Garlic Mushroom Quinoa & a New Favorite Sauce!

I'm always on the lookout for side dishes that are easy to make and healthy. We usually have brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and quinoa on hand and lately I have been obsessed with mushrooms, so when I stumbled across this recipe I knew I had to try it.

You will need:

1 cup of quinoa
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 pound of cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
5 cloves of garlic, thinly minced
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons of grated parmesan

To start, cook your quinoa according to package directions, then set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, mushrooms, and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, under tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stirred in quinoa until combined. Top with grated parmesan and serve.

As a main dish I baked chicken breasts coated in this delicious barbecue sauce that I found recently from the Baltimore Barbecue Company! They're a new company that opened this year and can be found in many stores around the area like Whole Foods or you can purchase their sauces from their website, shop.baltimorebbqco.com. I found a video about them today in The Baltimore Sun; they just introduced a new sauce called The Black Raven in addition to the original and the Chesapeake. I of course bought the Chesapeake and love it! Go out and get some! Here are the links to some articles about them that you may find interesting:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/lutherville/ph-tt-baltimore-barbecue-0903-20140902-story.html

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-09-25/entertainment/bal-baltimore-barbecue-company-wins-second-place-in-national-contest-20140925_1_national-contest-second-place-miss-shirley

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-baltimore-barbecue-company-introduces-new-sauces-20141029-premiumvideo.html

As a side note, if you know me you know that I am obsessed with peacocks. While out in Frederick a few weeks ago I found this adorable wooden spoon!