Hi friends! How are you?
Last Friday night was our Greek dinner club night. I decided to make a Quinoa Greek Salad and I really liked it. I’d never had quinoa before and was surprised I liked it because I totally wasn’t expecting to 🙂
However, making it didn’t come without it’s difficulties (would you expect anything else from me? lol). I first tried to make the quinoa in a pot on the stove and followed the instructions exactly. Unfortunately it still looked like bird seed afterwards. Blah!
So then I tried to make it in the rice cooker and while it worked out, it blew up in the process. Yikes!
My friend Amy from Mom Advice suggested it might have exploded like that because I didn’t rinse the rice beforehand which I didn’t know you were suppose to. Amy has a great post on her site all about how to cook quinoa in the rice cooker.
In the end it turned out quite nicely. It’s a healthier version too as it’s not drowned in dressing.
Quinoa Greek Salad
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp each, salt & pepper
1 cup quinoa (rinsed)
grated zest of one lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 sweet pepper (any color), chopped
1/2 English cucumber, chopped
1/2 diced red onion
1 cup drained rinsed canned red beans (I used kidney beans)
1 cup diced Feta cheese
In a deep saucepan (or rice cooker), combine milk, water, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in quinoa. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Let stand covered 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Stir in lemon zest with fork; let cool. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve or refrigerate up to one day.
Have a great week everyone!
My Weekly Menu Plan:
Monday: Baked Pasta with Spaghetti Sauce
Tuesday: Cheesy Honey Mustard Chicken
Wednesday: Root Beer Pulled Pork served with green smoothies
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Quick Homemade Pizza
Saturday: Chicken Caesar Wraps
Sunday: YOYO (you’re on your own!)
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Lynn says
So sorry about your quinoa. I have never had that happen in the rice cooker. I know some brands you do have to rinse, but others come pre-rinsed. The salad looks great though! We love quinoa and that sounds like a great way to use it.
Rita says
I mixed quinoa with black beans, whole kernel corn, sauteed red and yellow pepper, onions, and minced garlic (and a blend of Mexican spices) yesterday to make a fantastic vegan taco salad. It was wonderful and I have no leftovers! I love quinoa.
Anna @ Frugal For You says
I love quinoa and make it in the rice cooker too (as well as grits, lentils, and oatmeal). Never had that problem of it blowing up! Will have to watch out for it next time. I usually make it like couscous, with tomatoes, green peppers and raisins.
Cathy @ Chief Family Officer says
Thanks for the recipe! I have been wanting to make quinoa but wasn’t sure what to do with it and Greek salad sounds perfect 🙂
Margery says
I have been wanting to get the nerve to try cooking quinoa. Maybe I will try it soon.
Christine says
The meal I posted about today has Quinoa too. Hopefully the cooking of it will go smoothly. 🙂 The salad looks yummy!!
Tammy @ Skinny Mom's Kitchen says
I also never knew you had to rinse Quinoa. The first time I ate it I found it to be super bitter and then after snooping around on the web I learned it will be bitter if not rinsed. I have some in my pantry still so maybe I will try and make another batch today – that greek salad sounds yummy!
– Tammy
Heather @Celiac Family says
It may have taken a few tries, but it looks like the final dish turned out great.
Allysgrandma says
Hilarious! My 4-year old granddaughter is living with us along with my daughter while my SIL is in Afghanistan. There was a bag of quinoa on the drain board yesterday and she asked, “grandma is this bird seed”…..hahaha…..we have.a hummingbird feeder outside our sliding glass doors and she loves seeing them come to eat. I think she had it in her mind to put some out for the birds.
Now that there are 4 of us, we are trying to menu plan again. It is really easy when it is just the two of us to fly by the seat of our pants. DH cooked a big bone in ham last night so we have plans, but it is a big ham so probably will be sharing with my mom and DH’s BFF whose wife is out of town.
Mrs. DishPanHands says
My very first MPM! Thanks for hosting. 🙂
Have a lovely day!
-Kristin
Laura says
Welcome to MPM!!
LB says
Apparently blogger decided not to publish my MPM post this morning, and in a hurry I just grabbed the first post and posted it on the linky – which was last week’s MPM. So you can delete my linky #87 – that is last week’s menu! The later one (86) is the correct one! sorry 🙁
Laura says
Hi there, I could only see your correct link so I’m thinking you were able to delete the incorrect one. Have a great week!
Making Our Life Matter says
I have never eaten quinona before, but your pictures sure make it look good!
Laura says
Honestly I was so surprised I liked it. Going to make it again today I think 🙂
Christina Street says
This may seem like a crazy question, but what do your kids do for yoyo night? At what point do you leave it up to them to fend for themselves?
Laura says
Not a crazy question at all….yoyo night is essentially what my youngest (7) calls “picking” night where he(we) can choose to have whatever he wants. I should really call it that on my menu plan. He will usually choose a cheese sandwich or something like it and I’ll still prepare it for him and maybe make some green smoothies to go along with it. My oldest two are teens so they are fully capable of making up whatever for themselves. They love it. My daughter loves soup and my middle son might have hot dogs or something. We just keep it totally casual, use up leftovers or whatever. We all kind of pile into the kitchen at the same time scrounging up something easy to eat. It’s fun!
Kari says
Thanks for hosting this every week Laura! I’ve been stalking for quite a while but I’m so glad to be participating again. And that greek salad looks awesome! Thanks for sharing it!
Laura says
Welcome back!!
Crystal & Co says
That Greek Salad looks AMAZING!
Thanks for the recipe.
Lisa @ CheapThrillsInOmaha says
LOFL!! Omigosh! Phew. Sorry for your trouble, really, but that is so something I would do. HA! I hope there were no casualties. I love Greek food, and I haven’t tried quinoa yet, either, although it is in all the magazines and on all the food blogs lately. Okay — UNCLE! Your incidents are duly noted.
Jean says
I’ve always wondered about quinoa but didn’t think I’d like it either. Maybe I’ll give it a try sometime. Thanks for hosting!
Janet @ Frugal & Focused says
Beautiful and delicious looking salad despite the difficulties you had with the quinoa. Thanks for hosting.
Trish says
Bahaha. I love that it exploded. That is so something I would do. My husband just walks through the kitchen shaking his head at me. I try to tell him it’s not really cooking if you don’t make a mess.
Kelly @ Dysfunctionally Functional says
I totally forgot that it was Monday. I went through the majority of the day thinking it was Sunday. Now, I’m all messed up!
Happy Monday, everybody!
Susanne says
We’ve just discovered quinoa too and really like it. I’ve had no problem with making it and the instructions on my bag didn’t say to rinse it as far as I can remember. I’ll have to try that step next time and see if there is a difference.
Erika Monroe-Williams says
I love quinoa!! I can’t wait to try the salad!! Thanks so much for hosting another wonderful party! 🙂 – Erika
Cari @ReachForTheStarBerries says
I’ve only made Quinoa once. It was great but took a while to cook. I can’t imagine having to clean up the slow cooker after that mess. Hopefully it didn’t take too much elbow grease.
Cari @ Reach For The Star Berries
Reach For The Star Berries
Dawn says
Looks delicious.