So today seems to be a day for cooking and recipe sharing. This is one of my favorite snacks and side dish recipes. I just love eating this and can easily have a bowl full as my entire meal.
So here we go.
First I cook the quinoa in the instant pot. I use the ratio of one cup quinoa to two cups water. So go from there and determine how much quinoa you want to make depending on your family size. Today I’m making enough to eat at home plus some to take for a pot luck lunch tomorrow. So I used 2 cups quinoa and 4 cups water. Hit the rice setting on your instant pot and in about 10 minutes the quinoa will be cooked nice and fluffy. Let it cool before adding the other ingredients tho.
Now for the other ingredients that I mix in after the quinoa has cooled to room temperature.
Diced cherry tomatoes
Diced cucumber
Diced shallot
Slices of black kalamata olives
Finely Chopped up fresh mint leaves (this is the secret ingredient so don’t leave this out. You can buy fresh Mint leaves in the produce section of the grocery store)
Crumbled feta cheese (this is the other secret ingredient. Don’t leave this one out either if you can help it)
And now for the dressing or “sauce”
In a bowl mix about 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Use a hand whisk or a fork to briskly whisk these together. Then pour this over your quinoa salad.
We sometimes can’t wait and eat this at room temperature (or slightly warm) but it’s honestly better if you let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
It’s not possible to give exact amounts on the ingredients because you should put in what you like. I love olives so I use a lot… you may hate olives and decide not to use any. That’s the best thing about this recipe. Once you cook the quinoa which is really the only thing that needs to be measured accurately… everything else is to taste. So get creative and add the veggies and cheese etc you like best. There is really no wrong answer to this because … well… it’s a salad… and like with most salads you build it the way you want it to taste 🙂 so if you want parsley or broccoli etc… go for it!
Now for cost and ingredient analysis. Sit down and give it a good think… inexpensive and healthy! Yep! Hint: I often buy my quinoa at discount stores like Big Lots and it is much cheaper than the regular grocery store prices. In the summer I get the veggies at the local farmers market or from the garden. So go on and give it a try and if you like it consider planting a small garden this coming spring 🙂 and plant your favorite veggies!
Side note: I usually will put a tad bit of salt and pepper in ours but if I am serving it to guests I sometimes leave that out and let them salt and pepper to their taste… we also like to use our applewood smoked salt on this dish to give it a slightly Smokey flavor. You can read about that particular yummy salt in my previous post: taco meat recipe.
Conestoga Chuck 