Fri 06 Nov 2015
Toasted Almonds, Cucumber, Dill, & Quinoa Salad with Spinach
Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood was the first healthy eating cookbook I ever owned, and this was the first recipe I made from the book. I had never heard of quinoa prior to sitting on the skytrain one day in 2010, picking up a copy of Metro, and reading an article that was madly raving about it. I remember marching straight to Book Warehouse, buying the book, choosing this salad, buying the ingredients, and afterwards, converting to the quinoa movement ---- making “quinoa everything” and being all righteous about it as well (as people get when they “discover” superfoods). All the while, I was mispronouncing it as “kin-oah”... I was so obsessed with kin-oah and made it so often to the point, that I actually got pretty sick of it.
I don’t know what made me want to make this particular salad today.... a trip down memory lane, I guess? Nah, it was because I bought a bunch of fresh dill and needed a use for the dill. This recipe came to mind.
Salad:
Quinoa (cooked in vegetable broth)
Lots of dill
Cucumber, chopped
Toasted almonds
Green onion
Spinach (I added this since I that salads should have greens)
Dressing (olive oil & rice vinegar)
Afterthoughts:
I was a bit excited about this salad after not eating it for years, kind of hoping to be as amazed and in love as I was upon first bite, but all it did was remind me that I had this salad waaaayyyy too many times in 2010. Unfortunately, the feelings from quinoa overconsumption still linger! Maybe I will make this again in 2020 and see what happens.
Toasted almonds, fresh dill, and fresh green onions make this salad shine. Trust me. Ugh, I once ran out of green onions and substituted minced fried yellow onions... a horrible thing to do. I think that in general, you should never substitute green onions with cooked yellow onions!!
Rating in 2010: 10/10. Rating in 2015: 5/10.