A lot going on in there...

I’ve been on sort of a never-ending quest to find the perfect lunch salad. It’s tricky business because you want something that had plenty of filling ingredients so you can make it through the afternoon. Ideally, it would also keep really well so you can take it for an entire week.

Oh. It also needs to taste really, really good so you don’t get bored with it.

You can see a lot of my previous lunch salad attempts in the Macheesmo salads category. I try a bunch out that I don’t always post as well. I try to only post the really outstanding ones.

Which would easily include this one.

In fact, this one might have been my favorite to-date. The funny part is that it was inspired largely on a pre-made salad that Betsy grabbed at a local grocery store one day when I completely failed at making a lunch salad. It was so good that she asked me to try to re-do it. I added a bunch more veggies and stuff to it, but the idea is basically the same.

Asian Quinoa Salad

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa, cooked according to package
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 scallions, minced
4-5 radishes, sliced thin
1/3 Cup soy sauce (dressing)
1 Tablespoon mirin rice wine vinegar (dressing)
1 Teaspoon spicy sesame oil (optional for dressing)
Chopped peanuts
Chopped fresh basil
Toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package.

2) Chop veggies finely and stir in with cooked quinoa.

3) Drizzle in dressing a bit at a time. Taste and adjust with more dressing if necessary. You might not need all of it.

4) Toast sesame seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes on medium heat until the seeds are lightly browned and fragrant.

5) Stir in peanuts, seeds, and basil.

Making the Quinoa

Quinoa sounds all fancy (and can sometimes come with a fancy price tag), but it’s surprisingly easy to make. You should read the instructions on the package since there are a few different varieties of quinoa. In general though, rinse the quinoa with cold water and then get some water simmering in a large pot. Usually you want a 2-to-1 ratio, water-to-quinoa.

Once the water is simmering pour in the rinsed quinoa, cover it, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Then kill the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then lightly fluff it up and you’ll have a really delicious quinoa!

quin-wow.

Prepping Other Ingredients

The list of veggies you could toss in this salad is pretty endless. I’d recommending using whatever you have in your fridge that might go well in it. For me this included some cucumber, red pepper, onions, and shredded carrots. I also picked up some really beautiful radishes at the market on this given week and I figured they would give the salad a nice crunch also.

One thing I wouldn’t add to this salad is any kind of cheese like feta. Sometimes I like adding cheeses to salads like this, but in this case I think it would be too much.

Colorful stuff!

As far as prepping the veggies go, just try to get them sliced up pretty finely. You don’t want any huge chunks of any one thing. For the cucumber, I would remove the seeds, but you can leave on the skin if you want.

These were my radishes after a quick dice.

Go pretty thin on everything.

Once everything is in the bowl with the quinoa it’s a really pretty mix.

Hard to get healthier than this!

The Dressing

I kept the dressing pretty simple for this salad. You could fancy it up a bit with some fresh ginger and/or garlic, but I this was a quick and easy dressing that definitely go the job done.

You can definitely leave out the sesame chili oil or sub it with normal sesame oil, but I do think it’s a really nice touch.

Peanut are optional... only if you're allergic.

Just mix up the soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil and drizzle it over the salad. Depending on your tastes you might not need all the dressing so I would add about half of it and then adjust the flavor.

It’s pretty hard to remove soy sauce from a salad like this so start slow.

Add a bit at a time.

Once you add some dressing, stir it all together and then taste it. Just adjust it to your tastes at that point!

The Bonus Items

There’s a few bonus items that I think kick this salad up a notch. I added a few handfuls of chopped peanuts, a big handful of fresh basil which I just diced up and a few Tablespoons of sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds can be a tiny bit bland straight out of the box, but if you toast them for a few minutes in a dry pan, they become lightly browned and really fragrant.

So I recommend toasting them.

Love the smell of these guys.

You could add the garnishes to the top if you want, but I just stirred everything together.

This is supposed to be a low maintenance dish after all.

Lunch every day!

Honestly, this is about as healthy as a salad can get in my opinion. It’s got tons of veggies and flavor to get you going. If you wanted to add even more protein to it you could add some chicken or tofu, but I didn’t even think it needed it.

