Quick Creamy Feta, Quinoa and Tomato Salad
March 16, 2016
Um hello appetite, where have you been?
You have no idea how awesome it is to want to eat again, and now I have two babies to blame my belly on, score!
That being said, my appetite has returned with such a vengeance, it's essential there's always something ready to eat or simple to make that I can devour at a moments notice.
Funnily enough, after an aversion to pretty much all food, I'm actually really into strong flavours. I had a lot of advice from various sources saying to stick with plain stuff, but honestly, the blandness was inspiring me to eat at all so it's in with the bold flavours and on with some much needed lbs.
Another thing I'm keeping in mind when grabbing my quick snacks is trying to maximise the nutritional values of what i'm chowing down on. Before babies, my main train of thought was about keeping fats and excess carbs low. Whilst it's still really important to keep healthy, healthy now means including more good fats, calcium and carbs- all things I can get on board with!
This salad can either sit in the fridge for a few days for a easy to grab snack, or be whipped up in a jiffy (especially if you cheat and use microwave pouches of rice and quinoa... which I did)
Makes enough for 2 generous lunch portions or 4 sides
Ingredients:
For the dressing- multiply this ratio for more dressing
1 tbsp sour cream
juice of half a lemon
four heaped tbsp crumbled feta
pepper
splash of olive oil
For the salad-
1 cups of cooked quinoa- I use a mixture of brown and wild rice, and quinoa
Cherry tomatoes, I like the multi coloured packs, about 10-15 which is as many as will fit in your cupped hands
A few basil leaves
Method:
Get your quinoa/rice cooking either on the stove or throw the pouch in the microwave and cook as per the instructions.
Full disclosure- I have been known to be a bit evangelical about not using prepared foods and making everything from scratch, but i'm coming to realise that sometimes it's ok to take some shortcuts. Microwave rice packs are not evil, they are, however, a major time saver. I have made my own rice pouches by cooking a huge batch of rice, portioning it into bags then freezing them. They can then be thrown into a microwave of boiling water for a minute or two to heat through. But if you don't have the time or the inclination to do that then I wholeheartedly recommend having a couple of back up pouches in the cupboard.
When your quinoa/rice is cooked, drain it and cool it off under a stream of running cold water, then leave to drip dry.
I like to make my dressings in a jar with a lid, it makes it easier to mix as you can just give it a vigorous shake, and also to store.
Add all the dressing ingredients to your jar or mixing bowl and shake or whip up until emulsified. It will be lumpy from the feta but I like getting chunks of salty cheese amid the creamy, feta seasoned dressing.
Chop your tomatoes into bite sized chunks, with the cherry tomatoes I usually don't do much more than in half unless they are giants.
Dry off any excess water from the quinoa/rice with a wedge of paper towel then mix the grains, tomatoes and dressing together. Garnish with some thinly sliced basil (or a chiffonade of basil if you're feeling fancy).
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