The Cyclist's Wife: quinoa salad

Hey friends, what's new?

I feel like I'm starting to fall back into a normal routine after all of our moving and life events over the last year, but I still haven't managed to find my blogging groove. If there could only be 1 more day in every week....free day that is. Anyway, I know every woman/mom on the planet probably suffers from this as well, so cheers ladies!

MONDAY - Grilled Steak and Joy The Bakers Pistachio Crusted Asparagus with Feta

This was actually supposed to be Sunday's dinner but someone rolled in super late (you know who you are)....so we ate it on Monday instead. No photo of the steaks but I got them at the Sunday Farmer's Market from Lucky Dog Ranch; they were delicious as all of their products are. I had prepped the asparagus on Sunday (ground pistachios and vinaigrette), so we were ready to roll with that. You can find Joy's recipe here. This was a nice twist on our typical grilled asparagus and would do well as a dinner party or fancy brunch side.

TUESDAY - Ravioli with Homemade Steak and Asparagus Marinara aka Monday's leftovers made into pasta

Source

So, I used Trader Joe's Porcini Mushroom and Truffle Triangoli, cooked as directed on the package. In a skillet I sauteed about 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1/4 cup of olive oil, then added 1 can of tomato sauce. I turned up the heat to med-high and stirred until the oil and tomato sauce started to come together. While that was happening I chopped up our leftover asparagus and steak, then dumped it into the sauce mixture (including all of the vinaigrette and pistachio mixture in the container). Once everything was warm, I added the cooked trangoli and served with shredded Parmesan. This was actually way better than we were expecting and made a nice use of our leftovers.

WEDNESDAY - Seriously, I can't even remember

And that's no joke. So instead I want to tell you about this:

Shutterbean's Quinioa & Tabouleh Salad

You can find this recipe here. This is a really delicious and hearty salad, plus its vegan, if you dig that. I first made it on a weeknight, if you do this I recommend at least cooking your quinoa beforehand. It takes a long time for that shindizzle to cool off, so it makes for quicker prep to do it the day before. Tracy uses pomegranate molasses in her recipe, which I couldn't find....even at Whole Foods (where did you get that stuff Tracy??). Instead I used regular molasses and about 1/2 teaspoon of grape jelly to sweeten it up. This salad was so good we made it again for our family at Easter.
P.S. Please ignore the two large pieces of bread. The end.

THURSDAY - Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Yep, Taco Thursday strikes again at our house, although these days we're eating them as chicken burritos. Recipe can be found here.

FRIDAY - A bowl of cereal

Does it seem fancier when I italicize it? We had a great catered lunch at work from Mama Kim's and nobody else was hungry either, so cereal it was.

That's that. What have you been eating lately?

TCW

Howdy everyone! How was your Memorial Day weekend? Longer than normal, I hope.
It's a funny thing about long weekends. If you're like me you have this idea that you'll be able to get a bunch of extra stuff done. But in reality, more stuff is going on, so you end up getting less done.
Oh well.

Instead of talking about what we didn't get done, let's talk about what we did get done!

This little beauty of a salad is something I did manage to get done.

I can't seem to resist buying mint at the farmer's market....it smells too good. But that's OK because it forces me to find ways to use it. It's refreshing taste is perfect in this Cold Quinoa salad. Add a little sweetness with craisins and rice vinegar combined with hearty and protein filled quinoa and sliced almonds and you have yourself a healthy-hearty-tasty snack. Plus, it's totally easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Quinoa (+ water to cook quinoa in) - whichever brand you like will do. I use this one:

1 Cup of fresh mint, chopped

1/4 Cup of craisins

1/4 Cup of sliced almonds

Rice vinegar, to taste

Salt & Pepper, to taste

How to:

Cook quinoa in water based on the package instructions.

Let it cool. To speed up the cooling process you can rinse the quinoa in cold water; you will probably lose some through the holes in your strainer, but if you're in a hurry this method works.

Place quinoa in your serving bowl and add chopped mint, craisins and sliced almonds; mix.

Add rice vinegar to taste. I add a couple of shakes, stir, taste and add more if I think it needs it.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve & enjoy!

You can also find this at Tasty Kitchen!

**I've shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty recipe ideas!

The Healthy Home Economist - Monday Mania

Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's - Melt in your Mouth Monday

All the Small Stuff - Tuesday's at the Table

Real Food Forager - Fat Tuesday

Growing Home Blog - Teach Me Tuesday

New Life on a Homestead