Recipe: Quinoa Tabouli Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

There's nothing quite like eating a REAL lunch to make you feel like you actually have your shit together. 

Not knocking the string-cheese quesadilla or an almond-butter & fluff sandwich, of course. They just feel a bit, ehm, desperate. As in I desperately need to go food shopping and reacquaint myself with actual foods that grow out of the earth. (HELLO VEGETABLES WHAT R U.)

Any time I'm in a lunch-rut (which is........ often), this quinoa tabouli salad pulls me right on out. I make one big batch in the beginning of the week, then keep the salad and the dressing separate in the fridge. Each day when I'm ready to eat, I mix up a smaller bowl of the quinoa salad with a big glug of lemon vinaigrette. This way the herbs and veggies stay nice and crisp throughout the week. 

When I'm feeling especially hangry or when feeding a boy who thinks there is no such thing as 'too much protein', I'll throw in a drained can of tuna or a few scoops of drained, rinsed beans (white cannellini or garbanzo). I'm sure you could get away with chicken, too, but... meh. Chicken.

Oh PS: shake up your salad dressings in jars!! They don't even have to be of the mason variety. Any clean jar will do. (I hoard Talenti gelato containers & Trader Joe's roasted red pepper jars.) Vinaigrettes tend to do that rude separating thing when they sit for a while, and it's easy enough to just give the jar a quick shake each time you use it.

PPS: I have not a clue what makes sprouted quinoa different from regular quinoa, but TruRoots was kind enough to send me a bag to try and it seemed to cook up just the same. A quick google tells me it's healthier, so basically after one bowl of this stuff I'm SUPER-HUMAN. 

Recipe: Quinoa Tabouli Salad with 

Lemon Vinaigrette 

Recipe Notes
- This makes a really big bowl of salad. It's great for a crowd, or to portion out for lunches throughout the week.
- If you don't like or have mint and/or chives, just leave them out! The parsley is key, so I wouldn't skip that. 
- The salad is pretty filling as-is, but for extra protein toss in drained, canned tuna or a can of drained, rinsed beans (maybe white cannellini or garbanzo).

Ingredients
For dressing (makes just over 1 cup):
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from ~3 lemons)
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard 
2 tsp honey
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated on a microplane (~1 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper 

For salad:
1 cup uncooked quinoa (yields ~3 cups cooked; I used TruRoots sprouted quinoa)
1 cup gluten free chicken stock (sub another cup of water for vegetarian)
1 cup water
Olive oil for quinoa 
2 cups cucumbers cut into quarter-moons (equals 4 persian cucumbers)
2 cups diced grape tomatoes (equals almost one 16 oz. container)
1 cup roughly chopped, Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup chopped chives

Instructions
To cook quinoa:
Add quinoa, chicken stock and water to a pot. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low (as low as possible), and cover with a lid. Set timer for 15 minutes. Check after 13/14 minutes. As soon as all of the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat. Drizzle cooked quinoa with a bit of olive oil, gently toss, and cover with lid. Let sit for 10 minutes with lid on. 

To make dressing:
Add all dressing ingredients to a jar with a tight fitting lid. (Talenti ice cream containers work great!) Tighten lid, and shake vigorously until dressing is emulsified (will be thicker, creamy and pale yellow). 

To assemble salad:
In a large bowl, gently toss cooled quinoa (MUST be cooled or herbs will wilt) with cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. Keep the salad and dressing separate until ready to serve. (I keep both in my fridge and mix up just enough for lunch each day.)

To serve:
Toss your desired portion of the quinoa salad with some of the dressing. Eat cold or room temp.

Recipe: Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Pecorino

Salads. Meeeeeehhhhhhhhhh. 

Don't love 'em, but don't really hate 'em either. (Okay sometimes I hate them. I'm pretty sure every Celiac has had this reaction at least once. Or this one. If you haven't freaked the eff out over a salad yet, juuust wait. Your day will come.)

