Sunday's Salad/Ancient Grain Power Salad

It has been an interesting week, and I have missed checking in with you :(

You'll never guess what I will be doing bright and early tomorrow morning...I'm taking a hot air balloon ride!!!!!! I'm so excited :)))) 
Since this is the summer of the bucket list, the opportunity came up and I decided not to let it pass me by. I will take lots and lots of pictures, and share them on Tuesday.   

I was once asked what my favorite meal of the day is. Hands down, my favorite meal is lunch. When I was in school, I always ate breakfast before leaving home, but by 10:30 in the morning, my stomach would start to growl. Lunch could not come soon enough. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a thermos of hot soup and a piece of cornbread in my lunchbox. That first bite was always just the best! All these years later, I still begin to get hungry around 10:30 in the morning, and the first bite of my lunch is still...just the best!

Along with soup, I love sandwiches and salads. At some point, I'll share some of my sandwich concoctions. They're pretty good if I say so myself ;) But today, I want to share a wonderful salad I made this past week. The grain is quinoa, love quinoa! The other ingredients consist of garbanzo beans, feta cheese, radishes, and arugula.   

Here's what really makes it special, the dressing. Fresh lemon juice is mixed with olive oil, oregano, and chopped kalamata olives. All of the ingredients are blended resulting in a lovely, earthy red dressing.

I placed a big scoop of the quinoa mixture on a bed of mixed greens.

Then drizzled the dressing over the salad. Delicious!!!

The quinoa salad mixture will last for a few days in the refrigerator, so great for repeated lunches.

Ancient Grain Power Salad
downloadable recipe

Ingredients

For the salad;
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups canned garbanzo beans rinsed
1 cup slightly chopped arugala
1/2 cup chopped red radishes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Mixed greens of your choice for serving

For the salad dressing;
6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives(pits removed of course)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste

For the salad;
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Allow to cool. Add the remainder of the ingredients, except for the mixed greens. Mix well and set aside.

For the salad dressing;
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust salt a black pepper to taste. 

To serve;
Place mixed greens on a plate. Place a large scoop of the quinoa mixture in the middle of the greens. Drizzle dressing over the quinoa and greens. Serve and enjoy! 

 The salad dressing will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator, so it can be enjoyed on other salads of your choice.

Wishing you many happy lunches!

Rhonda

Sunday's Salad/Vegetable Slaw with Blackeyed Peas and Roasted Sunflower Seeds

A friend of mine will come for lunch or dinner, sit down to eat, and more often than not ask, "Is this recipe on your blog?" My response will typically be, "No." And then she'll ask rather emphatically, "And why not???

So today, in honor of my friend :), you are getting a very simple recipe that I love, but would typically think it to be too mundane to post.

Here in the U.S., we have a store called Trader Joe's. The environment is kinda happy hippy for lack of a better description. What I especially like is that a healthy lunch can be had with just the combination of a few ingredients, and even easier, because all the preparation has been taken care of. With that said, everything for this salad can easily be prepared as well.

I purchase a bag of broccoli slaw, pretty easy to find these days. A container of chopped vegetables. This is a combination of chopped broccoli, carrots, jicama, green and purple cabbage, radishes, celery, and green bell pepper. Of course, you can add or delete depending upon your taste if you are chopping your own vegetables.

I love Melissa's steamed blackeyed peas, but a 14 oz. can of blackeyed peas that have been rinsed and drained will work just fine. 

And finally the dressing. I like the Asian Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette, but any dressing would actually work, depending upon your taste.

Not pictured above is 1 last ingredient, 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds. With the combination of the peas and the seeds, the salad is chock full of protein. If you would like, 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa would make a nice addition and add more protein.   

Couldn't be easier, just dump everything in a bowl, stir and enjoy. With a lot of salads like this, it's advised to allow the salad to sit so the flavors can intermingle. I never wait, I dump, stir, and serve!
If you would like a printable recipe, you can find it HERE.

Last winter, I tried out a cottage cheese pancake recipe that I found at A Garden For the House. These pancakes have become an absolute favorite in my house. I made a batch this morning, and my husband literally stood over the stove waiting with anticipation!!!

Rather than strawberries, I did a mixture of peaches and blueberries. My husband said that he thought he liked the mixture better than the plain strawberries. I had 6 peaches and about 2 cups of blueberries. Added 1/2 cup of sugar and then poured the fruit and sugar mixture into a baking dish and roasted at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

A note on skinning the peaches...
I boiled a pot of water and then placed the peaches in the boiling water for just about a minute or so. The skins are then quite easy to remove. 

So, I think my friend will be happy ;) And hopefully you as well! The salad is really quite nice and makes a great lunch during the week. 
Enjoy!
Rhonda