Spooning a Cucumber

I went to a Vegan class and learned how to use quinoa. By the way, I found a four pound bag of quinoa selling for about $9.00 at Costco. What a surprise since I paid about that much at the Navy Exchange for less than half that amount.

So now I have a lot of quinoa.

I decided to make a salad to have with Art's cousin, Renee who I take Zumba with. It's a great, cool, healthy sort of meal for a lunch after sweating it out at Zumba. I needed to add some cucumber and remembered a tip I got from another cooking class for Heart Healthy foods that I went to with some friends recently. I know. I know. You probably already knew about this trick, but I thought it was so neat.

And yes, Art (whose family owned a restaurant) already knew this too. I suppose I'm the last one to learn this.

The presenter was a doctor who said Mediterranean foods are great for the heart. A lot of the recipes he was sharing with us were Greek. I don't think I'll make it because it required more than five ingredients. I'm a very lazy cook!

Anyway, he said that when you add cucumbers it's good to take out the seeds because it often adds too much moisture to the dish and reduces the flavor from the seasoning. He showed us how you use a spoon to gently scoop out the seeds.

That never occurred to me. He also recommended using Japanese cucumbers because they don't have that waxy coating on it. That much I already knew. I can get cucumbers quite cheap at the Open (Farmer's) Market.

Another tip: When you are measuring honey, wipe some oil into your measuring cup first. All the honey will pour easily out of the cup.

Eat Greek yogurt. It's supposed to be better for you. I have some in the fridge right now.

Even if I haven't made many or rather any of the recipes he showed us, I was thrilled to have come away with these tips.

And let's face it, I just liked eating all the samples he passed out.