Delicious AND Nutritious is absolutely possible!
My husband says that I can never leave a recipe alone and he’s right about that. I can always find something to improve. I’ll make some changes to this in the future, but probably not a lot.
Last weekend, I bought what looked like a nice quinoa salad at Publix. When I got it home, I looked more closely. It was loaded with soybeans! OH NO! unfermented soy is a major hormone disruptor! (Soy will be an upcoming post. It’s not the healthy product that you’ve been told it is.)
Back to the subject at hand, I began looking for a quinoa salad recipe that had all the things I like and none of the bad things. Yesterday, I made a Quinoa Salad with oranges, grapes, cranberries and pecans and I have to say, it was amazing!
My version was non-GMO, organic, high in protein, high in fiber, low in sugar and delicious.
Here are the ingredients:
The recipe was an online find and I must say, it took WAY too long to prepare. The recipe stated a prep time of 15 minutes, but it was more like 45+ minutes, when taking into account the slicing of grapes, soaking of cranberries and cooling of the quinoa. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood to spend that much time standing since I’m in the throes of what appears to be my once-a-year crippling back episode*. Of course, I used all organics and all non-GMO and this is not the time of year for naval oranges so I substituted. At any rate, here is the recipe as I found it, with credit below the recipe to the blog where it originally appeared:
Quinoa Salad with Oranges, Pecans and Cranberries
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
15 mins
Total time
30 mins
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
10 oz quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup pomegranate juice
¼ cup dried cranberries
2 navel oranges, peeled and sliced between membranes
1 cup seedless red or green grapes, cut in half
2 Tbsp scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
½ cup pecans, toasted
For the Dressing:
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup raspberry or balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp Orange Liqueur
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
Preparation
Place the quinoa in a medium pot with the 2 cups of stock and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Simmer covered for 15 minutes, until it blooms. Drain well and put back into the pot and cover for 5 minutes. Remove lid and fluff with a fork and let cool.
While the quinoa is cooking, soak the dried cranberries in the pomegranate juice to plump.
Once the quinoa has cooled, drain the cranberries and add them to the bowl with the orange sections, grapes, scallions and pecans and mix gently.
For the Dressing:
Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, orange liqueur and salt and pepper and whisk to combine; drizzle over the salad and stir in gently.
Allow to sit for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Check seasonings and serve at room temperature.
Recipe by Creative Culinary | A Denver Colorado Food and Cocktail Blog with Recipes. at http://www.creative-culinary.com/quin...
Notes: I used balsamic vinegar, white grapes, low-sodium, organic chicken broth.
* In my book, I mention my 33% disability. This was a little ‘gift’ that came with being rear-ended in an accident in 2008 and also another injury in 1992. I was able to overcome the weight gain from the disability thanks to meditation – and thus the book.
