Lime Quinoa Salad

I never knew the joys of lime on, well, anything until I lived in Thailand after college. It had always been lemon. Traveling in Thailand I would see "lemonade" on a menu and would end up with limeade. Most noodle dishes came with slices of lime. Hostels would have crepes with "lemon" and sugar on a menu but again lime would show up on the table. It ends up lemons are not so easy to get in Thailand, but I'm not so sure why lime in Thai did not ever get translated into lime in English. Regardless, I fell in love with lime. I get excited when I go out to eat here in the states and a slice of lime shows up. So in my first quest to make quinoa I decided to use lime. And you know what? I love quinoa and lime. Who would have guessed.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

2 cups stock 

1 clove of garlic minced

1/2 teaspoon lime zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 scallions chopped

1/2 cup red pepper

1/2 cup green pepper

3/4 cup sweet corn

1/4 baby lima beans

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro

pepper to taste

Directions

Add quinoa, stock, lime zest, garlic, and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. One you hit a boil bring the heat down and cover the pot. Cook for about 15 min, or until all of the stock is absorbed.  While the quinoa is cooking chop up the scallions, red pepper, and green pepper into small pieces. I used frozen corn and lima beans so at this point I microwaved them to defrost them. 

Once the quinoa is finished cooking remove from heat and mix in olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, and pepper until the quinoa is well coated. Finally, toss in the scallions, peppers, corn, and lima beans. Enjoy immediately, at room temperature, or chilled! 

Sushi Salad

I've never made sushi but have always wanted to try to. And then I saw this recipe for sushi salad on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen and thought I can put off the actually sushi for awhile. This was such an easy and creative recipe! 

Seasoned rice vinegar gives the rice salad the sushi flavor. I used edamame and carrots (both steamed for about 10 minutes), red peppers, cucumbers, almonds, and sesame seeds like the recipe suggested. Instead of making the prepared mushrooms I substituted zucchini that was prepared the same way. I would have used mushrooms if it weren't for the fact that my husband doesn't like them. Boo! Regardless, this was very easy to make and pretty much fool proof. And it tasted pretty darn good.