quinoa lunch salad

I'm trying to eat more quinoa, so I incorporated it into a greek salad takeoff that I made the other day. Mahesh loved it, and I want to remember the recipe, so here it is:

-- 1 c. dried quinoa, cooked (probably about 3 cups cooked)
-- 1 can garbanzos (or 2 cups cooked from dried)
-- 2 1/2 tomatoes, chopped (roughly 2 cups)
-- 1.5 cups chopped cucumber, I use the small crisp ones -- 7 of them
-- 4 Tablespoons minced onion, or one bunch spring onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
-- 4 Tablespoons minced parsley
-- 1/2 cup olives, pitted and roughly chopped
-- 3/4 cup feta cheese, cubed into small cubes
-- salt and pepper
-- the juice of one lemon
-- spicy pepper sauce (like Tobasco) to taste (optional)
-- 2 teaspoons flax seed oil (optional, to increase Omega 3 content)

To cook garbanzos from dried, soak 1 cup dried beans in water for 8 hours or overnight, then cook in pressure cooker for 7 or 8 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally, and you have the most delicious garbanzo beans on the planet.

To cook the quinoa, put 1 cup dried in a pot with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring ocassionally. Keep an eye on it at the end to make sure it doesn't run out of water and burn.

Mix everything together in a bowl, and chill. It's better if you can let it sit until the next day (although I rarely can). A complete protein and iron-packed meal, easy to take for lunches.

tuna lunch

So I was about to grab a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli for lunch, but then I saw the can of tuna next to it and made this instead:

1 can tuna
3 T. minced onion
3 T. minced red bell pepper
3 T. plain yogurt
salt, pepper, spicy tabasco sauce

-- mix the above together in a bowl, eat with celery sticks (3 large).

It was OK if a bit TOO healthy even for me, I think I will need a snack later on.

Quinoa Loaf with Sun-Dried tomato gravy

I found out that quinoa is really high in iron, so I have been looking for ways to serve it for dinner. Today I made this quinoa loaf with a few modifications, including:
-- sauteeing the onion, adding in garlic and celery
-- adding in 1/2 jalapeno and some chipotle sauce
-- making it in a muffin pan for mini muffin loafs

I wanted to make a gravy for it so I tried this one (minus the bacon):

Overall, the quinoa loaf was a lot of work, I was thinking it wasn't going to be worth it, but it is such a healthy recipe, and tasted pretty good with a delicious brown crust and soft middle, so I will make it again. But the sun dried tomato gravy was not that great (but ok), so next time I will try it with a mushroom gravy, I think that will be better. Mahesh loved it and compared the muffins to a pakora he likes in India.