Quinoa Salad with Asparagus

Spring!

This recipe comes from Joyful Healthy Eats, found via Pinterest. It's simple, delicious, healthy, and easy to make. It's good warm, cold, or at room temperature, so it's perfect for potlucks. This is a keeper!

My only changes from the original recipe are that I used walnuts instead of pecans (because I had leftover walnuts from making charoses), I grated a clove of garlic into the mix instead of using garlic powder (I highly recommend this), and I used more goat cheese (because goat cheese).

This is such a versatile recipe; it could be made with many combinations of vegetables and other ingredients. I should eat more quinoa salads. With goat cheese.

The Recipe:

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1" pieces

olive oil and salt for roasting asparagus

1/2 c quinoa

1 c water

1/3 c walnuts, chopped

4 oz goat cheese

1 garlic clove

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp olive oil

salt, to taste

Coat asparagus in olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Combine quinoa and water in pot. Bring to boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
Mix cooked quinoa and asparagus with oil, vinegar, salt, crumbled goat cheese, and grated garlic. Serve at any temperature.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A

Overall reason: Healthy, easy, delicious.

Time to prepare: 20 minutes

Toddler quote: "MORE QUINOA! With goat cheese, yeah."

Comments

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.

Red lentil dal

Cucumber salad is key. This dal is perfect. Most of us took seconds, and I'm really excited to eat the last portion that's sitting in the fridge right now. The accompanying salad is really great for adding texture, crunch, and acidity to the meal. I wouldn't skip it. I got it from Tea for Turmeric and prepared it pretty much as written, but doubled and with none of the optional ingredients. This recipe doesn't mention any seasoning/dressing on the salad, but adding lemon and salt to it really brightened things up. The Recipe: (from Tea for Turmeric) 2 c red lentils splash of avocado oil 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 small onions, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, grated 4 small tomatoes, chopped 2 thai chilies, minced 2 tsp cumin powder 2 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp turmeric 2+ tsp kosher salt 2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 c cilantro, chopped For serving: basmati rice and plain yogurt Salad ingredients: 1/2 english cucumber, sliced 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered 1/4 onion, slic...

Vietnamese Curry Stir-Fry

When I get the recipe just right, I'll go to the effort of adding fried shallots on top. I'm back to my on-and-off mission of trying to make a stir-fry as delicious as the shrimp I used to get at Pho Grand in St. Louis during college. It was called "cari tom" but it definitely wasn't a coconut milk type of curry, and they ALSO have a separate listing on their menu for "cari tom dac biet" which includes "coconut milk sauce" in their description. So I'm pretty sure it was just a stir-fry that had curry flavors in it? I got myself a big container of Vietnamese curry powder and I'm going to keep experimenting. This is the closest I've come so far. Changes for the future: - More oil and sugar, restaurant style - A blend of fish sauce and soy sauce, instead of just soy sauce - Fried shallots on top The Recipe (adapted from Veggie Anh ): 3 tb fresh lemongrass, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Thai chili, minced 1 pinch salt 2 tb avoc...

Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Search This Blog