Quick! Grab that from the Pantry Quinoa Salad.

I have been quite neglectful of this blog lately. Whatever, life happens. Parenting happens. School happens. So be it.

So, here is something I made a while back and forgot to upload. It's a semi-quick quinoa salad thing. It sounds kind of weird, I'm sure of it. But believe me, it is delicious. My parents can vouch for that.

Start by making quinoa.

Dates, the secret ingredient. Chop them up...

My photos are lacking because this really was a last minute, kind of forgot to document meal.

Light oil, garlic, celery.

Add some baby spinach.

After spinach is a little bit cooked, throw the celery / spinach into the quinoa and continue cooking as usual.

Meanwhile, can of black beans - heat for a little bit until they get a nice flavor.

Beans, dates, bowl.

Add quinoa/spinach/celery

Add some sliced almonds. Mix.

Voila. Quick, painless, and pretty darn good.

Quick Quinoa Salad

Sometimes dinner has to be crafted rather quickly. And sometimes canned is the way to go. I like my food as fresh as possible, but never fear the can when all else fails. Also, I don't eat fast food.

With that said, this is my idea of what fast food is:

Get the quinoa cooking. If you become a pro at making quinoa, the options are endless and it really is a go-to food.

Tomatoes, garbanzo beans, black beans

Mix and season.

Add quinoa.
Mix and garnish with some chives.

Fast food and still healthy. LOVE IT.

Fajitas!

I made some fajitas, with an Aaryn spin, tonight for the family.

First and foremost, get the rice cookin'!

Prep. Slice some portobello.

slice an onion, a beautiful one at that.

Slice a pepper, this one was deliciously sweet.

Prep the avocado and try to avoid contact with a curious toddler.

Quarter tomatoes.

A splash of olive oil, some minced garlic, portobello, onions, and pepper.
Season it.

I used fresh lime juice.
and some mesquite seasoning (consists of: sea salt, black pepper, chili pepper, red pepper, oregano, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated red bell pepper, demerara sugar, natural mesquite smoke flavor).

I used canned black beans and corn. Wash.
And add to rice. Yum.

Now, load up your tortilla and enjoy. I never liked Tofutti's sour cream because it contained partially hydrogenated oil, but I discovered recently that they have a new sour cream that has NO hydrogenated oils!