Every now and again you 'whip something up' for a quick meal, fate steps in and before you know it you are left with the realization that you are doing the wrong thing with your life and (like Jon Favreau in Chef) you need to abandon your day job, turn pro, and open a food truck (ok... to be fair, Favreau was already a chef when he did this in the film... BUT STILL).
I had this moment this other day. I will admit it, I was stumped, I gazed into the abyss of my refrigerator and could not figure out what to eat. The beauty of my grocery shopping tendencies is that no matter what, when in doubt, I can turn to mexican food... so, as I stood there hopelessly looking at a mismatch of ingredients, I came up with a new version of an old favorite- mexican inspired quinoa salad.
Left overs are this dishes best friend, the measurements aren't perfect, but was so good I had to share it.
-Mexican Quinoa Salad-
What you will need (yields one meal sized portion):
1/4 cup prepared quinoa
1 cup arugula
1/8 cup canned black beans (rinsed)
1/8 cup onion chopped
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/2 an avocado
cilantro to taste
sea salt, black pepper, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika to taste (a dash of each)
Place arugula into your salad bowl, add quinoa, black beans, onion, cilantro and spices. Squeeze the lime directly over the top. Stir together to distribute the seasoning. Top with avocado and enjoy!
That's it.
If you make the quinoa fresh, allow it to chill before placing it on the salad (there is nothing worse than uptight quinoa am I right!? ok... bad joke... moving on), the flavor is completely different when it is hot. I do however recommend cooking large batches of quinoa* when you are in the mood for it and storing the leftovers in the refrigerator for such occasions as this; it makes life so much simpler.
If you are still stumped by what is in your fridge, perhaps Lynne can help.
Have a tasty week everyone!
xx
*Trick of the trade- rinse your quinoa 2-3 times before you place water over it and cook it. This will give you a way better flavor in the finished product.
