Summer Salad Love

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Life is crazy busy right now.  Which is why I do crazy things like spontaneously invite our new neighbor and her son over for lunch.  We are all pretty thrilled to have a neighbor who is under 10 on our street.  The boys raced circles around him and took him on a grand tour of our home several times. {I hope he doesn't tell his mother about the mounds of dirty laundry on the floor upstairs waiting to go into the wash.}  He seemed to actually enjoy the chaos and is excited to join the boys tomorrow morning for an 'adventure' in the retention basin across the street!  I'm thrilled because he seems to be a really nice kid and his mother is just delightful!

So with everything that is going on, this little offering will be it for the week!  A few weeks ago, I shared on facebook about my new meal-planning strategy that I implemented this last year and was blown away by the response.  Looks like I'm not the only one who wants to simplify life in that department. 

When my eating turned upside down this last year with Greta's initial severe food sensitivities and allergies, I started getting really desperate.  I felt like I was literally spending ALL day in the kitchen, either preparing fresh food or doing all of the dishes from all of that food preparation...  I was also initially trying to make familiar foods for the rest of the family, while I prepared my chicken, rice and veggies for myself.  I know that something had to give.  So I put together a 6 week meal rotation so that I wouldn't have to take the time to plan each and every week what we would eat.  I left weekends free for catch-up or trying a new recipe {because I'm forever getting bored with same-ol', same-'ol}.  I love it.  I keep it in a page protector taped above my calender - classy, I know.  That way I can just flip it over when I'm ready to view the next three weeks of meals.  It's helped simplify my grocery planning and finally helped us get out of my post-partum rut of serving the kids pb&j every day for lunch.

Many of you asked for a copy of my 6 week meal rotation.  I figured out how to upload it, so here is the format I used if any of you want to snag it and then personalize it for your family!  It's nothing extravagant.  But it has helped restore some semblance of sanity over here!

But that is not all I want to give you this week.  Here are two of my favorite {maindish-ish} summer salads!

With temperatures in the toasty 100's, I'm turning my oven off.  My sister and I dubbed last year the 'summer of salads'.  I made it my goal to not only eat more fresh veggies, but seriously work on getting my kids to as well.   I'm thrilled to pull out these cool lunches again!

Given our obsession with mexican food it is no wonder that this black bean and quinoa salad quickly became a family favorite.  We'll eat it by itself at lunch and with a mexican entree for dinner!

Enjoy!

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 3/4 cups chicken stock (I'm sold on making my own.  So easy and chock-full of nutrition.)
• 3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbs fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp cumin
• 6-8 green onions, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro
• 1 c frozen or fresh-cooked corn kernels.
• 3 c cooked black beans or 2 cans, drained.
• salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil and stir in quinoa.  Turn down heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile in a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin.  Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans.  Toss to coat.
3. Add cooked quinoa to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

This dish is easy-peasy.  Like the one above, it tastes great warm or cold.  I like to double this so we have leftovers.  I'll serve it with grilled chicken or just as a stand-alone main dish with a fruit salad!  It is my potluck standby!

Black-Eyed Bliss

* 1 Tb grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
* 1 c. cold cooked rice (I use brown rice or I'll sub in quinoa)
* 1 c. frozen corn (my sister prefers using fresh corn cut off the cob. I usually opt for the time-saver)
* 1/2 tsp. thyme
* 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
* 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (If you don't like spice, I could but this down a bit.)
* 1 1/2 c cooked black-eyed peas or 1 can (rinsed and drained)
* 3-4 c. torn spinach

Heat oil. Add all ingredients but spinach. Stir fry 3-4 minutes. Add spinach and stir for 1-2 minutes.  All done and ready to eat!