I totally order salads, sometimes. In fact, I'm an absolute whiz at plucking out all of the toppings and leaving the dumb lettuce behind. If there's cheese or some kind of porky-meat in that pile of leaves I will FIND IT. I am the Liam Neeson of salads. And mix-ins are my rebellious teenage children.

So what in the heck is a salad recipe doing on this blog? Well for starters, you won't find any lettuce. This salad is ALL sprouts. Which just so happen to be my favorite veggie in all the land. 

There's also a big ol' pile of cheese, which, yum. 

If you haven't signed off on your Thanksgiving menu yet, this would make a mighty fine addition. Or maybe make it the day after when you're good and stuffed? It's really quite light and refreshing (thanks diced apples!), so I think you'll enjoy it either way. 

Recipe: Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Pecorino

[inspired by this salad from Sylvain in New Orleans, LA]

Notes
-If you want to make this extra festive you could throw in a handful of dried cranberries or dried cherries. I thought about it, but what I love most about this salad is its simplicity. Your call!
-Another solid addition would be crispy prosciutto or... bacon.

Ingredients
Agave White Balsamic Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (can sub white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar)
2 tsp agave (can sub honey)
1 tsp dijon mustard 
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper 

Sprouts Salad:
3 cups raw, shaved Brussels sprouts (one 10 oz. Trader Joe's bag)
3/4 cups toasted, chopped walnuts (can sub almonds or hazelnuts)
2 granny smith apples, peeled and diced 
Fresh-grated Pecorino Romano cheese (can sub Parmesan)

Instructions
Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Secure lid, and shake until the dressing is emulsified (thicker and creamier). 

In a large bowl, toss together the sprouts, walnuts, and diced apple. Add about half of the dressing and toss to combine. Add more dressing as needed. (I end up using about 2/3 of the dressing.)

To serve, portion the dressed salad onto plates. Top each plate of salad with a generous pile of grated Pecorino Romano. 

Recipe: Shaken Lemon, Dijon + Garlic Vinaigrette

Evidently, it’s pretty tough to get jazzed about salad dressing. Unless, of course, it’s in a cute little jar with a cute little label, and you can celebrate having made it without a DROP of olive oil landing on your clothes. (Which is quite the feat, given that 80% of my wardrobe is tainted by oil stains. How chic!)

The jar is so vital to this recipe that it may as well be an ingredient. I cannot stress enough how satisfying it is to throw a few ingredients into a jar, seal the lid (tightly, please), give it a couple of vigorous shakes, then marvel at the creamy, thick vinaigrette that has formed. As my girl Ina would say, ‘How easy is that?!’ (Mind you, Ina would probably have a member of her gaytourage shaking the jar, but I digress.)

Not only is the dressing made without dirtying a bowl/whisk/etc, but it’s all set to store in the fridge. I like to whip up a batch in the beginning of the week, then dress salads made up of whatever I have laying around. In this case: baby arugula, sliced radishes, and toasted walnuts. Not too shabby.

Now go give those bingo wings a workout and shake up some vinaigrette!

Notes

-I use empty roasted red pepper jars. Any empty, glass condiment jar will do. 

-The classic ratio for vinaigrettes is 3:1 (oil to acid, or in this case, lemon juice). Adjust as needed to suit your tastes.

-Speaking of tastes, taste as you go! You can always add more of any of these ingredients until you find the perfect balance.

-If dressing solidifies in fridge, remove the lid and microwave for about 10 seconds.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil (~1/2 cup)           

Fresh lemon juice (from ~2 lemons)

Lemon zest (from ~1 lemon)

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated

Dijon mustard (~1 tsp)

Coarse-ground mustard (~2 tsp)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

-In a jar, combine olive oil, lemon juice + zest, grated garlic, and mustard.

-Seal jar and shake to until dressing is emulsified. (It will thicken and turn a pale yellow color.)

-Add salt and pepper, shake jar again, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

-Use immediately or store jar in fridge for about 1 week. Always shake before using.