Meatless Monday - Whole Grain Salad

Christmas was celebrated a week early this year in our house. What fun it was to have our whole family together this past Thursday morning. Our children, their spouses and the grand-babies all gathered around our living room, while all eyes were on Eliza as she was old enough this year to "get" the concept of opening gifts and playing with her new toys. Next year should be even more fun as Eliana should be old enough to have some fun and Eliza will definitely feel the excitement of all those presents.

Later Thursday we all met at my oldest brothers house to exchange gifts and share food with almost every one of our family members on my side. Our brother and his family, who live in Texas, and my oldest brothers two oldest children and their sweeties who live in Washington were missing, but they were all with us in our hearts.  

Each year my sister-in-law and I take turns hosting dinner and planning the menu. This year, I was given the appetizer platter and a vegan dish for our daughter and myself. and after all our eating was over, I still had plenty of vegetables left over.  So I decided to use up as much as I could tonight using the pre-cut vegetables and the rice and grains I used in another dish.

Whole Grain Salad

I started out roasting a medium sweet potato, about a cup and a half of baby carrots and a medium onion for about 30 minutes. Toss these with just a little bit of olive oil (about a tablespoon) and then salt and pepper to taste. I then steamed about 2 cups of fresh broccoli just until bright green and still slightly firm.

While the veggies were roasting and steaming I measured out left-over cooked lentils (1 cup), brown rice (1 cup) and mixed red and white quinoa ( 2 cups)

 I added 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, 4 green onions and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the grain mixture. Stir all of this together and set aside.

I made up a dressing that was both nutty and slightly sweet to compliment all the flavors of the salad.

1/4 cup Tahini

2 TB fresh lemon juice

1 TB tangerine balsamic vinegar

2 TB maple syrup (Or maple flavored agave)

1 TB low-sodium soy sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

Mix all that together and pour over the grain mixture. Stir well.

 By now your vegetables should be roasted and steamed. Add that to your grain and dressing mixture and stir gently so as not to break up the sweet potatoes.

This dish is good served warm or at room temperature.  

 Spoon this main dish salad up into a bowl and enjoy!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthful New Year!

Meatless Monday with Mindy #24 Mango Quinoa Salad

Welcome to the 24th installment of Meatless Monday with Mindy!

 My honey and I went to the Farmers Market this weekend and selectively purchased our items. The first few times we went this year, I was like a kid in a candy store, wanting everything I saw. We came home with huge bag fulls of lovely fresh produce. However, for just the two of us, some of that produce did not get used before it went bad.

Since then we have tweaked slightly the way we shop at the market. We peruse each section, looking over the produce and other goodies being offered there, decide who has the best looking stuff for the best price, then go back to those vendors and purchase only what we need or really want to buy.  This has worked out much better. Only this week, I let one purchase get the better of me, and I fear that the red, green and romaine lettuces that I purchased may not get all used up before they go bad. I couldn't decide which ONE to buy, so I bought them all.....Lawd help me, they all looked so good. 

Before I go on, can I just say, I am so proud of my honey.  He didn't sign up to eat meatless, but bless his heart, he's  not complaining. He says simply, the food is good. He's always been a pleasure to cook for as there isn't anything he really doesn't like, but he does enjoy his meat and has no intentions of giving it up (yet). But he's been eating more and more meatless meals as time goes on, and doesn't seem to miss the meat.  Okay, so every once in a while he'll bring it up and I oblige, but he eats meatless 2 out of 3 meals most days.

I had no idea what I was going to make for Meatless Monday this week, so I posted on Facebook asking for suggestions.  My good friend Linda (Hi Babs) suggested the Mango Quinoa Salad that she found on Pinterest. I tracked this suggestion to it's owner, Savvy Vegetarian  who credits  Nicki Goff for the recipe.

I had been looking at an eggplant lasagna recipe (I WILL make it soon) and even went to the store while we were running errands tonight to pick up a few ingredients I didn't have. But by the time we got home and I started to pull out all the ingredients, I saw what time it was. Geemineeze! It was already six o'clock. The lasagna would take an hour once I got it in the oven. Plus, when we take pictures, it slows down the preparation time as I slow down for the shots, staging the food, etc.  So, due to time constraints (and the fact that I was kinda hungry), I decided to make the salad. I actually even had all the ingredients on hand! 

So this meal, besides the salad, also used up some of the produce we bought at the Farmers Market on Saturday. The corn was steamed to perfection (After our meal tonight, we both tried to think who we bought our corn from. It was amazing! This bi-color corn was so sweet and full of good flavor. We will definitely be trying to find that vendor again). We also used some Rocky Gold Cantaloupe that we picked up ( I just love Farmers Markets) and some Brussels sprouts  that have been in the crisper for a while now (that I over roasted...dang).  Simple fare, easy to prepare and quick. Perfect.

So, here is the recipe for the salad. Quinoa is a perfect main dish ingredient as it has a good amount of protein, it pairs well with most ingredients and is very fulfilling.  Make sure to pop over to Savvy Vegetarian when you have some time to check out her blog.  Good looking stuff there.

 Mango Quinoa Salad

4 servings

Salad Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1 1/2 cups cold water

1/4 tsp salt

1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped (I used frozen)

OR: 1/2 cup dried mango slices, soaked overnight, then cut in 1/2 inch dice

1/4 cup blanched slivered or sliced almonds

2 Tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds

1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

Dressing Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp turmeric

Juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tb)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First gather all your ingredients and cut, chop and measure everything out. Remember Mise en Place!

Prepare your quinoa. To do this, rinse the quinoa if required, drain well, and add to a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups cold water and 1/4 tsp salt. I almost always buy pre-rinsed quinoa, so it saves me that step. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let quinoa sit covered for 5 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork and let it cool to room temperature.

Peel the mango and cucumber and cut into cubes. 

Measure out your seeds, spices and herbs. 

Mix the cucumber and mango along with the almonds and pumpkin seeds.

Add the cooled quinoa to the mango mixture the set aside. 

Make the dressing.

Roast the turmeric in 2 TB oil in a small pan on med-low for 30 - 60 seconds, then set aside to cool.

Add the lime juice to the oil & turmeric

Mix in cilantro and salt and pepper with a whisk or a fork. Besides Farmers Market, I grow my own herbs. I actually used a combination of cilantro and parsley for this recipe.

Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss.  Easy peasy!  

Serve immediately, or cover and chill.  Once the salad has come together, plate your meal and enjoy!

I had to get a shot in of the beautiful flowers I picked up at the Farmers market too!

Thanks to my honey for taking the pictures for me. See more of his work over at Photography Musings by Dave

Nutrition Data Per 177g Serving: ( about 3/4 cup) 334 cal, 41g carb, 16g fat, 152mg sodium, 5g fiber, 10g protein, low Cholesterol, good source Magnesium & Manganese. Estimated glycemic load 19

What did you make for Meatless Monday?

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