Good morning and Happy 2014! I hope you had a lovely time ringing in the New Year. After spending New Year’s Eve in Vegas last year, I was ready for something a tad more low-key this year. We ended up spending the evening with the same couple we went to Vegas with — made dinner at their house, did a champagne toast at midnight, danced and played fousball. It was perfect!
I have two cookie recipes I still need to share with you all but since I know I’m probably not the only one craving veggies and nutritious food after the holidays, I figured today would be a good day for a veggie packed recipe.
I have to thank my boss for sending me the original recipe that I used as an inspiration when making this dish. She and I have the same tastes when it comes to food and she’s always finding some of the best recipes so whenever she mentions that she made something that was delicious, I pretty much immediately put it on my to-make list.
This salad is packed with many so many healthy foods and given that it involves many of my favorite foods, I knew I was going to fall in love with it. You can never go wrong with roasted veggies and I love the fact that the kale is roasted too and gets a little crunchy, making it like having kale chips in your salad.
It tastes wonderful warm, right after mixing the warm roasted veggies with the quinoa, but it also stores well in the fridge and tastes great cold as well. I made one batch, ate it for dinner one night and then ate it for lunch and snacks several days in a row.
Roasted Broccoli & Kale Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa (dry)
- 2 cups water (or veggie broth)
- 1/2 pound broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 sweet potato, chopped into 1/4 - 1/2 inch chunks
- 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas
- 1 bunch laccinto kale, roughly chopped
- olive oil, as needed
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 3 Tablespoons feta cheese
- juice from one lemon
- 1/2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- salt and ground pepper, to taste
- crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- Place quinoa and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let it do it's thing for 15 minutes. Remove from heat after 15 minutes and place quinoa in a large bowl to cool.
- Drain and rinse your chickpeas. Then place the chickpeas on a paper towels or hand towel to dry.
- Toss broccoli and sweet potato chunks with a little olive oil and roast at 425ºF for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add your kale and chickpeas to the roasting pan. Toss, and roast for another 15 minutes. Stirring the veggies around at least once during the roasting process.
- Once your veggies are nice and roasted, remove from the oven and combine them with the quinoa.
- Chop parsley, crumble feta, and add to the quinoa/vegetable mixture.
- In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, vinegar and maple syrup. Gently stir in oil, and add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Toss dressing over quinoa/vegetable mixture. Enjoy and store any leftovers in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Oh, yum! This looks so great! Almost like a detox salad for the new year, only infinitely more delicious than most detox salads look. Roasted broccoli is the best, isn’t it?
Mmmm…. That looks delicious! It has so many of my favorite foods, too. Thanks for sharing–I pinned it!
Oh this looks great! I actually just got some quinoa and I have been really wanting to try it out! This may be a great recipe to test it on 🙂
Looks great! I love love love quinoa! And please share the cookie recipes. Who doesn’t love a new cookie 🙂
This salad looks and sounds delicious! Just what so many of us are in need of after indulging during the holidays! Thanks 🙂
Yum!! This looks so delicious! Filling enough for a meal and post holiday cravings, but still healthy! 🙂
xx
Lisa @ The Skinny on Health
Oh my, Oh my! I am so excited with this recipe!!! I am going grains! Looks delightful – can’t wait!
That salad looks delicious! Adding it to my to-make list for sure!
I am making this next week for sure! I am also going to keep it for a baby food idea minus the red pepper and salt. DEEEEElicious!
I can’t believe I actually have all the ingredients in my kitchen and can make this tonight! Thanks.
This looks wonderful!! Your recipe calls for 1 cup of dry quinoa, but would you recommend rinsing/soaking your quinoa before using it?
Yes, I would definitely recommend rinsing if the package of quinoa that you have suggests that you should. I know there is one brand that doesn’t require rinsing, but most do. I should probably add that to the recipe. 🙂
I didn’t add the quinoa but can I just say, this was AMAZING. Such a delicious meal! Thank you 🙂
Just made this for dinner & it was fantastic!!! Can’t wait to have leftovers!
Enjoyed this recipe tonight….it’s a keeper! It was a little too much lemon for me but I didn’t have sweet potatoe to add, maybe that would have made a difference. Good recipe, thank you!
This is a super yummy salad. I stumbled across it and needed to make it straight away however, I didn’t have any sweet potato so I substituted it with carrot and i didnt have amy parsley so i substituted it with corriander. I made a batch of kale chip the other night and tossed a hand full in… Omg so filling and delicious!!! Thank you for sharing this beautiful recipe 🙂
yum! favorite new quinoa dish. perfect blend of textures and veggies. I skipped the lemon, feta, and added sweetener and just roasted my veg with coconut oil and it was perfect!