Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salad is my new obsession because it's easy, healthy, and delicious. My friend Lexi made it for me on one of our fun baby play dates, and I've made it twice the last few weeks. We both decided that the recipe needed to be on the blog because it's AMAZING and ready in 30 minutes. 

The sweet potatoes, black beans and quinoa are a great combination with the cilantro and lime juice. It tastes like summer, and I like to eat it hot or cold. I brought it for lunch at work today and snapped this picture before the contained disappeared. 

One of my favorite Gretchen quotes that is ringing true in my life every single day is "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". This photo was snapped my iPhone in a Tupperware container that I packed the salad in. Maybe, hopefully, one day I will get back to snapping Saveur worthy pictures of my recipes, but for now I am just cooking, figuring out how to make the perfect pizza dough in my mixer, and muddling mint for mojitos. Let me just tell you - add a little cucumber to a mojito and muddle it with the limes and mint - so fresh and delicious! Right now, I am embracing the good, the wabi sabi. If you haven't heard of WABI SABI, look it up, right now! 

Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth (I love Better than Bouillon paste)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2 limes (use 1 lime for more subtle flavor)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Avocado - for topping

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. 
- Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups chicken broth.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine rotel tomatoes, black beans, lime juice, coriander, cumin, and cilantro. Add quinoa and stir well.

To serve, top quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes and avocado.

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Even if it's snowing inches outside right now, I've declared it Spring inside my house. That means I am wearing pretty pastel cardigans, buying Sauvignon Blanc at the store, and smiling at this quite funny April Fools joke. Yes, it is really snowing on April the 4th, in Virginia. In the words of my great friend Katie Jo, "what the"!!!

                         

In the spirit of Spring and warm flip flop weather, I have made a quinoa fruit salad to bring to my work friends tomorrow. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs (Two Peas in Their Pod) and it is light and healthy and fresh and a great reminder that beautiful weather is coming!

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
from Two Peas in their Pod
*I doubled the recipe, and used fuji apples instead of mangoes

1 cup red quinoa (dry)
2 cups water
pinch salt

Dressing:
3 Tbsp honey
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp chopped mint

Fruit:
2 cups blueberries
2 cups strawberries
2 cups mango (I used apple)
Extra mint for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions, cool to room temperature
2. Make honey lime dressing (whisk together lime juice, honey, and mint)
3. Combine quinoa and fruit. Pour dressing over the fruit salad and mix until well combined. Garnish with additional mint. Serve at room temperature.

By all means, substitute your favorite fruits into this salad.  I think peaches, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, or grapes would be stellar! 

Quinoa Obsession

I must thank my vegetarian friends (Katie and Elisabeth), who have slowly inducted me into the healthy world of quinoa, nut butters, tofu, and edamame. A few years ago, I could not even pronounce quinoa (keen-wa).  Now, it has become a beloved kitchen staple. 

Before you make this recipe, I must warn you. You will make it again, and again, and again. Your colleagues, friends, and family will kindly demand that you bring it to parties and pot lucks. I now keep the ingredients on hand, at all times, in case I need to whip up a batch on short notice. One of my surgeons has fondly nicknamed them "sticky power balls", and has been seen eating ten in one sitting. They make for an easy fuss-free breakfast or hiking treat. This recipe yields 12 balls, though I usually double it. 

Quinoa Trail Mix Balls 
from Eat, Live, Run

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup old fashioned oats (I use Quaker)
• 1/4 cup quinoa (uncooked)
• 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup raisins (or craisins)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup honey

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
2. Mix together sunflower seeds, oats, raisins and coconut in a large bowl. Drain quinoa and add to bowl. Mix well. 
3. Bring honey to a simmer on stove; then stir in the vanilla extract and pour on top of nuts and seeds. Mix until well combined.
4. Let mixture cool slightly before adding the peanut butter, sea salt, and dark chocolate chips. Mix well with your hands so the peanut butter is evenly dispersed. Cool mixture in fridge for 1 hour. 
5. Using wet hands, gently roll mixture into golf ball-sized balls. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.