Gluten-free quinoa wraps – our recipe

We hope you made it to the Simply For Life (SFL) seminar last night at the Trade and Convention Centre. If you did, you may have seen us. We were one of the many Saint John vendors taking part. Events like this are always full of information and for us it was a nudge to get on something we have in the works: identifying the SFL approved items on our menu.

On the subject of foods, last year when we were at the Fundy Food Festival we served up quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) wraps and they really went over well with everyone. Quinoa is a gluten-free food and we’re posting our recipe (see below).

 

What’s quinoa?

Quinoa is a grain-like crop grown for its seeds, which are edible. It has a long history as a food source. More significantly, it’s known for a number of valuable properties. Wikipedia tells us quinoa is,

“… Highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.”

Now, here’s our quinoa wraps recipe, via our long time friend Lianne of Exhale Coaching in British Columbia. Thanks Lianne!

Quiona Wraps Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cups quinoa (keen-wa)
  • 2 cups water
  • Lettuce (iceberg, butterhead or romaine)

Method

Combine water and quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered and cook for 15 minutes.

Marinade

  • 3 tbs ginger, fresh and grated
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbs cilantro
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 3 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 scallions (optional)

Method

Combine ginger, scallions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and cilantro. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, honey and salt. Combine these together and then add the quinoa.

Note: can be served warm or cooled. Next day, it’s even better. Can be served on its own or with a dollop of peanut butter / peanut sauce on each with the lettuce.

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We gave away tickets to Black Comedy at the Imperial

Director of 'Black Comedy', Scott Thomas (photo: Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal)

We’ve just given away a pair of tickets to Thursday’s performance of Black Comedy, written by Peter Shaffer and on the main stage at the Imperial Theatre. The tickets are thanks to the Saint John Theatre Company and it should be an intriguing and funny show.

Scott Thomas will be directing and the Telegraph-Journal tells us it is his directorial debut and he is, “… the founder of Improvisation Corporation, a group of comedic improvisers who perform a variety of shows and formats around the city.”

Our winner is Kim Atkinson of Saint John. She was pretty excited about winning the tickets. Thanks to everyone who filled out ballots at the restaurant! And by the way …

You don’t have to win tickets to see Black Comedy. It runs Thursday through Saturday this week, March 17 to 19, and you can get tickets by calling the Imperial at 674-4100.

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Over the moon with our social media nomination

Saint John has its first ever social media awards, The Saltys – a celebration of the Saint John Social Media Community. It’s set for February 17 just down the road from us at the Saint John Ale House. And guess what? Urban Deli is a nominee! We’re over the moon!

We’re nominated in the category “Best Use of Social Media in a Campaign” for customer engagement. Actually, it’s really our customers who should be getting the tip of the hat. You guys have been fabulous on our blog, Facebook page and on Twitter. And you’ve kept us on our toes!

We’re not always as on top of things as we would like. Being a small operation, our main focus is the kitchen and the restaurant, so we can’t always be engaging people online to the extent we would like to. So for the record, we would like to say a big “Thank you!” to everyone for the RTs and wonderful comments we’ve seen in our feeds.

Huge congratulations as well to all the nominees in all the categories. Looking at the list is a bit like looking at a list of friends. We’re pretty sure we know everyone there.

Urban Deli has been using social media for some time now. We started on Twitter in March of 2009 – that’s almost two years ago – and started our Facebook page not long after. It was lot of figuring out how to use this social media thing (we bumbled a lot with the Facebook part initially) but it became very clear, very soon that social media was about one thing: people.

So it really is a lot like being in the restaurant where we get to interact with our customers face to face. With social media, we do the same thing, just not face to face.

Once again, we’re very excited that Saint John now has its own social media awards — The Saltys — and even more excited to see we’ve been nominated.

By the way, the online voting is now on. Cast your vote while you can and we hope to see all of you February 17 for the big party!

Thank you again Saint John!

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Lunchtime! Here’s what’s on deck

Urban Deli's meatloaf very popular "comfort food," the meatloaf sandwich.

We’re moving closer to the lunching hour so we thought we’d better let you in on what the features are today. They would be:

1) Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich with side choice – Delicious!

2) Quiche is our Deli version of a Greek Quiche topped with our own Cheese Sauce

3) Deli Meatloaf Sandwich with side choice – In our top five sellers in 2010

4) Creamy Pesto Pasta – Roasted Red Peppers, Portabello Mushrooms & Spinach in a creamy pesto sauce & topped with fresh Parmesan cheese

By the way, if you get so busy you can’t see a way to come in and sit down for lunch, just give us a call at 652-3354 and come by to pick up your order. It’s pretty easy.

Hope you’re day is going great!

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Lunch special today – heat!

It’s a chilly day so our lunch specials are all about heat! We have:

1. Steaming & Stacked High Montreal Style Smoked Meat Sandwich on Montreal Rye Bread

2. Roast Beef Melt Sandwich – comes with side choice

3. Montreal Style Smoked Meat Sheppards Pie and comes with a side choice

4. Vegetarian Pasta – Creamy Pesto….sauteed mushrooms, roasted red peppers,spinach, cream & parmesan cheese

5. Daily Quiche:  Bacon, tomato, spinach, mushrooms, onions & cheese – topped with our homemade cheese sauce

6. Soup:  Aromatic Beef Soup served with a homemade buttermilk biscuit

Keep warm and we you can make it in so we can provide you with some Urban Deli heat. 🙂

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Groggy and hungry? We’ll take care of you!

Pulled pork eggs benny on an English muffin served with deli potatoes. Home-made hollandaise sauce is gluten-free.

So here it is … New Year’s Day. How was your night? We hope you brought in 2011 with friends and fun.

And if you overindulged, as in if you’re hungover, drop by the Deli day.

We’re open for breakfast from 9:00am till 3:00pm today, so bring your hangover in and have a relaxing Urban Deli breakfast. Have a look at the breakfast menu. We think you’ll find something that appeals and puts a smile on your face.

You may want to consider starting with a mimosa — hair of the dog so to speak.

Start your morning with a Mimosa (champagne & fresh squeezed orange juice) or make it a Royale by adding Grand Marnier.

A mimosa is champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice. You may even want to make it a Royale by adding Grand Marnier. Mmm!

There’s no rush to get out of bed and make it in for breakfast because we’re open till the early afternoon — 3:00pm. So get up when you’re ready and drop in when the spirit moves you (but before 3pm). Today is for relaxing and taking it easy.

But please pop on in so we can wish you a Happy New Year and start your 2011 with one of our delightful Deli breakfasts.

And don’t forget, we’ve got you covered for coffee too thanks to our friends at Red Whale!

Have a wonderful day and a thrilling New Year!

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Sold out tonight but join us tomorrow for breakfast

We’re sold out now for our New Year’s Eve dinner tonight with chef Fred Decker. But don’t forget, when all the parties are over and you wake up tomorrow ready to ease your way into the New Year, we’re open for New Year’s Day breakfast from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

Bring your hangover!

It’s breakfast only tomorrow, till 3pm.

One last note … we’ll be closing a bit earlier today, around 3:00 or 4:00 in order to get ready for tonight’s New Year’s Eve dinner.

Have a great New Year to everyone!

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