Giada's Herbed Quinoa

I found this tasty summer dish while aimlessly clicking through Food Network video clips. I made it tonight and so far it might be my favorite way to do quinoa.  I really would love to grow a lemon tree in my back yard. *sigh*

I pared it with a balsamic chicken and strawberry salad with crushed almonds. So so good.

Giada's Herbed Quinoa

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups quinoa

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the quinoa: In a medium saucepan, add the chicken stock, lemon juice and quinoa. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook until all the liquid is absorbed, about 12 to 15 minutes.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, basil, parsley, thyme, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour the dressing over the quinoa and toss until all the ingredients are coated. Transfer the quinoa to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

SERVES 4

Memorial Day Dinner

I hadn't planned a dinner tonight so before I went on my run late this afternoon I tossed a few individually wrapped chicken breasts into some water to thaw out and I would figure out the rest when it was time to cook.  To be honest, 9 out of 10 dinners here are made this way. I am horrible at planning ahead.

So 6pm I had chicken breasts. I looked around the kitchen and found: a head of garlic, a lemon, fresh thyme and bottle of white wine that I had opened up the night before.

I heated up the oil, sauteed the minced garlic until right before it started to brown and then I poured in about 3/4 cup of the white wine.  While that was simmering away I minced up the thyme, and seasoned the chicken with it as well as salt and pepper.  I then added the juice of the lemon to the pan and put the chicken it it.  Cooked it on medium high for about four minutes on each side. Perfect.  I was actually to busy barking orders at the kids to wash up and set the table that I forgot to snap a photo of the finished product.  It tasted great but it wasn't the prettiest of chicken breasts.

So then. Sides.  Peas. As I was steaming them I thought to add some of our fresh mint from the backyard. Mint and peas. SO AMAZING!  Cook the peas so barely soft, butter, fresh ground pepper, and a bunch of chopped fresh mint.  You must try this.

Finally, I didn't have lettuce so I just diced some avocado and cherry tomatoes..splash of balsamic salad dressing..summer yummy!

So nothing special about any of it but combined it was a great, pretty healthy, summer dinner.

very simple, very good

I normally would put about 2 tablespoons of chopped minced but I wasn't sure how it would go over with the kids so I only used a tablespoon..still good.

ignore the little brown spot, it was from the pit