quinoa tuna salad

Had some leftover cooked quinoa and asparagus in the fridge and what started as a cold salad soon turned into a warm salad. I also found sustainably caught canned tuna at Costco and had to try it. You could add so many ingredients to this salad and there really aren’t set amounts for things… so just have fun!

Quinoa Tuna Salad

~4 cups cooked quinoa
1 can white cannellini beans (white lima beans or northern beans would work)
asparagus, cut into 1-1 1/2″ segments
1 bell pepper, medium diced
1/2 red onion, small diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil
~3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not packed)
1 can tuna, broken into chunks
1/2 lemon, juiced (you most likely won’t need all the juice)
olive oil
salt and pepper

– Fluff quinoa in a large mixing bowl
– Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add red onion and garlic and cook until onions begin to soften and then add asparagus and bell peppers. Cook until just tender
– Add mixture to quinoa. Return pan to heat and add sun dried tomatoes, with their oil, and tuna. Season tuna with salt and pepper and add to quinoa mix
– Add parmesan cheese and mix everything together. Squeeze lemon juice over salad and drizzle with olive oil, remix, taste and adjust seasoning

can you find mochi? 🙂

sexy salads

We’ve been on a salad kick so far this week and I figured with summer supposedly just around the corner, this would be a great time to share some of my favorite salads. The best part about salads is that they don’t have set recipes, you can add/remove/substitute ingredients with whatever you have on hand. Having said that, there are some combinations that I particularly like…None of them “feature” a protein, but if you have to have one, grilled chicken, shrimp, or steak normally work

Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato, and Feta (makes a hearty meal for 2 people)
Normally I like to make my own pesto, but Costco has great pre-made one that lasts for a while without turning brown, and makes a great salad dressing!

1/2-1 head romaine lettuce, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced or sliced, oil drained
grape tomatoes, halved
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 bell pepper, medium diced
1/2 cucumber, split lengthwise into quarters and then sliced
feta cheese and/or shredded parmesan (as much or as little as you want)
pesto! start with 2-3 tablespoons, toss the salad around and then decide if you’d like more
freshly ground pepper

*An equally delicious variation of this salad uses the same ingredients, minus the pesto, and instead of draining the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes, add it in with them and then drizzle the salad with balsamic vinegar. Parmesan cheese matches this version better than the feta

Mixed Greens, Almonds, Mandarin Orange, and Dried Cranberries
I used to order this salad several times a week from the salad bar when I was in college and it’s still one of my favorites

Mixed greens
carrots, shredded (or grated)
cucumber, split lengthwise into quarters and then sliced
grape tomatoes, halved
mandarin oranges, drained
toasted almonds, roughly chopped
dried cranberries
feta cheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
freshly ground pepper

– When I use balsamic vinegar in salads I tend to use mostly vinegar and just a little bit of oil, so I rarely pre-mix the two, but if you want to make sure you have the dressing just to your liking, simply whisk the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a separate bowl before drizzling over the salad

Three-Bean, Blue Cheese, Tortilla Salad (makes enough salad for a 2 person meal)
I’m not a big fan of ranch dressing, but I love blue cheese dressing. I usually buy a store-made dressing, and a small block of blue cheese, and then I add extra blue cheese to my salads (since store-made ones never have enough cheese), because if I buy the large block from Costco I always end up with more blue cheese than I know what to do with. However, if you know you can use up that big block of cheese, then definitely buy it and make some homemade dressing!

1/2-1 head romaine lettuce, thinly sliced
1/2 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 can sweet corn, drained
grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, split lengthwise into quarters and then sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 bell pepper, medium diced
2-3 handfuls tortilla chips, crushed
Blue cheese dressing, store-bought or see recipe below

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
The ratio of mayonnaise:yogurt:heavy cream is 1:1:~1/4, so using that ratio you can shrink or multiply this recipe to fit your needs

1 cup mayonnaise
1 6-8oz container plain yogurt
~1/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half)

• The amount of cream you add can vary depending on how thick you want your dressing. If you’re using it more as a dip you may want to omit the cream all together and keep it really thick

2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry mustard
crumbled blue cheese- the amount is up to you
salt and pepper to taste

– Mix mayonnaise, yogurt, cream and seasoning together till smooth. Fold in blue cheese so it stays in nice big chunks
– Great on salads or as a dipping sauce

Strawberry, Bacon, Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

fresh spinach
strawberries, quartered

• blueberries work really well, too

red onion, cut into quarters and then thinly slice
grape tomatoes, halved
goat cheese, crumbled
toasted almonds, roughly chopped
bacon, thinly sliced and cooked till crispy

• When cooking the bacon, reserve bacon fat for dressing

balsamic vinegar
Worcestershire sauce (optional)
salt and pepper

– As I mentioned earlier, I tend to go heavy on the vinegar and add oil as an afterthought, which is the same thing I normally do here, but I use the bacon fat instead and add a dash of worcestershire. Yes, the bacon fat is indulgent, but it adds so much flavor! But you can always use olive oil

Here’s to looking forward to some hot, sunny days!
Panang Panang, Bali, 2011

eggplant steaks w/ spinach, sun-dried tomato topping

Eggplant Steaks w/ spinach, sun-dried tomato topping

3 large eggplants (cut into about 10-12 steaks)
1/2 onion, small diced
1 bell pepper, small diced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 lb frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rough chopped
1 cup shredded parmesan
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
ref pepper flakes

 

 

 

 

 

– Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
– Cut off top and bottom of eggplants. Then cut them into 1/2″ thick steaks, vertically. You can get about 2-3 steaks out of one eggplant. Keep the eggplant trim and dice it up to use in the topping
– Line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange eggplant steaks on the baking sheet. Drizzle both sides of eggplant with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar
– Bake eggplant for 10-15 minutes, till tender. Then set aside
– Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes till the onions begin to turn translucent
– Add diced eggplant and bell pepper and cook till tender
– Add spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese
– Season with salt and pepper
– Divide topping amongst eggplants. If you need to, pop the topped eggplant steaks back into the oven and broil for a few minutes to reheat

 

 

 

 

you’ll never miss the meat!