Spring Veggie Quinoa Salad with Basil Lemon Dressing

By -
I just bought 4 pounds of shelled peas yesterday at a local farm.  I also had lots of avocado's, asparagus, and broccoli on hand.  So I came up with this recipe.  I don't want to rate my own recipe, but I had my husband do it and he would give it a 6, just because it was missing a little something.  Maybe you can help me crack the secret ingredient it needs.  Maybe something creamy or a certain spice?

Salad:
2 cups water
1 1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small bunch asparagus, about 15 spears, cut into 1-inch (bite size) pieces
1 small bunch of broccoli cut into bite size pieces
 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 -1.5 cup peas  (I had fresh, but could use frozen)
1 avocado, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped basil
Parmesan cheese for topping

Dressing:
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In canning jar (or bowl), mix dressing ingredient's together. 

Cook Quinoa in the water until you see little "pig tails" sprouting from the cooked quinoa.

While the quinoa is cooking, cook the asparagus & broccoli. In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus, broccoli, and fresh lemon juice. Cook until tender.. Stir in the peas and cook for another couple of minutes.

In a large bowl combine quinoa, cooked veggies, avocado, & dressing.  Stir in fresh basil.  Salt and pepper to taste & top with parmesan cheese.  Enjoy



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sourdough, version 4, aka version Mel

By -
Image
This is my personal favorite.—it is a combination of the sourdough recipe from Nancy Beykirch with the Tartine method. It is sour but the texture is also great. Leaven: 1/2 cup sourdough starter 1/2 cup water 2/3 cups bread flour Combine ingredients and let sit 12 hours. Then, combine the leaven (mine was about 290 grams) 860 grams white flour 100 grams wheat flour 700 grams water 22 grams salt You mix this then let it sit for 40 minutes. Then, you put it in a big bowl and let it rise for 5 hours. For the first 2-3 hours, turn in every 30 minutes where you pull the dough to the opposite side, rotate the bowl by 4ths, do the same thing. Then, you put it on a floured surface. This dough is sticky, so you might need a good deal of flour. divide and shape into 2 loaves, then let sit 30 minutes. Then, kind of reshape them and put them in a pot. Let them rise for 3 hours. Then, score them. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, then lid off the dutch oven for the final 20 minutes.
Read more

Grandma Goodsell's Whole Wheat Bread

By -
Image
  So, my Grandma Goodsell is the one who instilled a love of bread making in me. I owe a lot to her guidance when I was a kid. We finally tracked down her recipe after we thought it was lost all those years ago, and I made it yesterday. I give it a 9, but that’s probably a lot of nostalgia. Either way, it is a very, very solid bread recipe. I put my changes below in bold. Grandma Goodsell's Whole Wheat Bread Mix 2 ½ T yeast and 1 T sugar in 1 C water, and let set for 10 minutes. I used instant yeast, so I decreased this to 5 tsp. of yeast 3 C milk 2 C water ½ C honey ½ C shortening 2 T salt 2 T molasses 5 ½ C whole wheat flour 7 ½ C white flour I also added 2 heaping spoonfuls of wheat gluten Combine milk, honey, shortening, salt, and molasses in a saucepan and heat until shortening melts. Stir in 2 Cups cold water and combine with yeast mixture. Pour mixture into mixing bowl and add flours one cup at a time alternating between white and wheat (1 C white, 1 C wheat, 1 C white, ...
Read more

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

By -
Image
Oh, how I love me a pressure cooker that cuts down on dishes and produces the exact same results. This is good because it's pasta and meatballs. I would have to really be coerced to make it any other way again because this is just SO easy. My one complaint is that it was very rich in tomato flavor because it calls for twice as much sauce as when I make it the traditional way. I think I might increase the water and use less sauce next time. Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey I just did my own meatballs already premade 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves garlic, finely minced) I just did my own meatballs already premade Salt and pepper 16 ounces uncooked spaghetti noodles (see note) I think our spaghetti is almost 18 oz 1 teaspoon dried basil I used fresh 40 ounces jarred spaghetti/marinara sauce (see note) I did 2 Trader Joe's vodka sauces that are 25 oz. each 3 1/2 cups water Freshly grated Parmesan and ...
Read more