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

Family Summer Challenge: DIY Bible Verse Pennant Flag Project

Can you hear the birds chirping? 

Can you smell the the flowers blooming?

Summer is upon us. 

It's the time of year we all look forward to when we can finally get our ahhhhhh on. 

Our schedules relax a bit.

The kids have their eyes fixed on one thing and that is to:

PLAY! 

As much as I am looking forward to this respite, I am also sensing an urgency to press in and grab a hold of God with every ounce of my being. A call to keep our family focused and centered on things with eternal value. This is what spurred on the concept of this project. 

It began with the idea of each family member picking a verse for our whole family to memorize together. My thought was we would memorize one verse a week. Then God gave me this great picture of the scriptures on a pennant flag garland. So as we each picked our verses I designed a pennant shape on my design software and placed the text along with the keyword each verse represented. 

Next I printed them out and cut them in actual size so I could trace them onto a white tea towel. You could use any fabric but I like the texture and rough edges of a washed tea towel. It gives it a lil' vintagey feel. 

I placed the computer printed paper under the tea towel and am tracing the text underneath onto the tea towel with a sharpie pen. Since this will not need to be washed I didn't need a fabric pen - just a regular sharpie pen.

As fabric moves and shifts there are bound to be imperfections but I like the character this adds. You will notice in the above photo the fabric is longer on top than the paper pattern - I was going to have it go over the top of the banner and around the back - but changed my mind (yeah - go figure) I later trimmed it to the same size as the paper. 

Voila - the scripture pennants are ready - now for the colorful backing addition.

Check out the scraps we have on hand, just waiting for a fun project like this.

Now for the difficult part, picking which fabrics you want to use with which verses, making sure they coordinate nicely on the garland. I used pinking shears (because I like the look) and trimmed the fabric about a 1/2" larger then the tea towel panels - except for the top where I had about 1.5 inch larger so I could fold it behind and create a pocket to run the twine through.

Sewing the white panel to the colored backing. 

Now it is time to sew across the top back of the flag so there is a secure place to run the twine through. 

Here they are all sewn ready to be strung.

 I decided to use natural twine. I played with the idea of ribbon, white rope...but decided these would pair nicely with the craft look of the finished product.

I used a safety pin in the twine so that I could easily move the twine through the back pockets of the pennant flags. 

and here they are all strung and ready to hang. 

We hung them in a doorway of our house where we will frequently be reminded to memorize away. The wee ones are SO excited they each have their verse they picked out on display for us to work on. They can't wait to begin.

The kids decided we will be starting with the flag on the right and work our way to the left. Don't even ask me, I have no idea and can't begin to tell you how much this goes against my personal wiring - but I LOVE that they are excited and have a plan for our family to work through this together. 

Hoping this little family project of ours inspires you to channel your inner creativity and make a fun family plan to keep God the focus as you rejuvenate over the summer. 

-Simply Sublime!