lemony kale quinoa salad with pepitas and goat cheese

July 18, 2015 radish*rose 0 comment

Tart and refreshing, with a hearty crunch from the toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), this salad is about as healthy as a salad can be. The goat cheese is optional, to make it vegan-friendly as well. You see, I received a giant bunch of curly kale in my CSA (community-supported agriculture) box and needed to find something to do with it using supplies already at hand. Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food came to my rescue, sparking this idea. I wandered a bit from the original recipe – for example, it calls for poppy seeds but I substituted pepitas because, well, that’s what I had, plus poppy seeds always get stuck in one’s teeth, don’t they. Humph. Continue reading

savory quinoa with toasted almonds and dried cranberries

February 14, 2015 radish*rose 1 Comment

I was pretty thrilled with myself for figuring out how to make plain quinoa. But then I tried this recipe from my good friend Melissa at Fun Fit Chic and I realized there is so much more you can do with it! You probably know quinoa is a superfood containing complete proteins, but did you know just one-half cup of quinoa has 14 g protein and 6 g fiber? So if you’re trying to eat fewer animal products, it’s a great way to get plant-based protein while thinking you are eating a fluffy bowl of carbs. Teehee. I love that. Continue reading

spinach, quinoa, and feta salad with dried cranberries

April 26, 2014 radish*rose 2 Comments

Quinoa is fun to say (KEEN-wah… I like to sing it) and it’s definitely having a moment, due to being delicious *and* high in amino acids and protein. I make this salad at least once a week for a quick and scrumptious dinner for two. If you make the quinoa and vinaigrette ahead (or buy pre-made), you can throw this together in a few minutes – no big deal. It’s still pretty fast even if you make everything from scratch (quinoa takes about 20 minutes). If your quinoa is still warm, you can still put it right into the salad and you’ll have a nice wilted spinach effect, if you like that sort of thing (if you don’t, just wait for it to cool). Continue reading