raw: Meyers Lemon & Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

{source: Roost}

Black Garlic Chocolate Doughnuts

{Source: GROKGRUB} 

Chicken Curry Tacos with Purple Slaw

{source: The Paleo Prize}

Double Coconut Muffins

{source: smitten kitchen}

Cauliflower Feta Fritters w/ Pomegranate

{Source: smitten kitchen}

Roasted Fennel & Orange Morning Cakes

(contains yogurt)

{Source: Roost}

If you have an equally appealing Paleo Recipe you think is a MUST try - please do share! 

-Simply Sublime

Paleo Bacon Wrapped Rosemary Garlic Chicken Recipe

This recipe puts the YUM in Paleo. I decided to take some of my VERY favorite foods and wrap them into one little bundle of deliciousness: Bacon, Chicken Breasts, Garlic, Rosemary and Olive Oil. DELISH! My family will tell you this may be one of their new favorites. Even those who may slightly grumble about the missing grains on a Paleo Plate were too busy licking their lips and scooping up every last morsel to notice.

*Paleo Disclaimer* There are Paleo friendly bacon's out there. I have heard Trader Joe's has one that is really good. However - our family is hooked on a specialty bacon. My dear Father-in law used to live in Wittenberg, Wisconsin - home of the BEST SMOKED meats ever - Nueske's! He started giving us meat baskets every Christmas and we are hooked. I did email Nueske's to see if their bacon could be considered Paleo and below is their response:

Nueskes.com

"Given the huge trend of paleo dieting these days, we’ve had this question a lot lately.  We don’t have a complete understanding of paleo diet constraints, but here are some bacon facts that might be important for you (we hear that cured meats and sugar are paleo “no-no’s” but please let us know if there are other things we should be answering):

1     If cured meats are not allowed in paleo diets, you should know that our Applewood Smoked Bacon and Pepper Bacon are cured.  They are not cured with nitrates but they are cured with nitrites – and for curing intents and purposes, they are the same.  We do use the least nitrite allowed by the USDA to still be considered cured, but the meat is still a cured product.

2    Our cure contains a small amount of sugar, so for a 2 oz. serving of Canadian Bacon that gets you 1 gram of sugar.  For 2 slices of Applewood Smoked or Pepper Bacon, it’s doesn’t even equal 1 gram – it’s considered 0 grams."  

I cannot tell you how quickly they responded to my request - and I love that they were so honest as well. So completely paleo or not, our family will continue on in our Nueske's addiction. Their canadian bacon is a must try too. So back to the recipe.

        Once the chicken is cooked it is ready to serve alongside your other favorite paleo dishes. I chose to pair ours with steamed broccoli and roasted butternut squash in olive oil and ghee. YUM!!! This paleo recipe is now one of our new family favorites. 

         Hope you enjoy!

-Simply Sublime

The GATHERING Place

There is nothing like Christmas is there? LOVE, love, love the gathering of people. 

What makes the gathering even better? 

YUMMY FOOD.

For Christmas this year our family is having the Christmas Dinner at our house. 

I have been busy pondering on the menu, the decor - shall we do a gift exchange game, shall we not. However one basic necessity had slipped my party planning checklist. PLATES!

Somehow over the last couple years plates have broken or disappeared (along with a ton of our silverware). You would think if plates have been counting down in numbers over the last two years we would have replaced them by now right? Well - in my thought process - plates need to coordinate with walls - walls need to coordinate with cupboards... cupboards need to coordinate with overall theme of the room. Our kitchen was in desperate need of, at the least, new paint. We needed time for the creative juices to plan it, and the incredibly cheap resources to become known. We finally came up with some plans.

This summer just before we left for Africa we decided we better start our Kitchen re-do while the weather was still warm enough for the cupboard door paint to dry outdoors. 

We did complete most of the cupboards before we left and I also got my long awaited PLATE WALL done. It has been months since we put it up and I am still in love with it. 

Since our return, end of August, we have been plugging away on bringing this kitchen to completion. 

S L O W L Y...very very slowly - 

we have been making progress.

It's not too bad. We can still entertain. Just don't look up.. (we haven't painted the ceiling yet)

We also, up until yesterday, would have served your food to you on one extreme or another: 

 paper plates... or our wedding china.

It's not like I was unaware of the need - but our plastic plates were functional. And to be honest after time in Africa functional feels pretty good compared to a lot of the beliefs out there that we have to have the newest, best, beautiful designs & decor. Still,  I had been searching the WEB and stores for a SUPER DEALIO on plates. I just have this internal battle constantly at war within me between need, want and willing to pay the cost. Instead of wanting to purchase higher quality now that we are advancing in years I am finding us doing just the opposite. It is REALLY hard to want to purchase much of anything at all that is not a true need. If you watch much tv, read magazines, visit the mall, or listen to the radio you probably know what I am talking about. Our heads are plum-filled with the "have to have's, you deserve it's". 

Well - I ended up finding some fun, colorful plates at a local box store that were going to end up being pretty reasonable. We could purchase a la carte for a variety of colors and only pieces we would really use. Best of all - the REAL BONUS was... We would have plates for Christmas Dinner, and I would have my Christmas present. All in one quick stop and shop. 

However, on our way to purchase them my dear hubby wanted to stop at our local thrift store to see what goodies we might find to list on ebay / etsy. We always scour the plate aisle. 

Treasure uncovered indeed...

After walking the length of the aisle I noticed a scattering of delicious colors, shapes and sizes.

SCORE! This was WAY cheaper and WAY more fun. The photos don't show the fun textures and shapes of the plates - but you can see the colors. I am SO EXCITED! I can't tell you how good I feel about saving money and using items that could have easily ended up as landfill.

Let the GATHERING begin!

-Simply Sublime