It’s a great change from the standard deli bar salad or whatever.

There's grains in those cakes!

Even though quinoa isn’t technically a grain, I’m learning that it shares one major trait of most grains: You can put it in almost anything.

Scones, muffins, smoothies… the list is pretty endless.

When I cook quinoa these days I just cook the whole bag of it (which is a lot) because I know I can use the leftovers in all kinds of fun stuff.

On this particular day, I made some pancakes that turned out really great so I thought I’d share them!

Quinoa Pancakes

Yield: 6-8 large pancakes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Cup cooked quinoa
1 ripe banana, mushed (opt.)
2 large eggs
1 Cup milk
1/2 Cup buttermilk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to instructions. Let cool a bit before using in pancakes. Using leftover quinoa is the best option.

2) Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3) In a smaller bowl, mash banana until it's a paste. Stir in wet ingredients (milks and eggs) and quinoa.

4) Mix wet stuff into dry stuff and stir well to combine.

5) Finally, stir in melted butter.

6) Put a nonstick pan or griddle over medium heat and once hot, add a tiny pad of butter or spray with nonstick spray. Ladle on about 1/2 Cup of batter. Feel free to make them bigger or smaller. That's just a good starting size.

7) When bubbles form on top of the pancake and the edges firm up a bit, flip it!

8) Cook for a minute on the second side.

9) Serve immediately with syrup and butter.

The Quinoa

Ok. I’ll be completely honest. I’m not sure if I’d recommend making quinoa just for these pancakes. It’s not that they aren’t good, but I consider pancakes to be a quick breakfast. They really only take 10 minutes to whip together.

So adding 25 minutes onto that time just to add in some quinoa probably doesn’t make sense.

What I do recommend though is making a lot of quinoa, using some of it for a different quinoa dish, and saving a cup of the cooked stuff for these pancakes over the weekend!

If you’ve never made quinoa before, have no fear. If you can make rice or pasta, you can make quinoa.

I love this stuff.

Unless your quinoa specifically says that it’s pre-washed, I would always wash mine a bit. I typically do this in a strainer, but I’ve used a bowl in a pinch.

Once the quinoa is rinsed well, you can usually just follow the instructions on the package. Depending on the exact kind of quinoa you have, it might vary a bit. Normally, you want to add 1 Cup of quinoa to 2 cups of boiling water, then let it simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.

You should end up with a nice, light finished dish. It shouldn’t be mushy at all. You can use a fork to kind of fluff it up like you would with rice.

Leftover would work best.

The Batter

Besides the quinoa, this is a pretty standard buttermilk pancake recipe. You’ll need some dry stuff like flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

The wet stuff is also pretty standard.

Basic stuff. Not pictured: Banana

The only changes I made to a completely standard recipe besides the quinoa was to mush up a banana and add that to the batter. I also used brown sugar instead of normal sugar.

Both of these gave the pancakes a wonderful richness. I really recommend them, but the pancakes would be fine without them also.

To make the batter, stir together your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mash up the banana and then add the liquid ingredients (milks and eggs). Finally stir in the quinoa. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.

Finally, stir in your melted butter. My batter was perfect on try one, but pancake batter can always be a bit touch and go. Feel free to thin yours out with more milk if it looks too thick.

Chunky batter!

Cooking the pancakes

Every time I cook pancakes for someone, I get the same two questions: 1) How do you know when to flip and 2) How do you know when they’re done.

Now, of course, the timing depends on a huge number of variables including the pan you are using, the size of your pancakes, and the heat of your stove.

Assuming you have a good nonstick pan and your pan is over a medium heat, you’ll probably need about 3-4 minutes total to cook a pancake.

As far as when to flip, there’s a visual clue. Look for big bubbles to form on top of the pancake. The edges should also start to firm up a bit.

This guy, for example, is ready to flip!

Ready for a flip!

Flip with confidence people.

Non-confident flipping will end in a big mess.

Once the pancake is flipped it probably only needs a minute on the second side. It definitely needs less time than side one.

Boom!

Butter and syrup are obviously good on these guys.

I used a peach syrup that we had in our pantry that turned out to be very good.

