Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Quinoa Veggie Salad

Enjoy this super simple warm salad.  I enjoy bringing it to the office with me for lunch, and it also makes a quick side dish along chicken or salmon.  OR, you can stir in shredded chicken or salmon for a new dish!

Quinoa Veggie Salad
Makes 2 Servings

1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped
1/2 cup quinoa
2 tsp coconut oil
2 tsp olive oil
1 organic yellow bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 cup filtered water
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 organic zucchini, diced
1 organic celery stalk, diced
Juice of 1 lime

1.)  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Toast almonds until lightly browned, and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.  Meanwhile, place quinoa in a fine sieve and rinse under cold filtered water until the water runs clear.  Drain.

2.)  In a medium saucepan, heat coconut oil over Medium heat.  Add bell pepper, garlic, scallions, and red pepper flakes.  Saute until tender, about 6 minutes.

3.)  Stir in quinoa, thyme, filtered water, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 7 minutes.  Stir in zucchini, cover, and cook until quinoa is tender but not mushy, 6 to 8 minutes longer.  Remove the saucepan from heat.

4.)  Stir in celery, almonds, and olive oil, season with sea salt and fluff with a fork.  Serve warm or cold.  Before serving, drizzle with fresh lime juice.

4 comments:

  1. This is delicious!!! I added 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of garlic powder (since I love garlic) and it was perfect! I even made a separate batch without mushrooms since Mark doesn't like em and still manifique`
    Thank you for these amazing recipes...

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  2. Thank you Nicole!! Glad you loved the salad! I have another quinoa salad recipe that will be posting soon. I know you guys will like that one, too! :) Glad Mark liked a healthy meal!!

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  3. Isnt quinoa a vegetable? Why is it not apart of the advanced meal plan?

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  4. Great question. Quinoa is actually a seed, and some even consider it to be a grain due to how it grows and its acidity level. So this is the deciding factor for making it a Core Plan food versus an Advanced Plan food.

    While quinoa is a much much better choice than brown rice, spelt, wheat (etc) as far as sugar / acidity goes, when it is digested it still causes an acid reaction that your body has to fight thru to neutralize. An acidic body is a sickness magnet. If you are acidic you are in the realm of Disease. What you eat and drink will impact where your body's pH level falls and how quickly healing occurs. Balance is key! Quinoa falls below 7 on the Alkaline scale, so it is classified as a Core Plan food. We don't want people whose bodies are already acidic and fighting disease eating foods that will cause them to become more acidic and more diseased.

    Does that answer your question?

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