Quinoa Salad

 I finished eating my tuna salad (with celery, pickle relish and tomato- no cheese) in only three days- quicker than I expected. I guess the can made less than I remembered? But with that "out of the way", I was finally able to try making quinoa for the first time. In case you are unfamiliar with this product, much like the way I was a mere few months ago, it is pronounced "keen-wah", not "quinn-oh-uh", as I had been incorrectly saying it. Quinoa is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It has been listed as one of the World's Healthiest Foods, due to it's high nutritive value. Amber from work was nice enough to actual buy me the quinoa, since I kept talking about it. She purchased this 1.15 pound container at Sprouts. I believe that's like Whole Foods or Fresh Market.
 Here is the grain, uncooked:

 On Pinterest, I found that there are a load of ways to prepare quinoa including a cinnamon pudding form, or people eating it as a cereal with milk and fruit. But I'll stick to eating it as a salad for now, since that is how I "got to know it" as. I followed this easy recipe from Simply Recipes, but of course, made substitutions to make it even easier on myself. I tend to really take my time with these things, so if Michael asks me to make dinner, I might as well start two hours in advance. I doubt quinoa would be on his list of meal requests thought. He's more of a traditional Pot Pie or Mac & Cheese kind of guy. ;)

 My changes to this recipe include ~ only adding maybe 1/5 of the onion and using lemon juice instead of lime. I used black eyed peas instead of black beans. (We didn't have any and I didn't want to go to the grocery store.) Also I did not add any cheese, jalapenos or cilantro, but put a tiny bit of green onion garnish over the top, for lovely presentation purposes. I did not measure out the corn, peas or grape tomatoes. I just put in however much looked good mixed in with the cup of quinoa.

 Before I made this, I wanted to try it at a restaurant, as to not waste my time making it myself. Michael and I went to Sharky's Mexican Grill for lunch about two weeks ago so I could try their Quinoa Salad. It was good enough to try myself this morning, so I also mixed it in with spinach. I'm letting it chill in the fridge for now before I eat what I dished out for the pictures. The rest is in a container, separate from the bagged spinach. To be honest, it doesn't really taste like anything, its all the other ingredients that I taste, but it adds a nice grits-like texture.

 I thought this picture (directly above) was funny. It made me laugh because, since the bowl is clear, it looks like I scooped the quinoa right onto the hard-wood floor! Guess I'll have to make a stop to get a couple more "presentation bowls" from the dollar store. My pleasure!