Assuming that you cook the quinoa well, it gives the pancakes this awesome texture. It’s not crunchy, but it just feels more substantial somehow.

Solid breakfast.

If you really wanted to pack these full of quinoa flavor, they do make a quinoa flour as well that can be purchased at most natural foods stores. The problem is that it’s probably the most expensive flour that you’ll find. A single small bag of it will easily run you $10.

But using normal flour and stuffing it full of the cooked stuff ended up being a great pancake variation.

Give this a shot if you ever have some quinoa left over.

Colorful and delicious!

As luck would have it, the New York Times published a piece on quinoa just a few days ago and made it clear that while the grain is growing in popularity here in the states, the rising demand for it has made it impossible for Bolivians to purchase the grain that they’ve grown and eaten for hundreds of years.

I feel bad about this, but you guys should feel worse because hey: You voted for it!

No but seriously, I hope that either A) the quinoa trend will die down a bit and therefore the price will go down or B) the Bolivian government will find some way to subsidize the grain for their people so they can afford the grain they’ve lived on for so many years.

I have a feeling that B is more likely because, frankly, quinoa is really good and I expect that it’ll probably only increase in popularity as people catch on.

Quinoa and Veggie Pilaf

Yield: Serves 6.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups quinoa, rinsed
1 Cup vegetable stock
2 Cups frozen peas, 1 Cup for sauce and 1 for dish
1 clove garlic
1/4 Cup fresh mint, chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 large leek, white part only diced
3/4 Cups shallot, diced (1-2 large shallots)
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (or any mushroom)
1 14-ounce bunch of asparagus, cut into sections
Salt and pepper
Hot sauce (opt.)

Helpful Equipment:
A blender!

Directions:

1) To make sauce, blend the stock, half the peas, a handful of mint, and a clove of garlic. Once it's smooth, set it aside for later.

2) To make quinoa, add 1 1/2 Cups of rinsed quinoa to 2 1/2 Cups boiling water. Cover and simmer for 15-17 minutes until quinoa is tender and cooked.

3) Dice leeks and shallots. Slice mushrooms thinly and chop asparagus into pieces.

4) Add butter to a large skillet and once melted, add leeks and shallots. Cook until veggies are soft, about 4-5 minutes.

5) Then add asparagus and mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until mushrooms are tender and asparagus is tender, but still slightly crunchy.

6) Once veggies are done, fold in quinoa, pea sauce, whole peas, and season with salt and pepper. Stir until pilaf is warmed through.

7) Serve with hot sauce!

Making the sauce

This dish has a very light pea-based sauce that gives the final dish a tiny bit of sweetness. It’s basically a really simple pea soup.

Frozen peas. So sue me.

The sauce is pretty simple to make. Just add half of the peas, some vegetable stock, a good handful of mint, and a clove of garlic to a blender and blend it up until it’s smooth. Then just set it aside until later.

I used frozen peas for this dish and I think they work fine. No need to go through the trouble of shelling a bunch of peas for it.

Basically pea soup.

Quinoa

I would like to think I was a leader in the quinoa world. I’ve been eating it for many years now and I can say that it’s definitely gone up in price. Almost ridiculously so. I think a bag will run you $4-$5 these days which is more expensive than most grains on the market.

I used to be able to get it wholesale for about $1/pound I think, but I don’t mind paying more for it. It’s still one of the best grains out there in my opinion.

Sorry Bolivia...

The key to quinoa, and one that I’ve messed up a few times, is to make sure you don’t overcook it. If you do, it’ll turn really mushy and not good at all.

To cook 1 1/2 Cups of quinoa (what the recipe calls for), you’ll need about 2 1/2 Cups water. Bring it to a boil with a pinch of salt and then add the quinoa. Stir it and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes covered. That should be enough time for all the water to evaporate, but if there’s still any water, you can uncover the pot so it evaporates quickly.

You should end up with a really fluffy quinoa. The grains should still have some texture to them though.

Don't overcook this stuff!

The Other Stuff

There’s some great flavors in this dish besides the quinoa. Also included is some leeks and shallots which are a great substitute for the standard onion flavor.

