DO NOT EAT THINGS YOU CAN’T PRONOUNCE, except Quinoa – eat that! That makes me laugh – every time. This actually is a general rule at our house now – although it didn’t used to be. Some years ago my youngest daughter ended up with some pretty scary stuff going on with her internal organs and in her brain. The specialists at the children’s hospital didn’t know what to do with her and didn’t have any recommendations. Their only advice, “well, lets just keep an eye on things and see what happens”. My response, “Uh…. No”. There were no medications to help with the condition she suffered from and my daughter was in pain. Not willing to give up, we visited a holistic physician who recommended a total change in diet as well as some herbal supplements. We stopped eating preservatives and things we couldn’t pronounce and guess what? The problems resolved. In fact, that was one of the things that lit a fire under my behind to really start cooking again!
So – anyway, Quinoa is delicious – if you haven’t tried it – I totally say, “give it a shot”. This salad doesn’t taste like you think it is going to, given the ingredients. I was SURPRISED when I took a bite. It is REALLY GOOD!
Remember when I told you that I was involved in a very public weight loss program at work last year? This is a recipe that is based upon a recipe that was shared by the nutritionist at work as a weight loss friendly recipe. I did make a few changes to the original recipe, but nothing that would interfere with the goodness or “eating right” nature of this recipe.
Let’s eat ya’ll!
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you 2 Thessalonians 3:16.
- 1 ½ Cups Quinoa, soaked overnight in water (soaking optional)
- 3 Cups Chicken or Vegetable stock
- ½ cup Pine Nuts, toasted lightly
- 2 ½ cups Cucumber, diced
- ¾ Cups Cherry tomatoes, halved.
- ½ Cup red onion, chopped fine
- ½ cup fresh Parsley, chopped
- ¼ Cup good Olive Oil
- 3 Tbs lemon juice
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Bring Quinoa and 3 cups of stock to a boil on the stove top, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, until done. Quinoa is done when the water is gone. You may also cook quinoa in a rice cooker the same way that you would cook rice. Allow Quinoa to cool.
- Combine all other ingredients with cooled quinoa and serve.
And now for a post blog dessert.
Its funny how these food pictures take place. If you look around the web, you will see that what you imagine when you look at a picture is not always what is happening in the world of the photographer. For this photo shoot – I should have put my dog, Spooky, inside but it was a beautiful day and she wanted to be out with me. I have a very short lunch break and I knew I had to get the pictures during my lunch break – or wait until the weekend. So – here we are out on the deck – trying to take pictures of food. I got this shot of her eye balling the Quinoa salad – I had to shoo her away right after this shot – but thought you might enjoy seeing what happens “behind the scenes”.
KC the Kitchen Chopper says
Quinoa is our fave “go to” grain/seed. Love it and love your combo. Thanks for sharing at TheWeekendSocial. Please share again Thursday 9:00 PM EST. Pinned. http://www.theKitchenChopper.com
wendi.spraker@yahoo.com says
Thanks! We love it too! In fact, I am making some quinoa stuffed mushrooms this afternoon for my bookclub. I’ll be sharing that recipe soon! Thanks for visiting!
Dina@KitchenDreaming says
Thanks for coming and linking up at #TheWeekendSocial. Please be sure to come back this week starting Thursday at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there! Pinned
wendi.spraker@yahoo.com says
Thanks Dina! I will – for sure!