I felt like making dinner in heels, a full slip, and a cardigan tonight. So I did.
Here is a recipe for a ridiculously healthy dish that could be served as a main or a side. If you don’t know about quinoa, check out this goofy but helpful website, aptly named “The World’s Healthiest Foods.” Quinoa is quite literally one of the most nutritious foods you can possibly eat. I have absolutely no idea of where I got this recipe originally.
Quinoa Salad
1 cup uncooked quinoa
8ish asparagus spears
2 oz crumbled goat cheese (or you can use feta if you’re lame)
¼ cup green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
4 Tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes
½ Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (go with balsamic if you are lamely determined about the feta)
S & P to taste
Toss the asparagus in olive oil, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. Roast in a 425° oven for about 15 minutes, checking once to rearrange spears. Cut into bite sized pieces. Cook the quinoa according to directions on the package. Toss all ingredients together and serve to your guests’ complete delight.
It’s best to let the quinoa and asparagus cool some before you combine with other ingredients. However, if, like me, you are impatient and last minute with your preparations, it will still turn out just fine.
Measurements aren’t scientific. My style of cooking includes a method where I throw in an imprecise, liberal pinch more of whatever ingredient I particularly like. In this case, uh, I throw in more of pretty much everything except quinoa (not that I don’t like quinoa, I just consider it a base ingredient).
A couple additional notes on ingredients:
Recently discovered that you can buy sun dried toms, dry, in a vacuum sealed bag, as opposed to in a jar of oil. Saves time and reduces ick factor, as you don’t have to dig through a jar of oil and then towel off the SDTs. Big fan of the bag!
And even though they’re more expensive, I think olives from the jar taste better than olives from the can. I also added some of the juice (brine?) into the mix this time, with satisfactory results. But this is from the lady who just cooked dinner in four inch heels on a whim, so take all suggestions with a big chunk of sea salt.
