{Tasty Tuesday: Quinoa and Roasted Beet Salad with Feta, Parsley and Pine Nuts}

Beets give this salad so much gorgeous, vibrant color. It's amazing, and there's
nothing artificial about it -- just surprisingly bright and natural goodness.

The flavor from the combination of ingredients is equally impressive. It's kind of hard to

see it all the way it's piled into a bowl in the photo above, but there are so many things

happening in every bite. A little tang from the feta. Crunch from the pine nuts. Freshness

from the parsley. Nuttiness from the chickpeas. Sweet, moist, softness from the beets.

INGREDIENTS:
Each time I've made this salad, I've used the exact ingredients listed below but changed

up the quantities, depending on how much quinoa I used. With the amounts noted here,

I used all the cooked quinoa. The other time I made it, I only used a cup of cooked quinoa.

So, I decreased the rest of the stuff a little -- one can of chickpeas instead of two, three

beets instead of five, half the pine nuts, etc. Obviously, you can use the list of ingredients

in the amounts that suit you.

Salad:
5 medium red beets
1-2 cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Dressing:
4 tbsp EVOO
juice of 2/3 a large lemon
2-3 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Sea salt & pepper to taste

Roast beets. (Click here for directions in how to roast them.) Allow to cool. Peel and cube.

Place chick peas in a bowl with a tsp of olive oil and some paprika (Hungarian, if you have

it). Make sure they are coated. Put 'em in a dish where they can lay in a single layer. Bake

at 350 for 15 minutes or until lightly roasted. Remove and allow to cool.

Cook quinoa. Put one cup quinoa and two cups water into a small pot with the salt. Bring

to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes or just until all the water

is absorbed. Allow it to cool.

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan for a few minutes to release the flavor. Keep them moving

so they don't burn.

Make dressing to taste. (I'm not a big dressing person, but this combo of lemon, honey

and oil is fabulous. It really helps bind all the ingredients in the salad while giving the

quinoa some needed moisture.)



Combine all your ingredients and watch the beets turn everything a beautiful fuchsia color.

Enjoy by itself of with warm pita. (I was too lazy to do the pita.)

And that's it. A super delicious meal that takes a little more prep time than your average

salad but leaves you with so much complete, delicious, healthful nutrition. Let me know

if you try it. I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm off to realign myself, after being pretty far out of whack for the last few days. A long

walk with the dogs was a clarifying start to my morning, and I intend to have a focused,

positive, healthy day today!