Quinoa

My goal is to cook as healthy as possible so I started my journey with a quinoa salad I found in Cosmopolitan magazine. It was super refreshing and went perfectly with the salty popcorn shrimp I had in the freezer. Quinoa is surprisingly easy to cook and it was the hardest step of the whole dish! It makes a lot so next time I think I'll halve the recipe but I got many lunches and dinners out of it.

Lemony Quinoa Cucumber Pilaf

3 cups water

1 1/2 cups quinoa

1 English cucumber peeled and chopped

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1/4 cup chopped dill

1/4 cup chopped mint

2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil

2 TBSP lemon juice(I used the whole lemon)

salt and pepper

In a small sauce pan, combine water and quinoa, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed. Let it cool completely.

In a bowl, combine cooled quinoa, cucumber, feta, dill, mint, olive oil, and lemon juice. Toss to combine. Refrigerate before cooling.

NOTE: You can salt and pepper but as a rule I always try it first, I didn't need any. Blindly adding salt without tasting will, over time, desensitize you. Salt is essential to cooking, but developing a heavy hand will kill and good recipe, and you.

Next time I might add some green or white onion.

Enjoy!