If you’ve never chopped up a leek before, don’t fret. Chop off the green leaves, then slice the white part down the center. Under cold water, rinse off the leek halves being sure to get in between the layers of leek. There’s tons of dirt in there that you need to wash out. Then you can just dice up the leek like normal.

Good flavors.

Also, you’ll need some mushrooms and asparagus. I used shiitake mushrooms which have a nice spring lightness to them, but you could use any mushroom you want really.

Asparagus isn’t optional in my opinion for this dish. It really makes it.

Good spring veg.

To start off the dish, add the butter to a large skillet. When it’s melted, add the shallots and leeks and cook them over medium heat until they’re soft. That’ll probably take 4-5 minutes.

This'll smell good.

Then add in the mushrooms and asparagus and continue to cook, stirring every once in awhile. Cook it down until the mushrooms are soft and the asparagus is cooked but still slightly crunchy. Mine cooked about 5 minutes and the asparagus was perfect.

Again. Don't overcook here...

Finally, fold in the quinoa, pea sauce, and whole peas. Stir this all together and once it is warmed through, it’s ready to serve. Season it with salt and pepper at this point. It’ll probably need a pinch of both.

BAM.

Ok. I’ll be honest.

I liked this dish a lot. But I thought it needed something. That something was hot sauce.

Cheating?

Most things are better with hot sauce, but I thought this dish was a lot better with hot sauce.

Betsy liked it without though so do what you want.

But try it with hot sauce.

Awesome for lunches

I’m constantly on a quest to find good lunch dishes that are something different than the classic sandwich. It’s a tough deal because you want something flavorful and tasty, but it also needs to be filling and healthy.

If I don’t have a filling lunch, I find myself snacking on the chips at about 4PM. Ok. I sometimes snack no matter what, but it’s especially bad if I skip a hearty lunch.

Quinoa has been the perfect base for my lunch salad experiments. It has a good amount of protein and fiber which will keep you full. It also has a great texture and can be thrown in with a huge list of other tasty ingredients.

In short, quinoa is my salad king.

Pesto Quinoa Salad

Yield: Serves 6-8.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces quinoa, cooked
1 small red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 orange or green pepper, diced
1 cucumber, seeded, peeled and diced
1 Cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 large beet, roasted and diced (opt.)
1/3 Cup parsley, chopped

Basic Pesto:
Makes about 1 1/2 cups pesto
2 Cups basil
2 cloves garlic
1/3 Cup pine nuts
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor for pesto

Directions:

1) Combine pesto ingredients in a processor and pulse until combined.

2) Cook quinoa according to package and set aside.

3) While quinoa cooks, chop all your veggies and roast your beet (350 for about an hour) if you're using beets.

4) Combine veggies with quinoa. Crumble in feta. Toss with pesto.

5) The salad is best if you let it chill before serving.

Making the Pesto

I make pesto all the time and I love playing around with the flavors. A bit more garlic or pine nuts can really change the flavor of it and make it very different. If you’re making it, don’t stress about the exact amounts. Just taste it as you go and adjust.

It takes just a minute or two to toss all the ingredients into a processor and pulse it together. When I make pesto, I normally make a double or triple batch and then freeze some pesto for later.

If you’re in a super-rush, you can use jarred pesto without a problem also.

Pesto is so easy.

The Quinoa

Cooking quinoa is like cooking a strange mix between oatmeal and beans. Basically, I just always follow the instructions on the package and it ends up being great.

It’s a really flexible grain so if, while you’re cooking it, you notice that yours is a bit dry, feel free to add more water. One time I added way too much water and just strained my quinoa through a strainer when it was done and that worked great also.

So, basically, it’s pretty hard to screw up.

Love this stuff.

Cooking it takes maybe 15-20 minutes. It’s not too bad.

If you have leftovers, this stuff freezes great actually. Just cool it down completely and then seal it in a freezer bag. Try to get out as much air as possible and it’ll keep in your freezer for a few months. Then you can just thaw it in the microwave (low power) when needed.

Nice and fluffy.

Chopping Practice

It’s okay that the quinoa takes a few minutes to cook because you’ll have a lot of chopping to do to finish off the salad.

The veggies I used in the salad are just a suggestion. I would definitely keep the onion, feta and chickpeas though. Those are really nice flavor additions.

