Rainbow Quinoa Salad

At the beginning of this year, a high school aged friend of ours decided to go vegan. We invited her and her mom, whom we know from an organization in town, over for vegan dinner. Her mom was very supportive of her daughter's plan to be vegan, but didn't quite know what to cook for her when she was also cooking for her 11 year old son, 4 year old daughter, herself, and her husband. We figured that we could invite them over and answer vegan food questions while also providing an example of a delicious vegan meal.

In asking what they'd like to eat, they said they were pretty open to flavors, so we chose to serve one of Shana's favorites - broccoli, tofu, and garlic sauce. They asked what to bring and we suggested "something that goes with dinner?" In other words, we were super unhelpful. However, our friends rose the challenge and brought a delicious Asian quinoa salad! Overall, dinner was a giant success. We answered all sorts of vegan-related questions, laughed a ton, and ate amazing food.

Since our dinner, we've eaten this salad a few times. I tweaked the original recipe, found at Two Peas & Their Pod, to make it more our style - doubling some veggies, removing some ingredients, and adjusting the dressing. It's SO delicious! It's also great for the unseasonably hot temps we've been experiencing - when I just don't want to eat anything. This salad has tons of protein and fiber and is a feast for your eyes as well.

Seitan Nuggets

You know the videos that get shared on social media sites? The ones that show a pair of hands cooking a dish from start to finish in a minute or so? That's where I found this recipe.

Of course, for the life of me, I can't find that video any longer. If you find it, let me know so I can cite it, will you? Luckily, I watched the video a few times and wrote down the recipe/instructions. Then I put the paper in my stacks of recipes and promptly forgot about it.

Sometime this winter I got sick of everything we were eating, went digging through one of my "you should try this" stacks of recipes and found my scribbled notes for these seitan nuggets. They went on the meal plan for that week, dipped in barbecue sauce, and then they were gone.

We ate all of them. We did it again a few days later, and the next time, and the next. So worth it.