{meatless mondays – kaniwa endive “boats” featuring spring-welcoming english peas}

happy {meatless} monday everyone!

these are SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!  i planned on just eating a few and saving some for lunch the next day, but i ended up devouring the whole batch in under 5 minutes!  so delicious!

i’ve introduced you to kaniwa a few times now… and this is one of my new favourite things to do with it!

i am all about texture – i love it in both food and foto.  kaniwa has plenty of texture and the most fun little crunch.  you know how quinoa has that little “pop” kind of crunch going on?! – well kaniwa is like that but it’s much smaller and it’s just so fun to eat!  i also love belgian endive for that reason – fun to eat and TEXTURE! so, when i combined the two in this recipe, my taste buds and senses were dancing because it was just so completely delicious and enjoyable!  and healthy and simple and easy and all of those things i like to promote here at food and foto dot com!

so without further ado, here is a recipe that’s great as an hors d’oeuvres, snack, light dinner, fun brunch… or blog-worthy dish 😉

another amazing item i will have to blog about again soon – english peas.  there are only a few other produce items that make me think of spring like english peas do.  i’m trying to encourage it to hurry and get here – we are due for more snow this week, blast!  i know we need the moisture, but i just wanna wear flip flops and t-shirts already! 

i digress –

ingredients {makes about 8-10 “boats”}:

– 1 medium-sized belgian endive

– 1/4 cup tomato, chopped

– handful of fresh english peas, shelled

– 1 cup kaniwa {you do not need to rinse it}

– about 2 tablespoons honey {preferably local}

– pat of your favourite butter {or substitute} 

the ratio for kaniwa is 1:1.  add it with water to a pan and simmer on low to medium heat. it floats at first… just keep stirring gently while you prepare the other ingredients… {recognize the pan, auntdel?!}

shell your peas… eat some while you do it 😉

chop a little tomato up…

slice off the bottom of the endive and gently pull leaves back, creating little handheld scoops… i love foods that don’t require utensils!

see what i mean about the  kaniwa? it also gets much darker when the water is absorbed.

add in a little butter…

toss in tomatoes and squeeze in a little honey or maple syrup {less of it than honey} to sweeten kaniwa slightly… it is a little “earthy” on its own, so this helps the dish tremendously and takes on a wonderful flavour with all of the other ingredients…

let the kaniwa cook and absorb most of the water…

then toss in your english peas… cook them to your liking.  i threw mine in toward the end and only cooked them for about 4-5 minutes to keep some their fun texture, as well!  this dish just pops with flavour and texture – it’s something to appreciate!

cover the pan for the remaining few minutes and keep the heat low…

scoop your fun textured creation into the endive leaves…

how pretty! and colourful!

get ready for something different and delicious and damn good for you!

nom nom… NOM!

{high fiber, high protein, low sodium, loaded with vitamins and minerals}

Tags: colorful, colour, cooking, easy, english peas, food, food is cool, food photography, fun with food, health, healthy, high-fiber, high-protein, kaniwa, meatless monday, photography, photos, recipes, simple, vegan, vegetarian