Quinoa salad

 

If you have never tried quinoa (keen'wah) before, you are in for a  treat!  It's actually the seed of a variety of goosefoot and was of great nutritional value to in pre-Columbian Andean society.  It is a complete protein, which means that it is high in protein and includes the 9 essential amino acids that humans and animals need for their dietary needs.  Here is one of my favorite ways to eat quinoa! 

Quinoa Salad

2 cups quinoa

3 3/4 chicken broth or water

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans, drained

1/2 cup of feta cheese 

3-4 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

cilantro, chopped

Wash and rinse quinoa, similar to the way we wash rice.  Place the quinoa and chicken broth (or water or vegetable broth) in the rice cooker/warmer and press play!  Once the quinoa is done, allow it to cool.  Then add corn, black beans, feta, tomatoes, red onions (they don't have to be red onions...you may also use maui onions or vidallia onions), and cilantro.  Mix and refrigerate.   Makes about 8 servings. 

Easy Summer Pasta Salad

I was invited to a 4th of July potluck with some friends last night so i was trying to decide what to bring.  I woke up at 5:50 am because that's what time my cocker spaniel's internal alarm clock is set to go off, but back to the pasta.  So I decided I'd whip together a pasta salad for the get together.  This is just what I happened to have on hand so these are the ingredients I used.  It's a pretty flexible recipe, so get creative!

Easy Summer Pasta Salad
1 box tri-colored rotini pasta
1 can of sliced olives (actually, I only had whole olives so I sliced them all in the egg slicer!  Pretty fun!)
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
2 small roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 red onion, very finely sliced
3/4 cup feta cheese
12 slices of pepperoni, sliced (you can use more, but i only had 12 slices because it was leftover from something else i made)
3/4 to 1 cup Paul Newman's light Italian dressing

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.  Rinse off pasta in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Toss all ingredients in a gallon sized ziplock bag and refrigerate, flipping the bag over every couple of hours.  I like tossing it in a ziplock bag because 1) it takes up less space in my fridge and 2) it's easy to coat all of the ingredients with the dressing. 

You can make the pasta salad up to 24 hours ahead of time.  The longer you let the ingredients marinate in the dressing the better it will be! 

When you're ready to serve, plate it up and enjoy!