Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I've been wanting to make a dish with Quinoa for awhile. My boss brought a dish with it one day for work and let me try it. And it was so good.  We use rice in a lot of dishes so I thought this might give us a litltle variety.  It's got kind of a weird texture, but I like it. It's light and airy and doesn't seem to be as heavy as rice. It does cost a little more than rice (at least what I found) so it's probably not the best for serving a huge crowd, especially if you are on a tight budget. I'll probaby start using it a little more though. The kind I bought was organic and was wheat and gluten free. I think there are different varieties, just like rice, so maybe next time I'll try another one.  The recipe below makes quite a bit, but I like having leftovers for lunch at work.  If you are just cooking for yourself or maybe 2 or 3 people and don't plan on eating leftovers I would definitely half it.

Ingredients
2 cups organic less sodium chicken broth

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 large cooked chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces

1/2 large red onion, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

2 Tbps of dried parsley

2 Tbps of green onions

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp of black pepper

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

Bring the chicken broth and garlic to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the garlic clove and scrape the quinoa into a large bowl.

Gently mix rest of ingredients except liquids into quinoa. Drizzle with the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Stir until evenly mixed. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.



Recipe source: slightly adapted from allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mediterranean-quinoa-salad/detail.aspx