Mix and match to your liking

Try to dice up all your ingredients so they are roughly the same size. The onions should maybe be a bit smaller.

Unless you’re an expert chopper, this will take a few minutes, but it’s worth it because you’re getting meals for days out of it.

Chopping skillz.

The Beet!

I had a spare beet sitting around so I roasted it up and included it in the salad. This is very optional. The beet added some nice sweetness to the dish which I liked but it also had the unfortunate side effect of turning the salad a kind of purple color!

If you’ve never roasted a beet before, just toss it on a baking sheet and roast it at 350 until it’s very tender, about an hour normally.

Let it cool a bit and then you can peel it and dice it up.

Love this.

Combining everything

A salad like this is very flexible. Start by adding your quinoa to the veggies that you’ve chopped and then add enough pesto to lightly coat the salad. You should need about 1 to 1 1/2 Cups of pesto, but feel free to use more or less depending on your tastes.

I stirred in my beet last to try to minimize the color burn, but it still turned stuff pretty red.

A slight change in color...

My final salad wasn’t quite as appealing as the nice green salad in the first photo, but it tasted better in my opinion. I loved the beet addition.

So let the record state that pesto plus quinoa plus a bunch of random veggies makes for a really good lunch!

Quinoa to the rescue!

This week and next I’m on a mission. First, I’m using as few pots and pans as possible for each meal I post (because I only have a few in my empty kitchen now). Second, I also want to try to use up as much of the food that I’ve accumulated in my fridge/pantry/freezer as possible before I hit the road next weekend (30th).

That’s why I was super-excited when you guys voted for a casserole dish. It won by maybe the largest margin ever by the way. You all were really itching for a casserole and I knew it’d give me the chance to get rid of some stuff!

This, my friends, is a unique casserole. It’s actually based off of a recipe for a couscous casserole but I wasn’t going to go out and buy couscous just for this one dish so I decided to use some leftover quinoa I had on hand. It worked way better than I expected.

Quinoa Casserole

Yield: Makes an 9x9 dish.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 medium squash or zucchini, sliced
1 28 ounce can whole or crushed tomatoes (not sauce though)
Roughly 3 Cups cooked quinoa (you can use couscous as well, you could use 1.5 cups uncooked couscous)
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 pound ricotta cheese
Pinch paprika
Pinch of fresh (or dry) thyme
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1) If you're using quinoa, cook it according to package before starting casserole. Ideally, you could use leftover quinoa for this dish. Otherwise you can use couscous, but don't pre-cook the couscous.

2) Start by slicing the squash/zucchini and laying it out on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until soft but not soggy at all.

3) In a medium sauce pan, add about a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and red peppers. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

4) Add tomatoes and spices and stir. Bring to a simmer and turn down heat.

5) Add quinoa or couscous and cook until thick. Taste for seasonings.

6) Butter a 9x9 baking dish and add a thin layer of sauce to the bottom of the dish. Then add a layer of vegetables and ricotta cheese.

7) Layer on most of the sauce, followed by more zucchini, followed by the rest of the ricotta and sauce. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

8) Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbling, about 30-40 minutes.

9) Let cool for a few minutes and serve.

Adapted from a recipe in How to Cook Everything.

This casserole was much better than it looks. In fact, even though I wasn’t actually trying to make it meaty, it turned out being more meaty than my vegetarian sloppy joes yesterday! The quinoa/tomato combo had great texture and flavor.

Prepping the Zucchini

This is actually a layered casserole dish and one of the layers is some sort of squash or zucchini. Use whatever you can find that looks really fresh. Probably this time of year, squash might be easier. Slice it not too thin and lay the slices on a baking sheet so they slightly overlap.

Then drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Ready to bake!

You want the slices to be slightly soft, but not soggy at all and not burned for sure.

These are about perfect. When you pull them out, just set them aside. We’ll use them later.

Just until it's soft.

The Quinoa

So like I said, I’ve been desperately trying to use up food I have before I leave for Colorado. I had a huge block of frozen quinoa in my freezer which was kind of the inspiration for this dish.

Want to see what frozen quinoa looks like? It’s not the most appealing thing in the world.

Quinoa on ice.

