Cold Quinoa Salad: Easy to Pack, Fun to Say

I make up a decent sized batch of quinoa at the beginning of the week (usually on oatmeal day) and have enough to have this salad for lunch over the next couple of days. It keeps well for about five days--I haven't had enough to push this experiment to the limit because there's never any left after that long, though I'd be interested in seeing how long it takes before it starts walking on its own... Anyway, rock the quinoa early on in the day so it has time to cool before lunch.

Here's What You're Gonna Need:
1 cup quinoa
1 can (low sodium, if possible) vegetable broth

1 can garbanzo beans / Ceci beans / chick peas, however you say it in your neck of the woods
3 stocks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
(prep time built in)

spring mix / baby lettuce, optional

flax seed
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil, optional
hard boiled egg, optional

And Here's What You're Gonna Do:

Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a medium pot. While you're waiting for that to happen, rinse and drain quinoa.

Plop clean quinoa into the pot of boiling broth, knock the heat down to medium low, and put a lid on it. Simmer for 11 minutes while chop the celery and carrots.

When the time's up, remove the pot from the heat, keep the lid on and let it hang out for about 5 minutes to finish absorbing the liquid. After five minutes whisk the lid off, and fluff the quinoa with a fork. If it's close-ish to lunch time, take out a bowl of however much you're going to eat today and either set it on the counter or in the fridge to cool. You can let the rest cool down on it's own and then store it in a Tupperware container in the fridge.

Assembly time!
1. salad greens, optional
2. quinoa
3. mix in a little balsamic
4. hard boiled egg, optional
5. carrots and celery
6. more balsamic vinegar and olive oil, if you want it
7. flax seed
8. Ta da! You're full of fiber, omega 3s, and complete protein. Now aren't you smart?

Winter Vegetables and Barley

Nothing funny or even remotely amusing happened in the making of this dish so I don't have a story for you, but it's really good so you should read the recipe and make it anyway. Old Man Winter (huh?) wants you to.

Winter Vegetables and Barley
(Okay, fine, green beans aren't a "winter vegetable," but you have to reach into the freezer to get them and that'll make your hand cold and wintery so in AmyLand they count.)

Here's What You're Gonna Need:

1 cup quick-cooking barley (uncooked)
1 big ol' butternut squash, cut into big bite sized in cubes*
6ish carrots, sliced into reasonable sized pieces for consumption
1 small onion (or 1/2 of a big one), chopped
2 cups frozen cut green beans
2 cans stewed tomatoes (don't drain them, but go at the tomatoes with a fork or a pair of scissors to break them up a little )
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped up
1 cup vegetable broth
a pinch of salt & pepper

*You can cut off the ends of this bad boy and just peel him with a good vegetable peeler. If you're of the peel-with-knife tribe, this chore will be easier for you if you steam the entire squash for about 2 mins (turn it so all sides get a taste of steam) then throw it in cold water before you peel it. This is loosen the skin up for you. To cube your squash, cut it in half down the middle, scoop out any seeds or stringy mess, then go about your slicing and dicing. Big pieces are okay here--maybe an inch or so.

And Here's What You're Gonna Do:
(pay attention, it's complicated)

Preheat oven to 375. Put everything in a big casserole dish or pyrex. Cover said dish and put it in the oven for a little over an hour,* or until your kitchen stabbing device stabs the squash and carrots with ease (start stabbing at an hour). Take it out, stir it up, and consume.

*Short cut: If you need your veggies and barley done a little sooner, steam the cut squash and carrots in a steam basket for about 10 mins while you're prepping everything else. This'll cut at least 20 mins off your bake time.