This weekend was busy, but a lot of fun! It included baking cookies, decorating the Christmas tree, snowboarding, and a Christmas potluck with a group of Colorado bloggers!
I decided to multi-task and make a dish that would work for the party AND work for this week’s Meatless Mondays from A-Z theme. This helped me have a little more quality time with Kirk, since I am working on balance at home.
The ingredient list isn’t your typical winter fruits, but they were all on sale at our grocery store and just sounded good! It does have a nice red & green color to help it fit in with other seasonal dishes, though. :)
And did I mention how easy this dish is? If you have a rice cooker, you can cook the quinoa while you head over to your local brewery and try their latest beer. That’s what we did, at least. ;) Or just enjoy a little rest time in your own home – whichever you’d like.
I’ll be taking the leftovers to work for lunch tomorrow, which is good because I’ve had too much fun this weekend to grocery shop. :)
Colorful Quinoa
by
Keywords: side brunch salad vegan vegetarian soy-free quinoa
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
- 2 cups quinoa
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 blackberries
- 2 raspberries
- 4 blueberries
- 3/8 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1/2 cup berries (any mixture of the above)
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/2 cup spinach
- 1 cup avocado, diced
Instructions
To make dressing:
Combine blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and red wine vinegar. Shake vigorously (fruits should break down). Add oils and shake again.
To make quinoa:
Cook quinoa according to package directions, using vegetable broth as the liquid. (Note: I use a rice cooker for this step). Once cooked, combine quinoa and remaining ingredients when hot, which will wilt the spinach just slightly. Mix in 5 tablespoons of dressing, adjusting amount to taste.
Serve hot or cold.
And now it’s time to see what other quinoa creations you’ve made this week!!
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Questions for you:
- Do you have any potluck parties on your calendar this year?
- Any snow where you live?
- What was the best part of your weekend?
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s so pretty!
No snow here. In fact, it’s been fairly mild.
Tiffany recently posted..Kale Kabbage and Keenwa Kasserole
Thanks – I love pretty food, as long as it tastes good (and it does!). ;)
What a gorgeous bowl of goodness! LOVE the colors! I just bought my first pomegranate of the season and have fallen in love with it all over again! And hooray for multitasking! Glad to hear you had a great, fun-filled weekend, love! :D
Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli recently posted..Curried-Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash
Thanks Heather! My favorite part of the pomegranate this time was I bought the seeds…cheater, I know. ;)
We had a great weekend. We saw a stage production of Annie, went to a men’s choral concert, and then went on a Christmas tour of homes. It was a great weekend.
Sounds like fun! I bet the tour of homes was pretty amazing down there – lots of twinkling lights. :)
At my mom’s 60th birthday party this weekend there were attempts, yet again, to convince me to move to Denver. But snow…I don’t know.
Multitasking recipes? ALWAYS. My recipe was from the summer. I mean…the fact that I just forgot to post it then worked in my favor now, and it is still good, no matter if I made it explicitly for the challenge or not, right? :)
Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen recently posted..Magical Mexican Bean(oa) Burger(ito)
I’ll join your family’s convincing, the snow is awesome! And although it snowed the last two nights, it’s going to be in the 50s tomorrow. Really, it is awesome! :)
Thanks for hosting #MMAZ! This is our first time joining, but I look forward to doing it more often!
We had gorgeous weather on Saturday, so I was able to go on a short hike with a friend and her puppy :-). Sounds like you had a great weekend, too!
Lindsey @ Pas de Deux recently posted..Quinoa and White Bean Soup [MMAZ]
So glad to have you!! Hiking sounds fantastic, I really want to make time for that soon. :)
YUM! Quinoa is definitely a favorite of mine!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More recently posted..Music Monday // This Girl Is On Fire!
Mine too – it’s so versatile! What’s your favorite way to enjoy it?
