First of all- Sorry for being so MIA lately! The start of the school year has me busy and tired and I haven’t had as much time to experiment in the kitchen. I will definitely be putting out more regular posts now that I’m finally beginning to settle into my new routine. We were supposed to spend Labor Day weekend down in North Wildwood, but Hermine threw us for a loop and we didn’t end up going. Instead, we wound up painting our dining room and hitting up a ton of furniture store sales looking for a new bedroom set.
On Sunday night, we went out to dinner with Kevin’s brother and sister-in-law to Appalachian Brewing Company. It’s only a few minutes from our house and has a pretty extensive menu and beer selection. I love that you can make any burger on their menu a veggie burger, so that’s what I usually get. My favorite burger is the Fire Jumper- black bean burger patty topped with jalapenos, chipotle sauce, fried onion straws, chipotle lime mayo, lettuce and tomato. It also comes with Pepperjack cheese, but I ask them to hold it. The burger is SO spicy, but absolutely delicious. Definitely a dish a need to create at home!
Monday night we did some meal prepping for the week. Generally, you see people’s pictures of meal prep and it’s 5 sets of identical containers of (boring) food. That’s not how we do it at all. I don’t prep ALL of our food- just breakfast (when possible) and lunch. For my breakfast, I prepped Lemon Honey Overnight Oats (MAKE THEM ASAP THEY’RE MY FAVORITE) in little mason jars. For Kevin’s lunch, I prepped a variation of this Turkey Taco Chili; and for my lunch I made this Greek Quinoa Salad.
Greek salad is one of my absolute favorite salad options and it’s probably the one I order most frequently when I’m getting a salad. It’s one of the few salad options that is pretty much always vegetarian. I decided to make this salad using quinoa instead of romaine so that it’s more substantial and filling. Sometimes if I eat a regular salad for lunch I am SO hungry when I get home from work that I’ll snack before dinner. Eating a more substantial lunch has proven to be the best way to keep me from doing this. This salad has quinoa, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, Kalamata olives, and pepperoncini. I chose to leave out the traditional feta cheese in order to keep this dish both vegan and gluten free (and I really, really shouldn’t eat dairy and I learn my lesson the hard way every time I do), but feel free to add it if you’re a cheese lover! The dressing I used is a slight variation of Ina Garten’s Greek Salad dressing. This is a great make-ahead meal that you can eat for lunch or as a side dish all week long. It even gets a little better as it sits and the flavors all marry. If you try this Greek Quinoa Salad- let me know in a comment, on Facebook, or on Instagram!
Active Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the Greek Quinoa Salad:
1 cup quinoa (uncooked) 1 cucumber ½ of a large red onion 1 large tomato 1 green or red bell pepper 8 Kalamata olives, pitted
¼ cup sliced pepperoncini
For the Dressing:
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or olive oil) 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon oregano ¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
Cook quinoa according to package directions. When quinoa is cooked, set aside to cool. Meanwhile, dice cucumber, red onion, tomato, bell pepper, olives, and pepperoncini into small pieces. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Once quinoa is cooled, add it to the mixing bowl.
Mix all dressing ingredients in a small container. Pour over salad mixture and toss to combine. Serve Greek Quinoa Salad chilled. Refrigerate leftovers for up to four days.
Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories: 304 Fat: 14g Carbs: 42g Protein: 7g Sodium: 447mg Sugar: 3g
*Nutrition information is based on the products I used personally in this recipe. Different products may yield slightly different information.
