Friday, April 1, 2011

Quinoa, Fruit, and Nut Salad

This is right up my ally.  I am always looking for a way to make those whole grains taste great without adding a lot of fat.  I have been cooking Quinoa for years, but it's kind of bland, but satisfying.  A great protein. My favorite lunches include a bed of fresh greens and some kind of protein on top.  This fit the bill.


This super simple recipe from around my french table, went together fast.  I used ingredients I had in the pantry.  All except the herbs, those I bought the day I made the salad.  The combination of dry fruit, nuts, and chopped herbs made each bit a flavor sensation.  And it makes a lot.
  



The recipe is flexible.  I used dry cranberries, golden raisins and some of those figs.  For the nuts/seeds, I used the last of my sunflower seeds and slivered almonds.  The dressing was very subtle.  I think the next time I will add the zest of one lemon to the mixture.  For herbs I used parsley and basil. I can taste the basil, but not the parsley.  And the spoonful of plain yogurt was a nice bitter contrast to the sweetness in the dry fruit.  Again this is a great recipe from French Friday's with Dorie.

5 comments:

  1. It seems a lot of us used dried cranberries :)

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  2. I used your same fruits! The only thing was that I ate my figs before they made it into the salad. Bad Adriana! I also loved the contrast the yogurt made with the sweet fruit and the vinaigrette.

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  3. I thought the dried cranberries were nice in this one. I also thought the tang of the yoghurt was lovely.

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  4. I agree...we loved it too and it is nice to use mostly stuff you have in the pantry.

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  5. Lemon zest would be a nice addition to the dressing. I used dried cranberries, too, along with some dried blueberries. I like having recipes like this that are healthy and almost infinitely variable.

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