But honestly quinoa freezes perfectly fine and then you can add it to all kinds of soups or stews or whatever. It’s not quite as good as fresh if you just eat it alone, but it’s wonderful as an add-in which is why I freeze some when I make it!

If you don’t want to make a batch of quinoa for this casserole then you can definitely use couscous which you can just throw into the sauce at the end of it. That would be equally good I think and what the original recipe actually called for.

The Sauce

Before we add in the quinoa (or couscous), let’s build up some flavors.

First, in your pot (I only have one and it’s a medium sized one), add a good drizzle of olive oil (1 Tablespoon about) and set it over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the chopped onions and peppers.

Let this cook for a few minutes until the veggies are getting soft.

Basic stuff.

Then add the canned tomatoes along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, some paprika, and fresh thyme if you have some on hand (or dried is fine too). Stir this all together and let it simmer down for a few minutes.

Then go ahead and stir in either your quinoa or couscous! The couscous will soak up way more liquid than the quinoa. If you use quinoa, let it simmer for a few more minutes to get thick.

This is what you’re looking for.

All mixed up!

Making the Casserole

Once you have the zucchini and sauce done, it’s time to put it all together. I decided to put in some layers of ricotta to make the dish a bit richer. You could also cook up some ground turkey/beef and add that to the mix.

Start by lightly buttering a 9×9 baking dish and spoon in a thin layer of sauce in the bottom. Then add a layer of squash/zucchini and crumble on some ricotta.

Get it?

Then most of your remaining sauce, another layer of veggies, and more ricotta. Finish the dish off with a layer of sauce.

Lookin' good.

You can bake this right away or make it the day before and store it in the fridge until you need it.

Baking time

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grate some Parmesan cheese on top of the casserole. The Parmesan cheese is optional, but I think it adds a good flavor.

I, of course, packed my grater so I just sliced of some thin slices and added those on top. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until it’s bubbling all over.

Let it cool for a minute and then serve it up!

This warmed the soul!

This was kind of a messy dish but the flavor was awesome. If you use couscous I think it would firm up even more.

I was really impressed by the flavor and texture that the quinoa gave the dish though. Definitely a keeper.

The version I photographed for this post was the sweet potato version.

Almost too healthy.

Quinoa, if you’ve never used it before, is an awesome grain. It’s packed with fiber and protein so it’s a great food if you’re vegetarian. It also happens to be delicious so even carnivores shouldn’t be afraid of the stuff. I’ve used it a few times on Macheesmo before, but this is by far the most quinoa-packed thing I’ve made.

Quinoa Salad

Yield: Serves 6-8.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Cups dried quinoa, rinsed
2 large sweet potatoes, cubed and blanched (or sub 1 medium butternut or acorn squash, halfed, roasted and cubed)
1 Cup dried cranberries
1 Cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
Juice from one lemon
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Teaspoon paprika (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Rinse Quinoa with cold water to remove dirt. Drain the quinoa and add it to a pot with 2 cups water for every 1 cup quinoa. Bring to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Be sure to check your cooking instructions on your quinoa as cooking times might vary a bit.

2) Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork and bake them at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until they are tender. Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes when they come out and then peel and dice them.

3) Mix cubed potatoes in with quinoa.

4) For dressing, whisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, and paprika together. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and pour it over your quinoa. Go light on the dressing. You might not need all of it.

5) Stir in cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

6) Taste for salt and pepper and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Making the quinoa

Quinoa is like any grain really. To cook it, just soak it for a few minutes in a bowl of cold water to remove any dirt. You don’t need to soak it overnight or anything.

Take a bath quinoa!

Next, add the quinoa to a large pot with cold water at a ratio of 2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa. Simmer on low heat, covered, for about 10 minutes until the water is absorbed and the quinoa has turned translucent. That’s how you know it’s done! Also it’ll be tender and tasty!

Nice and fluffy.

The Sweet Potatoes

Unlike some previous sweet potato experiments I’ve embarked on, for this salad the potatoes are pretty simple. First, stick your sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and poke a few holes in them with a fork. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes until they’re very tender.

By the way this is the same process I used for both the butternut squash and the acorn squash. Just chop them in half, poke some holes in the skin, and bake them for 50-60 minutes.

