Quinoa Salad With Home Made Cilantro Dressing

Happy Monday one and all.  Hope your weekend was spectacular.  Ours was super busy with fall ball games and keeping grandsons overnight so our daughter and son in love could celebrate their anniversary with a stay at the Opryland Hotel.  With two little guys aged 3 and 18 months, they deserved a little respite and Grandma and Pawpaw were more than happy to help out.

Out other daughter and her family are in the throws of fall ball (no pun intended).  Practices, school, games, jobs - you know how busy life can be.  To show a little mercy, I invited them for dinner last night because Holly spends most of her Sunday on writing assignments to meet deadlines for her editors.  It helps if she doesn't have to worry about feeding her three boys and husband after a day of brain drain.

There is always that dilemma of what to fix that the boys will eat.  The 10 year old is super finicky, the 6 year old is not quite so finicky and the 3 year old is a roll of the dice.  Our son in love has celiac so there is that whole gluten issue to deal with.  Meals can present a challenge.  Last night I fixed enchilada casserole which is made with corn tortillas and contains no gluten.  I made the red sauce with corn starch instead of flour.  For sides, we grilled corn on the cob and I made this beautiful quinoa salad.

Do you know about quinoa (keen-wa) or have you tried it?  It is delicious and gluten free.  My research tells me it is not a true grain in the sense of wheat or oats, but has been cultivated in the Andes mountains for over 3,000 years.  Quinoa is full of protein and calcium, anti oxidants, and is easy to digest.  It is great for vegan diets.  The boys love it and will actually eat it.  It has a lovely mild, nutty flavor and can be served plain or added to other dishes.  There are many ways to "jazz" up quinoa.  The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2013 the year of Quinoa because they believe it could go a long way in eradicating food insecurity worldwide due to its nutritional value.

I had found a recipe for a southwest quinoa salad on Pinterest and it looked good.  It was made with quinoa, black beans, corn, and diced tomatoes.  We were having corn on the cob so I didn't want to use corn in the salad.  For this salad I used, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, green onions, red bell pepper, black olives, and a really tasty cilantro lime salad dressing.  Oh, and I threw in some crumbled bacon that I had left from BLT sandwiches.  Yum.  Crunchy vegetables work well with the soft, mild quinoa.

To make the salad, here is what you need:

Quinoa prepared according to package directions.

(You use 1 cup dry quinoa to 2 cups liquid.  I made 2 cups and that's a lot of quinoa.  If you are feeding 2-4 people, use 1 cup quinoa although I am loving the left over salad.)

1 medium red bell pepper diced
3 green onions, whites and greens cut on a diagonal
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 avocado, diced
sliced black olives, optional  (add as many as you like)
5 slices cooked crisp bacon, crumbled (optional)

Cook the quinoa according to package directions and let cool.  Put the cooled quinoa in a serving bowl and cover with the ingredients you choose to use.  The possibilities are endless really.  I like leaving all the "yummies" on the top so that when you serve the salad, they don't all fall to the bottom.  You can mix it up if you so desire.

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

I didn't measure what I threw in the blender, but this is pretty close.

about 1/2 cup plain fat free greek yogurt
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
juice of one lime or lemon
1/2 to 3/4 of a bunch of cilantro
small pinch of salt

Place ingredients in a blender and whir until blended and cilantro is all chopped.  This dressing is fantastic on any salad.

Serve dressing on the side.  You may like to eat the salad without the dressing like Dan does, but the bright, flavorful dressing adds a nice zip to the salad in my opinion.  If you don't like cilantro, use basil or avocado in it's place.

I had a nice big helping of this salad this evening and it is deeeeeeeeelicious.  Think of all the possibilities for things to add to quinoa to make a healthy salad or it could be eaten as an entree.  It would be especially good for a meatless meal (minus the bacon).

If you haven't tried quinoa, this salad a good way to introduce it into your diet, or you could serve it plain as a side dish in the place of rice or potatoes.  We will definitely be eating it more often since it has been called a super food.  We are always looking for things that taste good and are good for you.  Give it a try.  I think you will like it.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Quinoa is great for lazy day cooking because it's packed with complete proteins, but it cooks in only 20 minutes. And, you can flavor it any way you wish! I make mine with onions, lots of ground ginger, turmeric and coriander, and then whatever dried fruit and nuts I have around.

Aarti Sequeira, Food Network

Jicama Lime Tuna Salad - A New Twist On Tuna Salad

Friday was May Faire at our grandsons' school and parents, siblings and grandparents were invited to join in the festivities which included a picnic on the grounds, but you had to bring your own picnic.  Our second daughter and her sons were going to join in the fun also.  Since both daughter's have their hands full with small children, I told them I would make the picnic lunch to relieve them of the additional stress of preparing food.  Because, you know, I have lots of time now and I have been where they are.   Nothing like getting kids ready for school, getting there early, little ones to deal with AND having to prepare a picnic lunch.  That can put a stressful start on your day and Grandma likes to help them avoid that whenever possible.  It just makes life easier and the day more enjoyable for everyone.

