Red Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vedge & Meyer Lemon Marinade

There's a point in my social media relationship with myself that I'd rather create this blog post about quinoa than scroll through my feed of kids whom I don't know licking ice cream cones, friends on vacation, baby mug shots, or kids who have fallen asleep in random places and the parents think it's the cutest thing their kid has ever done. Really, believe me, it's not cute. It's boring. And quinoa is exciting! Am I the weird one? Probably. 

This salad is soooooo easy to make! Believe me. Here are the directions in abbreviated form... Cook quinoa. Roast vedge. Chop herbs. Toss all that with salt and pepper and olive oil. Done. You're eating. 

I thought I'd throw in the marinade recipe here, too because it's a serious keeper for the weeknight meal rotation. Check it out below and save for next time Meyer lemons are at the market. I suppose regular lemons would work, too - but seriously Meyer lemons give it that extra zing that can't be beat. 

Printable Recipe Here

Red Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vedge

1 heaping cup quinoa

1 cup each broccoli florets, red pepper, sweet potato

6 tablespoons EVOO, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

4 tablespoons fresh herbs, such as basil and chives

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Rinse the quinoa and cook according to the directions on the back of the package. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. 

Preheat oven to 425ºF. 

Chop broccoli florets, red pepper and sweet potato to similarly sized chunks. Toss vedge with 3 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper on a large cookie sheet. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, check progress, give it a stir, return to oven for another 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. 

In a large bowl, toss cooked quinoa with roasted vedge. Chop herbs coarsely and throw those in the bowl. Drizzle vinegar and remaining olive oil over the mixture and give that a stir. Season to taste. Serve room temperature or chilled. 

Printable Recipe Here

Meyer Lemon Marinade

recipe from the back of the Meyer lemon bag

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 cup of Meyer lemon juice (about 2 1/2 lemons)

1 cup water

1/2 cup EVOO

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Zest lemons into a shallow dish. Slice lemons and squeeze juice into dish. Add remaining ingredients and stir well with a whisk. Marinate chicken or fish - but no longer than 4 hours or the lemon juice will start to "cook" the meat. Remove meat from marinade, discard marinade and grill or bake meat.