You don't make friends with salad. Or do you?

Any time I serve salad my husband runs around singing "you don't make friends with salad, you don't make friends with salad". To be completely honest it drives me nuts. I know it is one of those things that you love to hate, if I made a salad without that song... well it just wouldn't be a salad.

Speaking of my hubby, I thought I would pass along his favourite salad (asides Caesar which he has been eating all the time lately like some kind of weird pregnancy craving).

It could be eaten as a side, it can be eaten as a meal, you can throw anything in it that is left in the fridge, my kind of salad.

Here is what I threw in;

3/4 cup quinoa, cooked in 1 1/2 c chicken broth

1 can (19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, cut in 2 
1 English cucumber chopped  
3 green onions, thinly sliced 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint 
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 

Dressing: 
3 tbsp lemon juice 
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tsp ground cumin 
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

I literately threw all the salad components in a bowl, and mixed up the dressing ingredients in a Tupperware and poured that on top, Served it next to some steak one night, and home made pizza the next!

Enjoy!

Another healthy cookie?

A friend of mine put me on a mission. I love it, a challenge. She tells me "my sister has a great quinoa cookie recipe, made without eggs, and with bananas, but she won't share it"... Consider it done! The rules; no eggs, no peanuts, no funky ingredients that wouldn't already be in the pantry. I thought no problem, then I quickly realized that most recipes not only had eggs, but quinoa flour. Not in the rules. So after taking bits and pieces from several different recipes I think I came up with something pretty good. Please note, these are not "I had a bad day I need something sweet" kind of cookie. These are premeditate cookies.

Without further ado,  Here to you Brenda (and anyone else who might want to try!)

Cook 1/2 cup of quinoa in water and a pinch of cinnamon. (don't over cook it will be too mushy, don't under cook you'll end up with little crunchy things in your cookies). Let cool

In a food processor I combined 2 bananas, 1/2 cup of butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar and a splash of vanilla. Puree, it will be smooth and velvety.

Place it in a bowl and add 1 1/2cups of flour (whole wheat if you are feeling extra healthy), 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of baking powder, and 1/2 tsp of baking soda.

Stir to combine, try not to over mix or the cookies will be tough.

Add in 1 cup of cooked quinoa, 1 cup of oats, 1 cup of add ins (like chocolate chips, cranberries etc..)

Bake at 375 for about 11-12 minutes.

Enjoy!