15 Minute Meals: San Fran Quinoa Salad

Happy 2013!  Last year, my resolution was to "make even more plant-based recipes, and cut back even farther on dairy & meat".  I think I've done pretty well on both of those things.  This year more of the same I think, as well as to get more active, and start using my gym membership.  With all this snow and ice,  I can't walk freely anymore.  I'm stepping gingerly, scared to death of slipping and falling.  Last year I fell 5 times, but thankfully didn't break anything.  This year the tally is already at one, but seriously, what are the odds I'll make it another year without injury?  So indoor exercise it has to be for now.

My other resolution was to cook through the rest of Jamie's Food Revolution.  That didn't happen.  I'm currently only at 68%.  However, now I have the 15 Minute Meals book to fall back on for healthy, low-fat, low-cal recipes!  I just love this new direction that Jamie has taken, and I will be focusing more on cooking through this one.  So for the New Year, I thought a nice, healthy but tasty salad was a good start.

315.  San Fran Quinoa Salad (Jamie's 15 Minute Meals, page 46)

I've never once used quinoa, even with all the hype it's received in recent years.  Yet I did have a package of red quinoa kicking around the cupboard, just waiting for a rainy day.  Ok, how about a snowy, cold, grey day?  Those can always be brightened by a California style salad, don't you think?

I started out by covering my quinoa generously with water, and setting it to boil with the lid on for approx. 8 minutes.  I was surprised to see the little sprouts pop out, almost as if you'd sprouted the grain over a few days in a glass jar.  Was this supposed to happen?  No idea.

Next up, I needed to coat some boneless, skinless chicken breast with allspice & smoked paprika, and season with salt and pepper.  I did this on waxed paper, then folded the paper over and bashed it with a rolling pin to make it flatter, and therefore quicker to cook in a pan.  However, this was a monster breast, weighing in at over 400 g.  So it took longer than the 15 minutes allotted.  Towards the end, I added some torn red & green peppers to char.

While that was cooking, I combined my salad ingredients in the food processor:  baby spinach (with some arugula mixed in because that was what I had), fresh mint & cilantro, a couple of green onions, and a dried (rather than fresh) red chile.  I love it when Jamie does something totally unexpected like this....I mean, I would never have thought to grind up spinach with herbs and mix it through a cooked grain for flavour.  But it works!

Lastly, the rest of my salad ingredients:  a cubed mango (I used frozen, defrosted mango chunks), "curls" of avacado, a sprinkling of cilantro leaves, the fried peppers & sliced chicken, and some dots of non-fat Greek yogurt.  Since I omitted the crumbled feta cheese, I compensated by using a low-fat sour cream instead of the yogurt.  I also remembered to season the salad with salt, before dressing it with the juice of a lime and a drizzle of olive oil.

I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the way these flavours came together!  I am not always a big fan of warm salads.  But I totally enjoyed this hit of fresh sunshine in the midst of winter.  I only used half the quanitity of salad ingredients called for, so as to only make enough for 2 servings rather than 4.  I look forward to eating my second serving for lunch at work today.  My son made quick work of the rest of the chicken & peppers, folding them into a wrap with sour cream, lettuce & tomatoes.  Yeah, quinoa salad is too much of a stretch for him!  LOL

I linked this post to the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!