Warm Quinoa & Arugula Salad

Oh sweet lord, let’s talk about heaven in a bowl. A warm quinoa arugula salad…light, healthy, crunchy and slightly bitter sweet. Just doing my weekly clean out of our fridge and what we had left was…arugula, 3 green onion, 1 already roasted corn on the cob, parmesan cheese, black beans, pinto beans and quinoa.

I needed to cook the quinoa, so I did that and allowed it to cool…that was the “hardest” part. Other than that, I put everything into a bowl along with a homemade vinaigrette…and voila…a great salad to eat for lunch or bring to a backyard BBQ. Add chicken or shrimp and you have a full meal. Crazy right?!

For those of you who do not know what quinoa is let Wikipedia explain.

Quinoa ( /ˈ k iː n w ɑː / or /k ɨ ˈ n oʊ .ə /, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.

See recipe below:

Arugula Quinoa Salad

1 packaged quinoa cooked, slightly cooled
2 cups chopped arugula
3 green onions sliced
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup pinto beans
1/2 cup of fresh (or frozen/canned) corn
1/4 cup grated parmesan (or feta/goat)

* Combine everything except quinoa into a bowl. Cook quinoa and let cool.

* Once quinoa is cooled, add it to the bowl of goodies.

* Add your vinagrette & serve.

Viagrette Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon squeezed
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
pinch of cayenne

It is scary how simple that is, right? I usually go through our fridge once or twice a week to make dishes to clean house. The above recipe can be adjusted in so many ways. Have fresh herbs in your fridge? USE THOSE…have some tomatoes…throw em’ in there. See what I am getting at? The sky is the limit and if you allow yourself to try new things, no matter the result, you might shock the beegeezus out of yourself.

Keep cooking.

Quirky Quinoa