The two older boys can be picky eaters and I knew I would have to prepare sandwiches for them that they would eat.  But, what about the adults?  I wanted something really good for us to eat.  There is a deli in our neighborhood that makes fantastic sandwiches and they are consistently voted best deli in Nashville.  One of the sandwiches they make is a jicama lime tuna salad and it is ever so good.  We all like that sandwich and I thought that I could replicate it.  

Do you like tuna salad?  I LOVE it and always have.  One of my fondest childhood memories is of riding the bus downtown with my mom and getting to eat at the Kresge's lunch counter.  It was really long and had stools that swiveled (awesome).  They were shiny chrome and had fancy decorative backs and red seats.  Everyone stood waiting for seats to open up and the lunch counter happened to be right next to the jewelry counter.  Now, if you don't know me well, you may not realize my great love and admiration for sparkly things - like cheap birthstone rings in all colors like they had at the Kresge's 5 and 10 jewelry counter.  We are not talking precious gems here, but costume jewelry that started at the cost of one thin dime back in the early to mid fifties.  There was nothing better than getting to peruse all the fabulous jewelry while you waited for a seat at the lunch counter.  I loved pressing my nose up against the glass, walking up and down taking in all the wonderful colors of the "glass" gems in that counter.  They could have been the crown jewels for all I knew.  Talk about a treat for a little girl with glitter in her veins, that was a great one!  Then, when seats opened up for all of us, we would get to sit at the counter and swivel back and forth while we waited for our toasted tuna fish salad sandwich - at least that is what I always ordered.  I can still see and taste it.

The sandwich came on square white sandwich bread (which we never had at home) and was toasted a lovely golden color and was sliced on the diagonal.   It was filled with wonderful tuna salad with a nice piece of leaf lettuce on it.  Don't ask me why tuna salad sandwiches at home were never quite as good as Kresge lunch counter tuna salad sandwiches, but I think it had something to do with the swivel seat and all that wonderful jewelry behind me.  Makes my heart swell just to think about it.

 I don't think kids today could ever understand the wonder of it all.  A trip downtown was so special, it was not like going to the mall.   We only went a few times a year, not every week.  We hardly ever ate out, so the Kresge's lunch counter was a really special treat and looking in all the windows of the stores downtown was unforgettable.   Riding the bus was the best ride ever, especially if I got to drop the money in.   How many of you have memories like that?  They are some of the best.

Anyway, I have always loved tuna salad and my goal was to replicate the jicama lime tuna salad they serve at Mitchell's.  It is not the tuna salad we grew up on, but it is so good with so many textures and flavors that are especially great for warm weather and a nice change from the "same old same old."

If you don't know what jicama is, it is a tuber that comes from Mexico and the taste and texture reminds me of a sweet water chestnut.  It has that awesome crunch that is a great alternative to celery.  You can find it in the produce section of your grocery store and it looks like a big brown turnip with white flesh inside.  I got one that was about the size of a big orange.  They can be quite big, just make sure they have a dry root and no soft spots.  You peel the jicama (pronounce the J like an H and the i like a short e - hecama), cut it into matchsticks and then dice so you have pieces of similar size.  I kept eating little pieces as I diced because it is so good.  Yum.

Here is what you need for this salad.  I  used 4 cans of albacore tuna because we had so many eating,  but you can reduce the amount to make less, just adjust the amounts of the other ingredients.

4 cans albacore tuna
1 medium/large jicama, peeled and diced
1 lime
chili powder
1 large shallot
cumin
mayonnaise  (I used mayonnaise with olive oil)
salt to taste

Dice the jicama and place in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice of one lime over the jicama.  It keeps it from turning brown and gives you some of the flavor for the tuna salad.  Sprinkle with chili powder and toss, making sure all the jicama pieces are coated with chili powder and lime.  Set aside.

Open and drain the cans of tuna.  Place in a bowl.  Dice the shallot in small pieces and add to the tuna.  Add the jicama.  Add 1/2 to 1 tsp of cumin.  I used about 3 heaping TBSPs of mayonnaise, use more if you want.  Mix all together.  Taste to see if you want to add more of any seasoning or salt.

I used whole grain pita pockets for our sandwiches because I have a thing about soggy bread - not a fan.  I put a couple of pieces of leaf lettuce in the pita pocket, filled it with tuna salad and added some chopped tomatoes and thinly sliced radishes to the top.  Just let me say, this is one fabulous sandwich!  What an awesome alternative to the tuna salad we grew up on.  There is a delicious depth of flavors that have a southwestern twist to them - chili powder, cumin, a hint of lime and crunchy, sweet jicama.  YUMMM!  Everyone agreed this salad was as good as Mitchell's!  Hooray!

Try this fabulous twist on a golden oldie, I think you will really like it.  I know we are going to eat a lot of it this summer.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

A trip to nostalgia now and then is good for the spirit.  Unknown