Salad

Living the Single Life & Marinated Quinoa Salad

June 21, 2012

This week I’m living the single life.

Adam has been away all week for work on the Island since Monday, so I’ve been at home by myself. I’ve been hanging out with my mom, we spent all Tuesday together as it marked eight years since my fathers passing.

It’s actually been nice to have the nights to myself as well. I’m totally used to being at home alone, and I’m definitely an independent person so it’s really no big deal. Usually if I am home alone it is during the day, and Adam is home after work around 3:30. So, having nights to myself has actually been kind of nice. I’ve made myself some yummy single-girl dinners, and had a nice relaxing bath last night and read a novel. I’ve also watched a few too-girly for Adam movies on Netflix myself (The Jane Austen Book Club, and Monte Carlo, Date Night) they were pretty good. I really liked the Jane Austen one, as my last semester in school I took a Jane Austen literature course where we read all six of her novels, and the movie discusses the novels as well. It’s also nice to be able to go to the gym whenever, instead of trying to co-ordinate with Adam as well if he wants to come with.

This week we also officially sold our place!! We had an offer previously, but it fell through unfortunately. Literally a week later we had another showing, and they were interested. The inspector came on Monday morning, and by that afternoon it was finalized! We really were not in any rush, as we are not moving into the new town home until November, however, it was nice to rest assure we (read: Adam lol) won’t be left with two mortgages comes the fall, so selling it now makes it a lot easier. We will be moving out in a month, I’ll actually be in Europe, so Adam will be having to do it himself at the end. We will just begin to pack now slowly and move things to storage, as we will likely be moving in with my Mom, as they have a full basement suite (that’s actually bigger than our condo right now! lol) We (read: I) really crammed a lot into our small space (just over 600 sq. ft) and our new place is about 1,500 sq. ft. Moving on up!

I made some zucchini ribbon pasta with red peppers and chicken Monday night, Tuesday I was at my moms, and yesterday I thought I would get a head start by making a salad during the day and letting it marinate until dinner. I also added some shrimp to it. I always  have a bag of frozen raw shrimp in the freezer, great for pastas etc. but I never think about making them for lunch or a quick snack. They take only a minute to thaw, under running water and peel, and only a few minutes to cook (I sauté them in lemon juice with pepper) So I decided to make some to go with my salad for dinner. The flavours are delicious, and I just poured the shrimp on top with the extra lemon juice from the pan. Definitely an easy weeknight dinner, make ahead the salad the day before, and throw on some shrimp. This salad would also be delicious with some chicken, or maybe a lamb or beef kebab. Great for bringing to picnics too! I made the quinoa earlier in the day and let it cool, and then just added about 1/2 a cup to the salad and kept the rest plain for a snack later.

(single lady) Marinated Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 Cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 Broccoli crown
  • 1 can Chick Peas (Garbanzo beans)
  • 1/4 Cup Lemon juice
  • Olive oil
  • 3 large Garlic cloves (I like mine spicy! If you don’t love garlic you can use 1 clove)
  • Pepper
  • Parsley

To Prepare:

Wash and cut red pepper into small pieces, discarding the inside. Peel and cut cucumber into chunks.

In a food processor place half the broccoli crown and pulse until it is diced into small pieces. If you do not have a food processor, you can dice the broccoli using a knife. I love how small the food processor makes the broccoli, instead of having large chunks of it in a salad it is more of small granules. I also dice my garlic in the food processor, alternatively, you can dice it by hand.

Drain the chick peas in strainer, and rinse them well – if they are canned with Salt, rinsing them can actually remove quite a lot of the salt. Pour into medium sized bowl. Add the chopped pepper, cucumber and broccoli.

Add a 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, more or less as you desire.

Mix well.

Drizzle on top olive oil, and lemon juice. Sprinkle with pepper, and add the garlic on top. Mix again to thoroughly incorporate the juices and seasoning. Cut up a few sprigs of Parsley and mix in as well. I also threw on a dash of garlic powder (Thankfully Adam wasn’t home, I could keep away a vampire for sure with my garlic breath!)

Mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight. It can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. I made a large batch and have been eating it for lunch/dinner.

If you wanted to add some protein to it, I just sautéed the shrimp in lemon juice with some pepper, and once it was cooked I poured the shrimp along with all the juices in the pan onto the salad. It was delish!

 

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5 Comments

  • Reply Bakeaholic’s Breakfast Quinoa » Bakeaholic June 22, 2012 at 10:22 AM

    […] had lots of Quinoa leftover from Wednesday’s Marinated Quinoa Salad. With already made quinoa it’s a really quick breakfast to […]

  • Reply Danielle June 22, 2012 at 11:43 AM

    Again, this dish looks amaaaaaazing!

    Congrats on *officially* selling your condo! It will be nice to enjoy your euro vacation with out worrying about the possibility of 2 mortgages!

    • Reply Alicia June 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM

      haha thanks!! Yes it is a relief that we have finalized it all!

  • Reply Aunt Weez June 23, 2012 at 4:40 PM

    Hi, I will make this for this weeks lunches! I may put in cauliflour in tiny bits. I like the Quinoa in a salad. Never thought of putting in chick peas! You had a great great cousin called “Chick”!! Gramma’s cousin! Anyways Uncle Marv will enjoy the new salad! Luvs Aunt Weez

    • Reply Alicia June 25, 2012 at 2:14 PM

      cauliflower would be good too!

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