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?

Chiles (and socks) Stuffed with Quinoa and Corn

Quinoa isn't only fun to try to pronounce, it's great to stuff in stuff as well. Take, for example, socks and peppers. Quinoa makes a great substitute for meat in any stuffed pepper recipe, and who wouldn't find it funny to stick their foot in a sock only to find it's already full of quinoa? You should probably test this theory tonight on your spouse/lover/partner/roommate/kid. Whatever you don't put in the sock use to stuff Anaheim chiles for this delicious recipe.

Chiles Stuffed with Quinoa and Corn
serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side.

Here's What You're Gonna Need:
4 large Anaheim chiles
1/2 cup (uncooked) quinoa
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 small can of tomato sauce
shredded low fat colby jack cheese

And Here's What You're Gonna Do:
Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare quinoa according to the directions on the package, substituting vegetable broth for water.

Meanwhile...
Saute the diced onion until translucent.

While that's cooking, cut the tops off of your chiles and make a slit down one of the broader slides. Don't cut all the way through the pepper--this is going to be your stuffing hole (tee hee). Note: Wash your hands after this step and do not, under any circumstances (including having Mothera land on your nose), wipe your hand across your face until you do so. My friend... Bamy, who writes a blog called... Alfhay Assedway Egetarianvay, did this and told me it was a bad idea.

Place the peppers in a casserole dish, slit side up. Fill with quinoa, onions and corn. Spoon tomato sauce on top of each pepper (you'll probably only use about half of the can. Reserve the rest to use on any extra quinoa). Sprinkle lightly with salt. Hold off on the cheese for now. Cover, and pop in the oven for 30 mins.

When the 30 minutes are up, remove those bad boys from the oven, top them with cheese, and put them back in the oven, uncovered, for another 10-15 minutes.

If you have any quinoa left over after all of the sock and pepper stuffing, you can top it with a little extra tomato sauce and nest the peppers on top of the quinoa to plate it. And now, once again, you look fancier than you are. You're welcome.