I know I’m the mother of a small child when I the highlight of my Friday evening (especially during Stanley Cup playoffs when Darren is glued to Blackhawks’ games) is Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. It’s basically healthy food p0rn.

And since I am the mother of a small child who apparently loves to eat (although the last week or so, she’s more interested in throwing her food on the floor than in her mouth), I figure I should start making more of an effort to eat healthier meals.

So I’ve joined Scattered Mom’s Food Revolution Fridays. A couple of weeks late but things have been hectic around here.

Today’s healthy dinner:

• locally sourced, hormone free T-bone steaks, broiled, with horseradish (or if you’re Darren, barbeque sauce)
• Quinoa Salad

I’ve been interested in trying out quinoa for awhile, in there interests of incorporating more whole grains. Quinoa is touted as a superfood – it’s a complete protein with all 8 amino acids. The Incans called it “chesiya mama”: the mother grain. So I bought a pile at Costco the other day and I quite like it.

The Poptart enjoyed playing with it and smearing it all over her face.

And of course, I’m not one to really follow a recipe so I bastardized the recipe linked above. This is what I did.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 C dry quinoa (cooked in 3 C of liquid)
• Diced red pepper
• Cucumber, quartered and sliced
• garlic sauteed broccoli and asparagus (this was leftover from last night. Steaming would work too)
• 1/4 C grapeseed oil (I’ve switched from olive oil to grapeseed for the most part)
• 1/3 C lemon juice (or in my case, the juice of one large lemon)
• 2 tsp (or so, probably a little more) minced garlic (from a jar. If you’re really ambitious, you could mince it yourself, but why?)
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook the quinoa in liquid at a ratio of 1:2 (so for every cup of quinoa, use 2 cups of liquid). You can use water, chicken or veggie broth (but watch the sodium unless you make your own). Bring it to a boil, uncovered, then turn heat to low, cover it and cook it for about 15 minutes or until the grains are translucent and the germ is white, like so:

While it’s cooking, chop the veggies; whisk the oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper together.

Remove the quinoa from heat, fluff with some sort of utensil and let it cool a bit (you can put it in a bowl. Since we’re using lemon juice, use something non-reactive).

When it’s cooled a bit, mix in the veggies and dressing. Chill before serving.

Voila:

(I was going to throw the chickpeas in, but Darren’s not a fan. I’ll add them when I eat the leftovers for lunch).

Oh, and hey! There’s a website and book about quinoa cooking: Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood.

(No, I’m not being compensated for that. Thanks to @smuttysteff for the link)

So yeah. Quinoa. Go. Buy. Eat. Yum.