Lately I’ve been simply mixing it with some roasted veggies and/or put it on a spinach salad. YUM!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More recently posted..What I Ate Wednesday // Pancake Fail
Love this quinoa dish! Well, anything with all those berries has bound to be good! :) No snow in Chicago . . . yet . . . they say it might happen today. Eek!
Michelle @ Eat Move Balance recently posted..Friday’s Five!
Thanks Michelle! I hope you got some good, fun snow this week already!
We had a few flurries this morning! That dish is aptly named. It’s very colorful and festive!
Natalie @ Free Range Human recently posted..Beloved
Yay for flurries! I’m glad you like the name, I was worried it was too basic, but it does fit. :)
I bet you won the party with this one! Love berries with avocado and the acid from the vinegar. And the colors are just perfect!
There was another great quinoa recipe too, but it was a success! :) Can you believe the colors were purely coincidental?
this sounds fantastic – and I love the holiday colors. I wasn’t even trying for the red + green with my quinoa creation, but it just happened…
slow cooking something while trying the new beer at your favorite pub? this is Jason and I … all the time! our favorite brewery taps the new releases on Tuesdays, so that is often one of our casual date nights out.
we didn’t REALLY have snow… I saw several flakes, but nothing stuck… the forecast says MAYBE Wednesday…
Kristina recently posted..basil quinoa ‘meat’ball marinara sandwiches
Me either – I realized it was I was editing photos on Sunday. :) Your “meat”balls were amazeballs (sorry, couldn’t help myself). And I’m so happy we’ll have them again for the next few nights.
Glad you had a fun holiday weekend! I love the quinoa theme. Can I link up a stuffed pepper recipe from a few weeks ago? Don’t have a current one. :)
Laura @ Mommy Run Fast recently posted..TriGirl Half Marathon Recap
Absolutely – you just need to add the MMAZ badge to the old post and you can link away! You can grab that here: http://betterwithveggies.com/meatless-mondays-from-a-z/
Sorry I didn’t get around to this… we had people over for dinner who stayed all night, and today is crazy, too. I’ll try again another week! :)
No worries – I know that feeling all too well! ;)
You can cook quinoa in a rice cooker? Well, now I really want a rice cooker. To accompany my crockpot in minimal-to-no-attention-span cooking.
Allie recently posted..Road Trippin’
I cook everything like this in a rice cookier and so far I’ve been successful. I am lazy at heart. ;)
This is so pretty!! I love the idea of fruit with the quinoa. I have never done that before!!
Brittany @ Delights and Delectables recently posted..MIMM #26 Graduation Style
Thanks girl! I think this is the first time I’d had fruit in quinoa, but it was a winner. And it’s gluten-free!!
No snow in St Louis yet and I’m hoping we don’t get any!! I hate this cold weather!!
Linz @ Itz Linz recently posted..Harry and David Giveaway
I hope you get your wish – send all the snow my way! ;)
I’ve never had berries in my quinoa. I may need to try this.
Tammy Fuller recently posted..December Squat-a-thon
Yes, definitely! And then remember to let me know your thoughts. :)
totally just pinned this! It looks so tasty and I need more ways to add yummy quinoa to my diet!
Amanda @RunToTheFinish recently posted..Egg Free, Dairy Free, Parasite Update
I am obsessed with quinoa and this looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf recently posted..Memories Captured: Magical Memories
Thanks Christine – I hope you like it!
So pretty. I’m not overly thrilled about the light dusting of snow over in the Highlands. I slipped on the ice twice today when I was walking with Pippa. Such an old lady lol. At least I didn’t faceplant. Yet!
Corrie Anne recently posted..57% Improvement!
Oh no! I hope you didn’t end up actually falling and it was more of a scare! I was *really* smart and wore heels today, which was a little scary. I just love the snow though, really. :)
This quinoa looks beautiful, and the colors are very holiday festive.
Yum! Looks and sounds so delish! I love all the vibrant colors!! I ate quinoa almost everyday for the past 2 months and I’m still not tired of it!
There’s absolutely no sign of snow here in Texas :(. The Best part of my weekend = being one with the couch!!