Let your potatoes cool for a few minutes after they come out of the oven and then peel and slice them into about 1/2 inch strips.

Love these guys.

Then cube them into even cubes! Each one of these should be pretty tender, but not mushy at all.

Nice and even.

Next, just mix your potatoes or squash with your cooked quinoa!

Simple.

The Dressing

I didn’t want a heavy dressing for this salad, but I felt like it needed something to add some flavor to it. The recipe I gave above is a pretty good start I think, but feel free to experiment.

A great dressing.

I just whisked all my ingredients together and then poured it over the quinoa and potato mixture. Stir everything together to make sure the grains and potatoes are evenly covered. Go light on the dressing people. You don’t want pools of dressing at the bottom of the bowl.

Next, add your dried fruit and pumpkin seeds. Of course, you could add any dried fruit that you wanted (cherries, chopped mango, etc.) and any seeds as well (sunflower?).

It's as simple as pouring stuff into a bowl.

Stir it all together and definitely taste it for salt and pepper. My versions always needed a big pinch of both.

Really easy people.

The salad is good warm or cold and keeps in the fridge for about a week.

Pretty and tasty.

This is a really healthy salad. Every time I brought it in for lunch, I felt like I had lots of energy in the afternoon which is always helpful. Not to mention that it’s really a cinch to make.

Leave a comment! Do you know of any other variations that would work with this?!

Oh well. All I know is that I read in a magazine (Body + Soul – Betsy subscribes) that you could make a Buddha bowl meal. The magazine presented it as more of a concept than a recipe though. If I had to, this is how I’d define it:

Buddha Bowl (n.) — Various flavorful veggies (and occasionally meats) packed into a bowl over grains or rice and normally accompanied with a sauce of some sort.

So that’s the idea and this is my take on it:

The name is a mystery to me.

You can probably spot most of the ingredients, but instead of rice, which is on the bottom of the bowl, I used a turmeric-spiced quinoa. Quinoa is the new hip grain that all the cool kids are cooking and with reason. The stuff is pretty tasty!

The Buddha Bowl

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa, soaked
1 16 ounce block of extra-firm tofu
2 portabella mushrooms, sliced thick
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
2-3 inches turmeric root
Pinch of salt
3 Tablespoon canola oil

Sauce:
1/3 Cup soy sauce (I like Tamari.)
1-2 Tablespoons chili garlic sauce (optional)
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package. Add a pinch of turmeric to simmering quinoa.

2) Prep the tofu by pressing with a paper towel to remove moisture and slice into 1/2 inch slices then lay slices out on a paper towel for more moisture removal.

3) Place tofu in a dish and add sauce. Turn pieces to make sure they are evenly covered.

4) Wash and chop veggies into thick slices.

5) Add a few tablespoons of neutral oil to a hot pan. Let the tofu cook for about 4 minutes a side.

6) Remove the tofu and cook the veggies in the same pan with a tablespoon of fresh oil for a few minutes.

7) Plate a serving of quinoa or rice in a bowl and add your veggies and tofu around the sides and place the sauce directly in the middle to serve!

Prepping the ingredients

The first thing you need to prep for this yummy and healthy bowl is the tofu. Extra firm is best for this dish because you want a firm final product. Even with extra-firm, I like to press out some of the moisture to make sure it browns nicely.

So slice your tofu into 1/2 inch slices and lay them out on a paper towel.

Preparing tofu is soy easy.

Then throw a few paper towels on top of the tofu and add a flat surface like a cutting board. Then put something heavy on top to slowly press out some of the moisture from the tofu.

Putting the pressure on.

What’s that very heavy thing on top of my tofu? Well, that’s my quinoa soaking. Here’s a close up:

An hour isn't really necessary...

Some instructions call for soaking quinoa for 2-3 hours in cold water. I was in a rush so I only soaked mine for about 20 minutes and I didn’t notice any odd effects.

Marinating the tofu

I think it adds some great flavor to the tofu (which needs it) to marinate it for even a few minutes before cooking. Just put it in a dish after you’ve pressed it and add your sauce to it. Kind of flip all the pieces around a bit to make sure they are evenly covered. This is the same sauce that I serve with the meal. No need to make more… it’s just tofu!

