Happy Friday! Have you tried quinoa before? If not, you definitely should. It’s a grain that, unlike most others, is a complete protein. It’s tasty and hardly takes any time to make.
Today’s recipe was inspired by We are not Martha’s quinoa & black bean salad. I tweaked it a bit to fit what I had on hand.
Here’s what I used:
- 1.5 cups of quinoa, rinsed
- 3 cups of water
- 3 limes
- EVOO
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
- red + green peppers (your choice)
- cumin
- coriander
- cayenne pepper
Chop the peppers into bite-sized pieces. For the dressing, I used the juice of all three limes and the zest of one. I added EVOO, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and cayenne all to taste.
Quinoa is incredibly easy to cook. Combine the quinoa and water in a pot and cook until the water is absorbed. I started on medium heat, and once it began to bubble, I give it a stir and turned it down to midway between low and medium. It takes about fifteen minutes total. You can tell when the quinoa is done once the little white thing (technical term) on the grain shows.
This recipe takes about 20-25 minutes total. It makes a lot of salad, so be ready for leftovers!
Here it is all combined.
This salad is delicious and super healthy. I let mine chill before eating. I have a feeling that the longer this salad marinates in the fridge, the better it will taste. The dressing is not overwhelming, but gives a nice flavor. Red peppers are by far tastier than green so next time I might use only red. However, as Giada always says, we eat with our eyes first, and using both green and red peppers makes this salad gorgeous and colorful!
Today was a SNOW DAY! NYU never, ever gives snow days, but this is the second one this winter! I don’t even have Friday classes so it was sort of a bummer that the snow didn’t come earlier. I have no plans to leave my apartment any time soon!
My thesis is due one month from today! SCARY! I have to get a lot done this weekend. Meh. At least there is no temptation to go outside, I guess? Fortunately, I have a delicious quinoa salad to keep me going all weekend 
I tried to make a Green Monster smoothie today too, but I failed. Epically. I actually had to throw it out, which I hate doing. More on that tomorrow or Sunday, when it will hopefully be a success!
HAPPY WEEKEND!
PS – The black beans and quinoa come out of the Pantry Challenge running tab! I have barely anything left!
