Quinoa Chicken Salad With Feta, Roasted Peppers & Artichoke Hearts
By: Andreaq
Published: Monday, November 30, 2009 - 3:18pm

Ingredients




1 cup quinoa
3 roasted red peppers, chopped
1 inch can artichoke hearts, cut  pieces
1/2 red onion, diced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 chicken breasts, cooked, diced
2 ounces feta, crumbled
a handful of parsley
1 can sliced black olives (small can)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
kosher salt and black pepper

Preparation

1 Put the quinoa and 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover and turn the heat down to a simmer. 2 Let the quinoa cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water is absorbed 3 Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil and sliced garlic in a hot pain 4 Let the garlic cook in the warm oil until you can smell garlic (1 min).  Separate the oil from the garlic. 5 Throw out the cooked garlic. 6 Set the oil aside. 7 Put the artichoke pieces, chopped red peppers, and oil in a bowl. 8 Stir to combine. 9 In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. 10 Add the artichoke, pepper and oil to the other ingredients. 11 Season with salt and pepper. 12 Stir well until all ingredients are worked through. 13 Serve right away warm, or chill for a few hours and serve cold.

About


This is something I like to make when it's hot out.  I like to make a big batch of something one day of the week and eat on it for several days so I don't have to heat the kitchen up too much.   This is relatively quick to make and healthy.   As a bonus, the feta and olives give it a nice kick so it tastes more indulgent than it is.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: If you are still a quinoa virgin go out and get yourself some already! It's one of the most versatile and quick cooking grains out there and it has an an awesome nutty flavor that is delicious all on it's own. One of the coolest things quinoa is that it's one of a very small group of foods that are considered a complete protein (have all 9 essential amino acids and in the right proportion).  In the non-animal food source world this is a very rare thing.  Most of the time you need to combine two or more sources to get a complete protein (like rice and beans, yogurt & almonds etc) but quinoa can stand all on it's own. It's a super food!