Thursday, August 22, 2013

I just can't get enough. . .

Yes, so I've been on a quinoa kick, all in the name of meatless Mondays and health! I'm definitely not the girl who has revamped her pantry to banish processed foods or stock only organic foods. Sometimes I wish I was. But let me just be honest, I don't have the time or energy to do so right now. Judge me if you need to, but in this household, we're making baby steps! Finding fun and delicious recipes to add some spice in recipe routine, has been my motivation in the kitchen! And I found another quinoa recipe to add to our mix this past Monday!

The original recipe is here at Cookin Canuck and is called Quinoa Salad with Apple, Chickpeas, Toasted Almonds & Apple Cider Vinaigrette. But, like I did with Cashew Quinoa, I had to shorten the title in an effort to have anyone in my family under 8 ask for it by name! I also tweaked the recipe a tad, and dubbed my version of the recipe. . .

Quinoa Apple Salad




Ingredients
The salad
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 c. sliced almonds. toasted (key)
1 can chickpeas
1 large Gala apple, cored and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced (green and white parts)
3 Tbsp of gorgonzola cheese (if desired, but if you know me, I surely did NOT use cheese)

The vinaigrette
1/3 cup apple juice or apple cider (I used juice--couldn't find cider yet)
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey or agave nectar
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions
The salad:
1. Rinse quinoa well (in a fine-mesh strainer) and drain.
2. In a medium pot, combine quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff. Transfer quinoa to a cookie sheet, spreading the quinoa in a thin layer to cool.
3. In a large bowl, mix together cool quinoa, almonds, chickpeas, apple and green onions.

The vinaigrette:
4. Whisk together apple juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey and salt.
5. Pour the dressing over the quinoa salad and toss to coat. Serve. Be happy, because your mouth will be!

**A couple of things. . .First, toast your almonds--makes all the difference!! Second, I served this quinoa over spinach leaves--to make it a true salad! Delish! Lots of protein, too! And finally, like I've done with my other 3 quinoa recipes I've shared here, here and here, I can tell you how it went over. Once again, Chad and I loved it! And, I was thinking my boys would too, with the apples and all. Still though, Luke's fave is the Southwest Quinoa and Charlie's is the Cashew Quinoa, but Miles' ranked this one the best! He gobbled his down! We didn't have to fight anyone to eat the Quinoa Apple Salad, but I think the Apple Cider Vinegar reminded them of the "sassy" sauce they get when they are sassy with us. Not, that that ever happens. Ever.

Happy Healthy Eating!

3 comments :

Stephanie said...

Looks yummy! What do you use for sassy sauce? I think we *might* need to implement this sassy idea!

lindley said...

Ha!! Stephanie--I really do use vinegar--apple cider vinegar. They see the bottle being pulled out and cringe. It has an affect for sure! We talk about how it tastes bitter, just like our sin, but after we do that, they get a little water to wash it down, just like Jesus washes our sins away!

Patti said...

thanks for your sweet comment on Lily's blog !
going to write this quinoa recipe down - I LOVE new quinoa recipes :)

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