As a college student living off-campus, eating enough vegetables can sometimes be a challenge. Veggies go bad quickly, and most college-aged cooks get easily overwhelmed thinking about preparing vegetables.
When I lived on-campus and ate in Stav daily, eating my vegetables was so easy. Vegetables were always appealing and beautifully displayed in the salad line, served as sides in the home and grain lines or sitting sautéed next to the pizzas. (No wonder St. Olaf students make such healthy food choices: http://www.usatodayeducate.com…).
Now that I’m living off-campus, my vegetables are displayed in a cramped refrigerator, hiding in plastic bags and underneath fruit. Remembering that I bought vegetables is harder than it sounds, and I often forget about that lettuce I bought until it has gone bad.
One easy way to ensure you eat enough vegetables is to incorporate them into your main dishes. Try pasta with a variety of vegetables, chicken and assorted vegetables or quinoa stocked with Mexican themed vegetables, which is this week’s recipe.
Quinoa is one of the new power foods. Quinoa recipes have been popping up all over the food world these days. I came across this quinoa recipe online and thought it would be an easy snack to prepare and have in the fridge all week.
This quinoa recipe is Mexican-themed, packed with veggies like tomatoes, peppers, corn and black beans, and topped with a creamy avocado dressing. This dish can be an easy meal if served along with grilled chicken as a side dish, or just a healthy snack eaten as a dip with pita or tortilla chips.
Mix and match the veggies in this dish as you want. I didn’t have zucchini or corn, so I just omitted them. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you think sound good!
All you need is:
Quinoa
– 1 cup quinoa
– 1 ¼ cups chicken broth
– 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
– 1 ½ cups frozen corn, thawed
– 1 cup grape tomatoes
– 1 bell pepper, chopped
– 3 green onions, chopped
– ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
– ½ teaspoon cumin
– ¼ teaspoon paprika
– 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
Dressing
– 1 avocado, pitted
– ¼ cup fresh cilantro and parsley, chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
– Juice of 1 lime
– 1 teaspoon honey
– 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
– Salt and pepper
– 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
1. Bring chicken broth to a boil, and cook quinoa as directed.
2. In a large bowl combine all the veggies and seasonings for the salad.
3. In a food processor, pulse together everything for the dressing, minus the olive oil. Once combined, slowly add oil.
4. Combine the cooked quinoa with the veggies then stir in avocado dressing.
5. Serve warm or cold.
Recipe from Diners Dishes and Desserts http://dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/mexican-quinoa-salad-with-creamy-avocado-dressing-sundaysupper/