#kinoah

Fri 06 Nov 2015

Toasted Almonds, Cucumber, Dill, & Quinoa Salad with Spinach

Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood was the first healthy eating cookbook I ever owned, and this was the first recipe I made from the book. I had never heard of quinoa prior to sitting on the skytrain one day in 2010, picking up a copy of Metro, and reading an article that was madly raving about it. I remember marching straight to Book Warehouse, buying the book, choosing this salad, buying the ingredients, and afterwards, converting to the quinoa movement ---- making “quinoa everything” and being all righteous about it as well (as people get when they “discover” superfoods). All the while, I was  mispronouncing it as “kin-oah”... I was so obsessed with kin-oah and made it so often to the point, that I actually got pretty sick of it. 

I don’t know what made me want to make this particular salad today.... a trip down memory lane, I guess? Nah, it was because I bought a bunch of fresh dill and needed a use for the dill. This recipe came to mind.

Salad:

Quinoa (cooked in vegetable broth)

Lots of dill

Cucumber, chopped

Toasted almonds

Green onion

Spinach (I added this since I that salads should have greens)

Dressing (olive oil & rice vinegar)

Afterthoughts:

I was a bit excited about this salad after not eating it for years, kind of hoping to be as amazed and in love as I was upon first bite, but all it did was remind me that I had this salad waaaayyyy too many times in 2010.  Unfortunately, the feelings from quinoa overconsumption still linger! Maybe I will make this again in 2020 and see what happens.

Toasted almonds, fresh dill, and fresh green onions make this salad shine. Trust me. Ugh, I once ran out of green onions and substituted minced fried yellow onions... a horrible thing to do. I think that in general, you should never substitute green onions with cooked yellow onions!!

I KNOW RIGHT I FCUKING KNOW

Questions: 1. what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? CHOCOLATE 2. what’s your biggest regret? I never fully appreciated what I had until I didn’t have it anymore. 3. fav food? This is difficultt I love eating but SUSHI 4. worst lie you’ve ever told? Can’t think of just one hahah but probably when I called my mom asking what TS means (I was doing brownies) and I told her it was for math homework like wtf hahahah 5. what country are you from? DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 6. what’s the name of your favorite stuffed animal? (u know u have one) I always forget the names but I have tons of stuffed animals haha 7. How would you respond to someone that told you that they were praying for you? Thanks, I really appreciate it.. I have no idea, it would mean a lot because they want to help me out in someway..? I would probably hug them.. 8. where, what, or who do you dream about? (life goals. not dreams you have when u sleep lol) I want to live by the beach, move to AUSTRALIA, have a job that I enjoy/love, living a simple, fun, adventurous life and travel around the WORLD. 9. fav fashion brand????? roxy and billabong but also Zara, brandymelville and h&m 10. DO YOU LIKE PANCAKES?!?!? YESSS