Quinoa Salad with Feta and Dill Recipe

I've very excited to announce I will be doing a cooking demo during Macy's Flower Show in San Francisco on March 30th at 2 pm. I'll be sharing some recipes for jazzing up your sack lunch. So skip the sandwiches! This fresh and hearty salad is healthy and inexpensive to make and might make your co-workers jealous. Better bring some to share! 

Quinoa is kind of like a blank canvas, it doesn't have much flavor or texture. It has protein but to be satisfying I think you need more variety. A little bit of feta and chickpeas add more protein and creamy textures. Originally I was trying to make a Greek inspired salad, but I didn't want to add salty olives and I found it was a little bland. Fresh dill and lemon really add some zest to it. I also used English cucumbers which are available all year round.

I do have a few tips for making this salad, for one, always remember to rinse quinoa before you cook it. It is very bitter otherwise. Also I use less water than the package suggests, I find 1 and 1/2 cups of liquid is plenty for 1 cup of quinoa. Finally serve this salad at room temperature. It keeps well in the refrigerator but doesn't taste quite as delicious when it's chilled so just take it out a half an hour or so before serving it.

Quinoa Salad with Feta and Dill
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed
1 cup English cucumber, diced
1 cup feta, crumbled
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/3 cup green onions, minced
3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

Rinse the quinoa under cold water then cook according to package instructions. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Let quinoa cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, feta, dill, green onions and lemon juice. Add plenty of fresh ground pepper then taste for seasoning. Serve at room temperature. Keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator

Enjoy!

Almost Instant Banana, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter "Pudding"

Ugh, I hate those recipes that pretend to be one thing but in reality are nothing like it.  I'm looking at you pureed cauliflower masquerading as fettucine alfredo.

Afterwards, you are all sad and regretful because you ate something that was not delicious.  Unless you are like Anton Ego, living the philosophy of  "If I don't love it, I don't swallow."  In which case you are still hungry.

It occurs to you that you should have just made the real thing - with you know, cream and butter and cheese - then maybe just stuff a handful of spinach in your face and be done with it.

It is hard for me to tell if I am breaking my own rule.  Maybe this really is nothing like pudding.  But calling it a "pudding-like substance" doesn't exactly flow.  And maybe I hate myself a bit for even posting this.

But even if this is not pudding, but technically a "pudding-like substance," I did at least convince the toddler that this was a dessert - something to demand, to crave.  He can be a tough crowd, a pint-sized but nonetheless fervent subscriber to Anton Ego's food philosophy .  Case in point - never serve this child homemade biscuits that are not fresh from the oven - lest one offend his his delicate sensibilities.

Ingredients
1 frozen banana
1 banana
1 1/2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon (roasted Saigon cinnamon works really well)
pinch sea salt

Instructions
Put everything into a bowl and blend with an immersion blender.  Alternatively, put everything in a blender to blend.  That's it!