Recipe 12: Garden Fresh Quinoa Salad

This past weekend I visited my Grandpa in San Diego for a Bastille Day Party. I had a great time, and got to harvest some vegetables from my Grandpa's garden! He's an avid gardener and grows a variety of things. I hope one day I can have a nice garden to grow fresh food. He sent me home with red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and tomatoes. He also gave me a bottle of rosé wine. I usually prefer red wine, but this wine is perfect for summer time! It's called Quinson Fils Cotes de Provence Rosé. I enjoyed a couple of glasses at the party, and you can pick it up at Trader Joe's for only $4.99!

With the vegetables just one day old (awesome!) I decided to make a cold quinoa salad. I used most of the ingredients for this recipe from my Grandpa's garden. I wish I could cook with produce like that everyday!

Garden Fresh Quinoa Salad

-2 cups organic quinoa
-4 cups water
-3 diced zucchinis
-1 diced yellow squash
-1 diced eggplant
-3 diced tomatoes
-1 diced red onion
-3-4 segments/cloves of minced garlic
-1 3/4 teaspoons cumin
-1 teaspoon red pepper
-Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
-olive oil
-red wine vinegar
-dijon mustard

Method: Sautée garlic in pan with olive oil until golden brown. Stir in the zucchini, squash, and eggplant. Cook for approximately 8-10 minutes or to desired. In rice cooker, cook 2 cups of quinoa and 4 cups water. Mix cooked vegetables and quinoa together in a bowel. Top with tomatoes and red onion. Chill salad for about an hour. Mix dressing in when ready to serve.

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