Eat Your Veggies: Roasted Vegetables and Quinoa Salad

I would like to thank Christina for another great recipe! I tried her Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad recipe the other day. I loved it, and my husband - the carnivore - really liked it as well. (I packed it in his lunch and he called me to tell me how much he enjoyed it!) This is a great way to get a lot of veggies in a really healthy dish, and the feta cheese adds a nice salty bite.

With it's balanced set of essential amino acids, quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") contains more protein than any other grain. It also has additional nutritional value with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. You could substitute with couscous if you can't find quinoa, but if you haven't tried quinoa before, I encourage you to do so!

Roasted Vegetables and Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
1 red bell pepper
3 cups vegetable stock
1 ½ cups uncooked quinoa
¼ cup balsamic blend seasoned rice vinegar (Nakano)
2 tsp olive oil
¼ tsp black pepper
2 cups chopped carrot
Cooking spray
1 3/4 cups chopped yellow squash
3 ½ cups zucchini chopped
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
1 garlic clove

Directions
Preheat broiler.
Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a sip-top bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and cut bell pepper into strips.

Reduce over temperature to 500ºF.

Bring 3 cups of vegetable stock to a boil in a medium saucepan and stir in quinoa. Cover, reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

Combine vinegar, oil and black pepper in medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add carrot to vinegar mixture; toss to coat. Drain carrot through a fine sieve over a bowl, reserving carrot and vinegar mixture. Place carrot on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 500º for 10 minutes. Add zucchini and yellow squash to reserved vinegar mixture in bowl; toss well to coat. Drain zucchini mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl, reserving zucchini and vinegar mixture. Add zucchini mixture to carrot on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until vegetables are browned. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Combine quinoa, roasted vegetables, reserved vinegar mixture, cheese and garlic in a large bowl; stir well to combine. Cover and chill. Yield 8 servings (1 cup servings).

Favorite Salmon Salad - Summer Salad with Cumin-Crusted Salmon

My mother found this recipe several years ago in the USA Weekend Magazine, and it became an instant family favorite. It comes together easily and is quite healthy. There are so many ingredients in this salad that I love, and that are so good for you. What’s also nice about serving this salad as an entrée, is that it while it is light, it is actually quite filling.

Summer Salad with Cumin-Crusted Salmon
Salad:
2 ounces pine nuts
5 cups mixed greens
15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup scallions, sliced
1 large orange, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup cilantro, chopped

Dressing:
2 Tbs. orange juice concentrate
4 Tbs. olive oil
½ tsp. cumin
1 ½ Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 garlic gloves, crushed
¼ tsp. salt

Cumin-Crusted Salmon:
1 ½ Tbs. cumin
2 tsps. Paprika
¼ tsp. salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound salmon fillet, skin removed

Heat a non-stick skillet, add pine nuts and stir until toasty, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, place all salad ingredients (reserve half of the cilantro and half of the pine nut for garnish).

In a separate bowl, stir dressing ingredients together.

In a bowl, combine cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Cut salmon into 8 strips and coat with spices. Grill (or sear in a non-stick skillet brushed with canola oil) until crusty.

Toss salad and dressing; divide on plates. Top with salmon and reserved cilantro and pine nuts.

Note – I discard of the whole crushed garlic cloves before serving the dressing. I would like to warn against mincing the garlic and serving it in the dressing – you’ll be tasting it still the next morning!