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Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

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I know what you’re thinking….yay, yet another recipe for quinoa. And I admit, I do agree that there are a TON of quinoa salad recipes out there right now. Mine isn’t extra different, but it is supa easy and supa quick. So if you’re in need of something to take to a party/get-together, hopefully this can help you out!

photo(81)I made this for my Kappa Delta Alum meeting that I went to last night, and it was a big hit! The amount I made was A LOT, so feel free to cut the recipe in half, etc. The quinoa grows a lot after it gets done boiling, so expect to have leftovers!

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups quinoa, rinsed
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 1 medium cucumber
  • 1/2 small red onion
  • 1,  4 oz. package crumbled feta cheese
  • 3/4 cup  zesty light Italian dressing
  • 1 tsp Dill weed
  • Salt/pepper to taste

Bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the 3 cups of quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat until the mixture is at a nice low boil. Let the quinoa simmer for 15 minutes. Then take it off the heat, stir, and quickly recover to let it sit for around 5-10 minutes. This is where the quinoa will finish soaking up the water and will continue to grow!

While you let the quinoa cool, chop up your tomatoes, cucumber, and onion into small chunks. Once the quinoa is mostly cool, stir in your chopped veggies. Next stir in the Italian dressing, dill weed, and salt & pepper. Your salad may need more or less dressing, so add the liquid slowly until you know how much dressing is right for your mixture. You want it to be fairly ‘dry’; your quinoa should not be dripping with dressing!

Last, mix in the feta cheese by gently folding it in. You want to be able to still see the chunks, so don’t over-mix! I found this awesome stuff at my grocery store that definitely added an extra kick of flavor.

13308535Tomato basil feta = yum! Plain feta will do the job as well, no worries.

You can serve the salad immediately, but I found it’s the best to cover it and refrigerate an hour or so (or even overnight!) to really let the quinoa start to soak up the yummy flavors. I personally let mine sit overnight and had to add a little more dressing before serving it yesterday. I think the quinoa starts to soak up the dressing, so if you need extra dressing, just keep it handy!

photo(84)Super fresh, easy, and healthy! It was a hit with our BBQ meal last night. And I’ll be enjoying it for a few more days. 🙂

photo(83)Happy cooking!

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

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Yesterday’s breakfast was a great one that completely has me in the holiday spirit now!

photo(83)Let me preface this by saying my posts are about a day delayed right now. Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are so stinkin busy you can barely find time to sleep, let alone get anything extra done? Well this week has been that way for me. I still feel like I’m slightly drowning. But the weekend is near, and I know if I can make it til then, I will finally have time to recup!

Tuesday night, I took about 2 spare minutes to prepare my Wednesday morning breakfast to make the next morning easy peasy.

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

Into the mix, I added:

  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup pure pumpkin (canned)
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • a drizzle of honey
  • a little extra cinnamon
  • Raisins (as topping, optional)

I stirred this all up (minus the raisins) until well blended, and then covered it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next morning I added a splash more almond milk to soften the mixture up, along with a couple spoonfuls of raisins to add a little sweetness and texture.

photo(84)I loved every bite! I like mine to be extra spicy, so you may not need to add extra cinnamon, etc. I’ve also seen where people will add in 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup to add a nice sweet kick. But that’s the beauty of overnight oats. You can make them match your taste with just a few minutes of playing around in the kitchen.

I also found that this recipe was almost too much for my stomach to handle, so I may try only 1/3 cup of oats next time. The raisins really plumped up the volume here!

Another perk of this recipe? A full can of pure pumpkin is way more than what this recipe calls for, so you’ll have extra pumpkin leftover to make more batches of this yummy stuff throughout the week or to make other Fall recipes!

Long Run + Breakfast

Yesterday started out with a nice 5 mile run – the farthest I’ve ever gone! It’s been rainy each morning, so when I woke up at 5 AM without the sound of rain hitting my window, I slipped on my running shoes and went at it.

The run was a major stepping stone for me since I’m running my first 10K in October. It kept my spirits high knowing that I will probably be able to power through the 10K without walking/dying. I made it to 5.14 miles in 47 minutes. I’m definitely not a power runner, so this was a great time for me. I’m excited to attempt the extra mile this weekend hopefully!

I had to quickly shower and rush off to work after my run, so by the time I sat down at my desk, my stomach was upset with me. Starving! Thankfully my pumpkiny oats were amazing and left me super stuffed.

photo(85)I also grabbed my coffee, vitamins and fruit to tide me over til lunch time. It was a healthy morning! And my post-run tummy was more than happy to enjoy it all. 🙂

Today has, once again, been a hectic one. I swapped with another instructor and taught the 5:40 AM class in place of my usual 6:45 PM since I have a meeting after work I want to attend. But more on that later.

Have a great Thursday! It’s already noon, which means we are only a day and a half from the weekend. Hooray!

 

Ground Turkey Meatloaf

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Friday night, I put some meat from the freezer into the fridge to thaw so I would have something to cook this weekend (and not have an excuse to not cook and go out instead!). I had a 2.5 lb package of ground turkey breast that I knew I would be able to use…I just didn’t know how or when. 🙂 Sunday late morning rolled around, and I was craving meatloaf!

I haven’t made a meatloaf since before I moved out of my old apartment in April, so this recipe was long-overdue. Like any smart lady, I jumped on Pinterest to find the easiest recipe possible for ground turkey meatloaf! Not surprisingly, recipes from the Six Sisters’ Stuff popped up first in my search. I immediately found this meatloaf recipe and knew I would be able to make it fit the ingredients I actually had on hand!

After baking for an hour, I had 3 slices of the meatloaf with a spinach mix salad for my Sunday lunch. It was filling and super healthy. Win-win!

photo(74)Don’t you like how I dotted the ketchup all over? Makes it look extremely appetizing, I know. 😛  Here’s how I put it all together…

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup plus 2 TB Ketchup
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 TB minced onions
  • 1.25 lb 99% lean ground turkey
  • 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • salt/pepper to taste

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a loaf baking pan to reduce sticking. (I use Pam Olive Oil spray and love it!)

Mix together the ground turkey, minced onion, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, garlic salt, onion powder, and salt/pepper. Once this is well combined, spread it into the loaf pan.

Mix together the extra 2 tbsp ketchup with the Worcestershire sauce in a separate bowl. Add a few more minced onions to this mix if you want! Spread this sauce evenly on top of the meatloaf.

Bake uncovered for around 1 hour/60 minutes. The meat should brown up nicely and start to pull away from the edges of the pan slightly. Let it cool a little before slicing!

photo(74)meatI failed to take anymore pictures of the finished product because Nick actually took this out of the oven for me while I was grocery shopping on Sunday. So by the time I got to it, half of the meatloaf was demolished. 🙂

This loaf was fairly small which is great for the 2 of us. I hate having days and days of leftover meat. It made about 3-4 adult portions – if I had to guess! It also only took around 5 minutes to put together and get into the oven. It would be a great mid-week dinner for busy moms!

I followed the original recipe fairly closely and only altered because I didn’t have a few things on hand. It still turned out great! I’m going to try it again soon with BBQ sauce in place of the ketchup. This is how my mom always makes her meatloaves, so it should bring back some memories!

Happy baking!