Grilled Veggie Greek Quinoa Salad

I've always been the kind of person who is excited to eat food. I plan vacations around restaurants I want to try. If I crave something, you better believe I'm going out to get it, no matter the time of day. I've never been one who had to be told twice that dinner was ready. Unfortunately, this has also meant I've needed to be careful about being healthier, pretty much my whole life. I was thinner in High School, but I had to work hard to stay that way, where other girls didn't.

We went to some friends' house for dinner on Sunday, and my girlfriend had been telling me that she wanted to try some different quinoa recipes because quinoa is a healthy, high-protein grain that is way better for you than pasta, white rice, or bread. I decided it would be perfect to throw together a quinoa salad to share at dinner!

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of it because it got eaten so fast! It was super easy, and all of the ingredients were things I normally have in my pantry and fridge.

Here's the recipe:

Make the quinoa (1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water, boiled until water is evaporated).

Meanwhile, saute your favorite veggies. I used what I had, which included:
- half a red onion, finely diced
- 2 zucchini, cut into half moons
- red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
(you could also use yellow summer squash and other colors of bell pepper)

Cook the veggies in a small amount of olive oil (I used lime flavored) with some garlic salt until they are cooked but al dente (not super soft).

Dump the finished quinoa into a large bowl. Add the cooked veggies. Stir together to marry the flavors, and let sit to cool slightly.

For the vinaigrette, squeeze the juice from one lemon, and add about a half teaspoon each of garlic salt and lemon pepper, and just a shake of cayenne pepper (or more if you like). Whisk in olive oil until you have a 3-1 oil to lemon juice ratio. The mixture should equal about a 1/4 cup, maybe a little more. Pour over the quinoa and veggies, and toss to coat.

Refrigerate until just cooled, and add in feta cheese, chopped cilantro and green onions, and cherry tomatoes (also olives would be good). Add whatever other Mediterranean flavors you think would be good!

Allow to cool completely and let the flavors blend in the fridge for an hour or two. It's good hot, but it's better cold, and it's probably best the next day, but I wouldn't know because we ate it too fast.

Enjoy!

UPDATE *** My friend sent me a picture! So in case you're the type of person who wants a picture as an example, hopefully this will inspire you (even if it is a cellphone pic).***

Have a question you'd like me to answer? A blog post you'd like to see? Leave your questions here!