Quinoa is an amazing grain to add to your diet. It is VERY high in protein and is the best choice when it comes to grains you want to choose for your pantry, even over brown rice. It also doesn't leave you feeling heavy like rice or pasta does. It's a wonderful blank canvas that you can add so many things to.  A quick tip, I bought a bag at a local grocery store and it set me back close to $11. I went to Big Lots and they had the same bag for $3... so, if you find someone who says its too expensive to eat well, tell them they need to do their HW. Nothing of value comes easy... that includes taking control of your health!
With all that said :) here's an EASY and fresh salad I think is perfect for all year around. This recipe yielded approx. 4 medium sized servings. But I was using leftover chicken and made too much quinoa, so I suggest doubling everything except the quinoa.

1/2 cup of Quinoa (it doubles once cooked)
*optional- I season the water with a pinch of Chicken Bouillon

2tsp EVOO
TJ's Green Salsa
1 avocado
2 cups chopped or shredded chicken (I had 1/2 of a SMALL store roasted chicken, and used that)
1 green onion sprig
6-7sprigs of fresh cilantro chopped
1 1/2 cups (or more depending on your palate, we like to add more veggies) chopped veggies
  *I purchased a mixed bag of veggies that included purple onion, green/red peppers

OPTIONAL- I used a jalapeño for heat.. if you have a lighter palate omit it.
Also, I keep jars of Trader Joe's green Salsa on hand, it is incredibly fresh and a good way to add a lot of flavor in a cost effective way. I HIGHLY suggest keeping a bottle on hand. You can always use what you need and freeze small amounts in baggies/tupperware if you aren't a salsa family. This one is fairly mild in flavor.
Salt/Pepper to taste

Cooking Quinoa is fairly simple. The bag usually gives you cooking directions but if you happen to buy it in larger quantity at markets who sell it by the barrel... it's a 2:1 ratio.
So, boil 1 CUP of water (add bouillon if you have it, if not no biggie), add 1/2 cup quinoa cover it with a lid and leave it to simmer for 12 mins. DO NOT OPEN IT! Until 12 mins are up...

After 12 minutes, I realized I needed to let it sit for a few minutes b/c I added a little too much water.

Meanwhile add EVOO in a large saucepan and chopped veggies, cilantro, jalapeño, generous pinch of salt/pepper and sauté until onion starts to look translucent, about 5 min on medium heat. Add chicken and heat through for about 2 mins. Add 1/2 cup of TJ's green salsa, and stir.

Ready to saute

Quinoa should be cooked, use a spoon/fork to fluff up and pour it into a large bowl. Add chicken-veggie mixture and mix through. CAUTION do NOT over mix it, or it will look like mush, it will taste fine but no one wants to look at mush right?!
Taste it, if it needs salt or pepper add it a pinch at a time. And continue to taste until it reaches your liking. I like to add more fresh cilantro ( I'm obsessed w/ cilantro) and a bit more TJ's salsa. If you feel it needs a bit of EVOO to soften it up, that works too, just watch your hand.

Salad ready to eat! All it needs is avocado :)

Serve salad with slices of avocado and voila!

To bump up the health factor I serve this with a spinach salad.. I have previously made this salad with zucchini, carrots... different veggies. You really can't go wrong- any veggie you choose... with the exception of asparagus.

My friend Jamie made this soup for us a while back, and I wasn't sure I would like it because it has garbanzo beans, and I'm not much of a garbanzo bean kind of person. BUT, it is such a great blend of flavors that I happily filled my tummy to the brim with this soup and didn't even mind the fact that it didn't have the usual cream the soup calls for. In fact, I dare to say this version is my favorite... Jamie, you win!
All games aside, Jamie is an amazing cook, and I can't wait to blog his version of white lasagna which we were invited to try last night and it BLEW me away.. I woke up counting down the minutes until leftovers for lunch..ahh I digress, with that said here's the Katie version of  the new and improved payanx version of zuppa toscana.

1 medium onion chopped
1 bay leaf
3 Hot Italian Sausages (usually they come in 1lb. pkg I used 1/2 and froze the remainder, also if you aren't a spicy kind of person just opt for a mild spice)
2  chopped/minced garlic
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 32oz carton of chicken stock
1 15oz can of garbanzo beans rinsed
6 roughly chopped fingerling potatoes OR 1 large russet diced with skin ON ( chopped about the size of a large grape)
3-4 cups of washed/roughly chopped kale: I buy the prepackaged Trader Joe's Kale.. save yourself the time! You use 1/2 the bag.

In a large stock pot on medium heat sautee EVOO, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf. Let onion get slightly transulcent, add spicy sausage and use the spoon to break apart the sausage. When sausage has cooked, add chopped potatoes, chicken broth and garbanzos. Let this come to a boil allowing the potatoes to fully cook. Turn heat to LOW and add chopped kale, cover with a lid and let the steam soften the kale, mix it a few times over so the kale can get covered in broth. Simmer on low until you are ready to serve.
Before you serve it make sure to DISCARD the BAY LEAF.

Simmering and ready to be devoured!

I have to thank my awesome neighbor Terry for letting us use their pizza stone. I'm convinced I need one now! :) So in case you haven't noticed my neighbors are simply amazing people I'm lucky enough to call friends. Terry always lets me borrow random kitchen utensils and what not. He often makes dinner for him and his fiancé Jen, and if Marc is out of town on business, will bring me over dinner, or coffee, or dessert.... how blessed are Marc and I?!?! Anyway he's an awesome friend!
I told him what I had planned to make for dinner and he said "do you want to borrow our pizza stone?!" YESSSSSSS I dooooo!! :)

I bought everything from Trader Joe's (am I getting commission yet on how much I endorse them!?!) pre-made, down to the dough, their garlic & herb dough is amaze amaze amaze. Anyway the assembly is pretty easy once you have the ingredients, I'd have to highly encourage buying fresh yummy ingredients... that makes all the difference.

What you will need:
1 package Trader Joe's garlic & herb pizza dough
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 firm large tomato on the vine (or any tomato you wish to use)
1 package of FRESH basil
flour- its needed for dough... and for the pizza stone.
**optional: shredded fresh parmesan cheese, I had some on hand and figured I'd use it.. who doesn't love extra cheese

Before oven..

So I left the oven on 400 (as called for on the dough) and placed stone in for 15 minutes.
As a heads up, the dough needs to sit on a surface sprinkled with flour for about 20 mins before you use it... if you don't it's no biggie, but when it's cold it is tougher to work with, rather than when it's been sitting at room temp. I rolled out the dough to the best circle I could possibly make.  Then took about 10-15 leaves of basil and sliced them, also sliced the tomato in fairly thin slices. Then I took the stone out, sprinkled a bit of flour on it and placed the dough on it, poured sauce on evenly, sprinkled cheese, sprinkled generously the chopped basil, placed tomatoes around the pizza to cover all basil, and sprinkled some fresh parmesan on top and into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the dough was golden brown.

After oven... YUM!

I paired this with a spinach salad... it was delicious!! There were NO leftovers... :(