Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

And the obsession with quinoa continues.

I know quinoa is “trendy” right now, but it totally deserves to be popular. Just like clothes or hair styles, food goes in and out of trends. Have you noticed this? I absolutely love trendy food because it’s usually pretty darn good and let’s be honest, food never goes out of style.

Some of my favorite trendy foods are boutique cupcakes, doughnuts (so trendy in Chicago, refer to my instagram to see what I mean), red velvet everything (not seeing as much of this, but again anything red velvet is still amazing), lasagna roll ups (so fun and easy to make!), and of course quinoa!

Quinoa is obviously a healthy food trend which is great because we typically see desserts being trendy, but healthy food is just as important as sweets.

I know I can’t believe I said that…

But it’s true! We all know life is about balance in a variety of ways and eating is one of those ways that we balance or should balance our lives.

Mostly healthy, a little comfort, and a little sweet.

That’s how I roll!

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad is one simple way to get those healthy foods into your body. It’s perfect for lunch or as a side dish. Eat this salad with a piece of chicken or fish, even a steak and you have one nice healthy meal that is satisfying.

One thing to note about the salad is that it’s best the day you make or the next day. It will stay fresh for a few days but the textures of the veggies start to lack a little…they can get soggy. BUT make it as a side dish for dinner one night and have it for lunch the next day.

Done and done.

It’s healthy and PRETTY.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Stuckonsweet.com: Jessica from www.stuckonsweet.com

Recipe type: Salad

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 egg plant, lightly peeled and diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 large or two small zucchini, diced
• 1 large or two small yellow squash, diced
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 container feta cheese crumbles
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• a few drizzle of olive oil
• a few splashes of balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Prepare quinoa by adding vegetable or chicken stock to a medium pot, cover with lid. Bring to a boil and add quinoa. Bring back to a boil then reduce to simmer, cover, and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove from heat, with lid still on, and let sit for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. To prepare vegetables preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add red pepper and onion to a small bowl, drizzle with a little olive and mix. Place red pepper and onion on a baking sheet and spread out. Roast for about 20 minutes, mixing half way through. Do the same for the zucchini and yellow squash (roast together), sweet potato (roast separately) and eggplant (roast separately). Once all the veggies have roasted, place them in a large bowl to cool. Add quinoa once it's done cooking. Let cool completely (can put in refrigerator to speed up the cooling process) then add feta cheese, spinach, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix and enjoy!
3. The roasting process does take a little while but it's necessary to roast the vegetables separately (or veggie with similar cooking times) so they don't become mushy. I had two pans in the oven at the same time and that seemed to work well.
4. Salad is best enjoyed the same or next day.

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