A Better Bag of Groceries

Cooking With Catherine Katz: Quinoa Salad

Monday, August 23, 2010 at 07:12 AM

Welcome to Cooking With Catherine Katz, a regular feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries.  Catherine is married to Dr. David Katz, founder of the ONQI algorithm which fuels NuVal scores.  Catherine, a native of France, is an incredible cook and I love the recipes that she and David have created together in their book The Flavor-Full Diet.  I am amazed every time I try one.  Everything is healthy and delicious.

Catherine is a mother of 5!  Whew!  Catherine sent me this picture after their recent trip to the Caribbean.

What a gorgeous family!

While I had tried some breakfast and dinner recipes, I had not yet tried any of the wonderful lunch recipes that Catherine and David offer in the book.  So one recent Sunday morning, with the kids watching Star Trek Revenge of the Sith (or something like that), my husband and I made Almond, Green Bean, and Quinoa Salad.

This recipe only serves 1.  We didn’t realize that, but after we made it – and loved it – we quickly made another quadruple batch!

1 1/2 cups frozen French-cut green beans

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch of salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 teaspoon crumbled feta cheese

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped almonds

First we had to cook the quinoa – and this was our first time doing that.  We chose Ancient Harvest Traditional Quinoa, which scores a 91 on the NuVal scale:

Beautiful grains!

It cooked up quickly and easily.

With the quinoa cooked, and the onions sliced…

we could focus on the rest of the recipe steps:

• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in medium saucepan.  Add the green beans and cook for 2 minutes (do not overcook).  Drain and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk the mustard, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.

• Add the green beans and toss to coat.

• Add the quinoa, cheese, onion, and almonds and toss to combine.

While David and Catherine intended this recipe to be an everyday lunch sort of thing, I must say that you could bring this to a party.  And people would definitely ask you for the recipe!

I am hooked on quinoa!

Thank you Catherine for another wonderful recipe!

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Posted by: Melissa 10 comments

Posted in: Cooking with Catherine Katz, Lunch

Tags: quinoa