I’ve been averaging one Quinoa Salad a week this summer. Usually it’s first made for dinner, alongside grilled fish or chicken. And
usually I make made way too much, so I have plenty for lunch in the days that follow, or I can leave my dinner host with an ample supply to enjoy later on. Each time I make it the ingredients are a little different, depending upon what I have in my fridge and pantry, but every time the results are equally delish. It doesn’t photograph well with my little rinky dink camera, so you’ll have to just take my word for it.
One Quinoa Salad That Was a Hit
1 package of quinoa (prepared according to the pkg, though I use vegetable broth instead of water)
Baby Heirloom Tomatoes (pretty colors), quartered
Artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
Feta cheese, crumbled
Toasted Pine Nuts
Vinaigrette (see below)
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add enough vinaigrette to your desired taste. For this one, I emphasized the lemon in the vinaigrette so I also dressed it with some lemon zest curly q’s.
Another Quinoa Salad That Was a Hit
1 package of quinoa (prepared according to the pkg, though I use vegetable broth instead of water)
Bell peppers, roasted and chopped
Zucchini, roasted and chopped
Squash, roasted and chopped
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Fresh basil, chiffonade (chop without bruising the leaves)
Feta cheese, crumbled
Pistachios
Vinaigrette (see below)
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add enough vinaigrette to your desired taste. For this one, I had tons of basil and pistachios, so I saved some of each to sprinkle over the top before serving.
Basic Vinaigrette
fresh basil
olive oil
lemon juice
garlic
splash of red wine vinegar
kosher salt
pepper
Toss all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding more olive oil or acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to suit your taste and texture. If you want to thin it even more but are happy with the level of zing you’ve got going, you can add a bit of vegetable broth instead of citrus or vinegar.
This is a great make-ahead dish for the
Waveny Concerts or other outings when you want a sophisticated side that will travel well. It’s hearty enough to please a vegetarian guest, and is a wonderful accompaniment to grilled veggies, fish or meats. (Hint: skewers travel well, and can easily be eaten in your lap.) You can play with the ingredients to create your own signature Quinoa Salad.
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Simple veggie side for summer dinners. I made the mistake of cutting it up before serving it to my kids last night and roasted, chopped zucchini isn’t nearly as appealing to little ones as a “zucchini rocket”. Today I’ll put a room temp “rocket” on their plate and let them eat it with their hands.
I am not sure who is more excited for Farm Camp? Me, my lucky child who gets to go, or my little one who is going to be exploring the phenomenal acreage with me each day that his brother is mucking around with the pigs, learning about composting, building a fence for the sheep, and harvesting garlic?
I’ve been averaging one Quinoa Salad a week this summer. Usually it’s first made for dinner, alongside grilled fish or chicken. And usually I make made way too much, so I have plenty for lunch in the days that follow, or I can leave my dinner host with an ample supply to enjoy later on. Each time I make it the ingredients are a little different, depending upon what I have in my fridge and pantry, but every time the results are equally delish. It doesn’t photograph well with my little rinky dink camera, so you’ll have to just take my word for it.
Today we planted our garden. Not the garden I imagined…but it’ll do. In fact, it’s probably just right for us this year. Some fresh herbs—basil, mint, rosemary...a tomato plant (we’ll see how that goes?)... and some lettuce and chard.
Wow, once I downloaded all of the photos from the past couple of weeks, I realize I have a bounty of great, simple meals ideas to share with you. As I mentioned in the June 6, 2009 entry on homemade pesto, it freezes well. I had divvied into tubs and frozen it for nights when we’ve had a busy day of activity but I still want to put a healthy dinner on the table. The one pictured above was made with:
My CSA bag I picked up at our local farmer’s market had a big, bright bunch of fresh basil within that was beckoning to either become a Caprese Salad or pesto. The tomatoes we got this week aren’t quite ripe enough to eat, so I opted for the latter. (That, and the fact that on Day 3 of this Blueprint Cleanse I cannot eat...only drink, and I'm not talking wine my friends.) So anyway, I made pesto. The benefit: pesto can be easily made, then frozen. When you’re looking for a simple supper, you can then thaw it and either toss the pesto with pasta, or drizzle it over grilled chicken, fish or veggies.
Today was my big one’s last full day of K…Monday will be filled with celebration and good-byes. It’s a soggy, gray day here and he keeps announcing that he'd like to stay in K forever, so I brightened the afternoon with a quick homemade treat.
