Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Adventures in Healthy Cooking: Quinoa Salad

With the new running and yoga regimen, I'm looking into cooking healthier as well. That doesn't mean that I'm abandoning baking altogether. Oh, no! I'll never give up my homemade cookies and pies, but I can dilute that fatty cooking with some healthy fair once in awhile. Like, quinoa.

I've never cooked with this grain, but from what I've read and heard, it's a super food. Also, it's versatile and tasty -- two things I adore in ingredients. This past weekend, I made a quinoa salad inspired by a friend who offered that salad at a recent camping trip. It's simple, and here's the recipe that I created. If you go to Whole Foods, this might look familiar. My friend based her salad off of theirs, and I tweaked the ingredients to get a better consistency.

Cranberry-Orange Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup orange juice
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup mandarin orange slices, drained
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1 tspn salt
3 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil


Directions:
Rinse the quinoa with cold water and strain. In a pot, add the quinoa, water and salt. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or till the liquid is absorbed. When done, fluff with a fork and then lay out in a thin layer on a baking sheet to cool.

While the quinoa is cooking, reduce the orange juice to half by simmering in a non-reactive sauce pan for approximately 10 minutes. Set in the freezer for 5 mintues to cool. Once cooled, whisk in olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, raisins, nuts, orange slices and cooked quinoa. Pour vinaigrette over the mixure and stir together. If desired, add fresh chopped mint. Serve cold. Great with a side of whole grain toast or leafy greens...or by itself. Makes approx 8 servings, 350 Calories per serving.