Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

I recently cooked up a huge pot of garbanzo beans as well as a pot of quinoa. I have made two large batches of hummus that the children have devoured.

When I make quinoa I soak it overnight after rinsing it. I then sauté onion and garlic in a large pan until tender, adding salt and pepper to taste. I add the drained quinoa and some chicken stock or water. (make sure to season well with salt and pepper) Simmer for 15-20 minutes with the lid on and then let sit for awhile.

I try to make a huge pot of it to eat throughout the week. Here is one recipe that we love, well most of us love it.

Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

• cooked and cooled quinoa
• cooked and cooled garbanzo beans
• diced onion
• diced red bell pepper (any color will work)
• diced cucumber
• diced tomato
• chopped black olives
• feta cheese
• opt. chopped fresh parsley and/or fresh basil

Dressing for Italian Quinoa Garbanzo Salad

• olive oil
• lemon juice
• garlic powder, salt and pepper

Many vinaigrette recipes call for 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar or lemon juice. This is way to oily for my taste. I usually stick with 1/2 oil and 1/2 vinegar or lemon juice in this case. I mix the dressing separately in a jar to get the flavor right and then pour it all over the salad ingredients and mix. You will need a fair amount of dressing, as the quinoa will soak some of it up.

I wish I had taken a picture, it is really pretty. We had to fight some of the children off or they would gobble it all up. I make a delicious Mexican Quinoa Salad too. I’ll post that recipe soon. Might as well make a big pot of quinoa and have Italian one night and Mexican another!