quinoa with black beans with spinach salad

we wanted to keep it quick and light for dinner on sunday night, so i threw together a salad and some dressing i just recently discovered and made my favorite quinoa dish, quinoa and black beans.

the salad was simple: baby spinach, chopped apples, crumbled blue cheese, chopped walnuts, and avocado. the dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette that is really simple (sortof like a semi-homemade deal):

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
1/3 cup good olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
**i halve the recipe when it's just the two of us

i got the quinoa and black beans recipe on allrecipes, which is one of my favorites. here it is:

one onion, chopped

three cloves garlic, chopped

one teaspoon olive oil

3/4 cup quinoa, washed

1 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn kernels

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic. saute until lightly browned. add the quinoa, stock, cumin, cayenne and salt and pepper. cover and stir occasionally until the quinoa is fully cooked (about 20 minutes). stir in the corn and let warm through, about 5 minutes. mix in black beans. 

grilled lime salmon with veggie quinoa

as it's basically turned into fall already (we've turned the heat on), i was pleased and surprised to see the temp hit 68 today. meaning of course that we had to grill (for maybe the last time). though i'll do it, i usually don't like cooking fish - salmon in particular - in the house since it really stinks things up. today was the perfect opportunity to cook outside. i did a veggie quinoa as a side.