Anything Goes

Wholesome, tasty, and satisfying. That's how I describe tonight's dinner. It was a Quinoa and Tofu Salad Meal chock-full of veggies of every colour and texture with an Asian inspired dressing. Of course this dish is high in protein with both tofu and quinoa, but for those who aren't fond of tofu - you can forego it and still have a good amount of protein courtesy of the super grain, quinoa (I've had lots of people ask me how to pronounce it, and it's "keen-wah"). To cook it, you basically treat it like you do rice as far as technique goes. Put it in a pot and cover with water (about a 2:1 ratio - so that's two parts water to one part quinoa). Put in a pinch of salt (use a good salt - like unrefined sea salt and not the bleached white table salt you grew up with that clogs your arteries!). Put the pot on a high heat to boil, then stick a lid on it, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 15 or so minutes just until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender. Then turn off the heat and let it steam a few minutes. To make this salad, I then dump the quinoa onto a cookie sheet and spread it out so it cools faster. To construct the salad, I first mix my dressing ingredients together in the bottom of a large bowl (any home-made dressing is good), then add in the cooled, cooked quinoa, some firm tofu (if using) cut in cubes, and lots of veggies. Anything goes! Feel free to take this opportunity to use up the veggies sitting in your fridge that aren't quite enough to make anything else. You know what I'm talking about. The one carrot you have that got lost under the big head of cauliflower, the half a red pepper looking all discarded in the back corner of the veggie drawer that you're only going to throw out in a few more days when it's garbage night, the two stalks of celery that you forgot were there and can't think of anything else to do with anyways. You get the picture. Tonight I used (up) carrots, green onions, cucumber, red pepper, radishes, bean sprouts, and lettuce. Clean and chop/slice all your veggies and add them to the big salad bowl already holding the dressing, quinoa, and tofu. Some fancy tossing action and you've got yourself a great dinner and wonderful leftovers to take to work tomorrow.