Flavor town.

Also, wash and chop your veggies. You can slice them into pretty thick slices.

Important subjects.

Cooking the quinoa

Quinoa cooks basically like rice (and you could substitute any kind of rice for this dish without a problem). Add your quinoa to a large saucepan with a lid and add 2 cups of water to every cup of quinoa. So for the recipe above, you’d add 4 cups of water. Plus a pinch of salt. Let it come to simmer and then cook it for about 15-18 minutes with the lid on.

I also added some grated turmeric to my quinoa right when I started it. The turmeric kind of cooked into the water and gave the final grain a fantastic color and almost earthy flavor. It was awesome. I was able to find some of the fresh stuff at Whole Foods. I’d never actually used it before. It’s bright orange and stains everything it touches. It like ginger root on the outside and beet on the inside. Weird stuff.

But, if you want, you can grate it up and add it to your rice or quinoa and it’ll kick up the final version a notch.

My first time with this stuff.

Cooking the tofu and veggies

To cook the tofu, add a few tablespoons of neutral oil to a hot pan. Let the tofu cook for about 4 minutes a side. It should brown really nicely. Watch out! The oil will splatter!

The browner the better.

Once the tofu is done, you can cook the veggies in the same pan. You might need to add a tablespoon of fresh oil. Cook the veggies for just a few minutes. You want them still to have a tiny bite.

Then plate up a bit serving of quinoa or rice in a bowl and add your veggies and tofu around the sides. If you want to get all fancy you can stick a tiny bowl of sauce right in the middle like I did in the first photo.

This dish also happens to make for an awesome lunch. Here’s my packed up version in an old Chinese take-out container.

Makes an awesome lunch.

The only thing I think I would change about this meal if I made it again is maybe make the sauce a little spicier. But that’s just my personal tastes. You could get very creative with toppings and other veggies also though. Just remember, it’s all got to fit in a bowl! It’s kind of a zen meal like that.

Eventually however, I will get hungry again and so will you. But I would advise that you treat the next few weeks as a re-coup period because what just happened is going to happen all over again in 3 weeks. So lets make something healthy and refreshing to start the week and month.

A light dish after a weekend of ughhhh.

This chicken breast is lightly marinated in olive oil, lime juice, and spices and topped with a home-made pico de gallo. I served mine with a side of quinoa, but you could also do couscous or rice.

Lime Pepper Chicken
- 2-6 chicken breasts (how many people are you feeding? I make the same marinate for 2 or 6.)
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (2 limes)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon lime peel
- 1 Teaspoon dried thyme or basil (If you use fresh then up it to 1 Tablespoon)
- 1/2 Teaspoon ground pepper
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced

Pico de Gallo (I also make a lot of this because it keeps for a few days and it’s awesome)
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped.
- 1 red onion, chopped (I used a few shallots instead)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 jalepenos or other mild chile
- 4 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (adjust according to your love of cilantro. I love cilantro.)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice

This is going to work out just fine.

Making the marinade couldn’t be easier. Just mix up your ingredients until they are combined and throw your chicken breasts in a sealed bag with the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Obviously, you could do longer. I like to make it in the morning and then by the time I get home it is ready to rock.

Thirty minutes of this and anything will taste amazing.

There are a few different ways you could cook these guys. The best way might be to grill them actually, but I don’t have grill access in the winter. I started them off in my iron skillet for about 4 minutes a side on high heat and then transferred them to the oven to finish at 350 for 15 minutes. If you are skeptical about whether they are done, it never hurts to slice into one to check. The last thing you want is to bite into a peppery, raw piece of chicken.

Oh. Right. The pico. Well, that’s simple enough. Just chop up all of those nice veggies and mix it up! The secret to good pico is that the longer you let it sit the better it will be (within reason).

If you make the pico first thing for this meal and let it sit while the chicken marinates it will be perfect.

I felt incredible after this meal. The wine helped.

As you can see, I like piling my pico so high you can barely even see the chicken, but trust me it is there and it goes perfectly with the fresh veggies. There is something about a dish like this that makes you wake up the next day with tons of energy.

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