Quinoa Greek Salad

Oh, how I wish I had a picture of my face Sunday morning when I took off swimming at Lake Lanier for my first open water swim.  You would get a good laugh out of it, for sure!  I’m considering a triathlon but haven’t gone to swim laps since my one summer on swim team in middle school.  Swimming out to a buoy in murky, deep, dark water is apparently enough to send me into a panic attack.  I hung around and gave it a few more attempts, and each time I felt a little better out there but one thing is certain, I do not feel comfortable swimming in the lake.  I’ll keep plugging along, and hopefully get brave enough to sign up for the triathlon that takes place the end of September.

Swimming sure does work up an appetite!  The two times I’ve gone to swim laps, I couldn’t stop eating the rest of the day.  Sunday, after our swim, we stopped at a local cafe for a quick bite.  A greek salad sounded great, but come on, a salad?  That’s not going to put a dent in my hunger!  I had my salad, went home to make a smoothie, and thought about making my own Greek Salad that was a bit more filling.  Quinoa was the perfect addition to add extra protein, and carbs to help fill me up.

First, I started cooking the quinoa.  Many boxes or bags of quinoa recommend 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water when cooking.  I find that I almost always have a little extra water so I usually start with a little less than 2 parts water and add more, if needed. Or you can add the full two parts water and drain any that is left over.  While the quinoa was cooking, I started chopping all the vegetables for the salad.  Check out this colorful combo!

When the quinoa was done cooking, I put it in a mixing bowl to cool while I made the salad dressing.  The salad dressing was quick and easy, and all done in the food processor (recipe below).  Then I mixed everything together.  You could add it all together and use it as a side dish, or I decided to chop some spinach to mix in so that it was more of a salad.

It was beautiful, filling, so healthy, and will be the perfect salad for when I need more than just a salad.

This dressing was so easy to make and super flavorful!  These are all staple pantry items for me, and took me only 5 minutes to make.

• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil – I used a couple fresh leaves but you could use dried basil if you don’t have fresh
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar, agave or honey
• dash fresh cracked pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Add the garlic clove to the food processor and pulse until it’s chopped.  Then add all the other ingredients and mix well.  Slowly add the olive oil, while the food processor is running.  This will make enough for the quinoa, with just a little extra.