Tomato and Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Hi everyone! Sorry (again) for being away for so long. Life with a baby has been more hectic than anticipated so I haven't had my act together enough to blog regularly like I had planned. I consider it a success to just get dinner on the table so I haven't taken much time to actually take pictures in the process.

I have missed blogging, though, and with spring coming soon (or so I keep telling myself) I am making grand plans for many new projects around the house and kitchen and am going to do my best to get back to blogging somewhat regularly to document it all.

The upside is that during my unplanned blogging hiatus, I have tried many new recipes, so I have quite a bit to share with you. I figured I'd start with this quinoa salad, which is simple, tasty and healthy. It's a great dish to make in advance and refrigerate for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
• 2 handfuls of ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained
• Lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and let it drain. In a medium pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the quinoa, herbs, garlic and tomatoes to the pot and bring everything back up to a boil. (You could just put the tomatoes in fresh, but I wanted them softened and wanted them to flavour the whole dish.) Add a little salt if you want to, but be careful not to overdo it since there is already salt in the broth.

Once the mixture comes back up to a boil, turn the heat to low and let the quinoa simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and take the pot off of the burner. Keep the quinoa covered and let it stand for another 5 minutes, then fluff it all up with a fork. Transfer the quinoa to a serving bowl and add the chickpeas.

Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Give the quinoa a good stir to mix everything together. Refrigerate the quinoa for an hour or two until it is chilled through and serve.

This is a dish that would be easy to change up for some variety. Try adding some cucumber or zucchini, or using fresh herbs of your choice if you have some on hand.

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Craftberry Bush  |  It's Overflowing  |  Nifty Thrifty Things  |  Under the Table and Dreaming

StoneGable  |  One Tough Mother  |  Savvy Southern Style  |  Not Just a Housewife