All Hail the Hearty Meal Salad

I have determined something....all this snow is my fault. I keep bitching about it (and dreaming of washing my car), so every week it has to dump at least 6 inches on me (meaning...that it is once again snowing here). But I just hate it so much! My meals are all calling out for sunshine, patio chairs, and lemonade! My little family is taking a trip to San Diego in a couple of weeks...and I am SO looking forward to some mild temperatures. Maybe they will follow me home after, and we can finally get some Spring here!

As the title of this post suggests, tonight I have made a hearty salad, that is a meal all on its own. We have discussed how much I love such salads...but this one has quite a different twist on it! Enter sweet potatoes, soft boiled eggs, and quinoa! Remember how diverse quinoa is...it takes this salad up to "full meal" level for sure. This recipe is acutally not mine though; as I have mentioned, I read several blogs, and I love Pinterest. This recipe comes from a woman named Erin, who classifies this salad as a "winter salad", although I believe in salads year round, this fits for today (because, again, its freakin snowing!!). You can find the recipe on her blog here: http://naturallyella.com/
I made a couple of small adjustments, strictly to match my personal tastes, you can feel free to adjust as you feel is necessary as well. You can find all of these ingredients year round, if you have a Sprouts, or Whole Foods nearby. Otherwise you can adjust for seasonal changes, at your local farmer's market.

I have a friend who recently gifted me with some fresh duck eggs!! I seriously considered using them for this recipe, but since I have never tried them before, I decided to stick with what I know (chicken eggs), and use the duck eggs in a dish where they might blend better (keep an eye out for that post later)!

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, cut into small cubes

½ medium onion, diced

½ tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

½ cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup water

2-3 handfuls of lettuce

⅓ cup gorgonzola (I substituted feta, because I do not like smelly foot cheese)

¼ cup sunflower seeds 9I substituted walnuts, simply because that is what I had on hand)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2-3 eggs (of the chicken variety ;-)  )

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400˚. 

Toss potato and onion with ½ tablespoon olive oil and rosemary. Roast until tender, 20-25 minutes.

Rinse quinoa and combine with water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat, cover, and let cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another 5 minutes, still covered.

Let sweet potatoes and quinoa cool while making soft-boiled eggs.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and reduce to a fast simmer. Add eggs and let cook for 5-7 minutes (5 minutes for runny yolks, 7 minutes for slightly firmer yolk). Remove and place in an ice bath for 60 seconds.

In a large bowl combine lettuce, sweet potatoes, quinoa, sunflower seeds, and gorgonzola. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over salad and toss together. Top salad with eggs.

Sadly, I was unable to get a picture of this super tasty dish! I was upstairs with a battling Pixie, and Hubby couldn't wait any longer to eat! Lol...I can't blame him, it was delicious!

Also,

I cooked only one day this weekend (Friday's post has already been made), and it was quite good. Saturday we were out and about all day, so we stopped and had lunch, and I wasn't even close to hungry at dinner time, so....

Sunday, I wanted something I could pop in the oven while I had Pixie in the tub..so this recipe I found on Pinterest was perfect! It was quite tasty, although should I make it again I would cut back on the lemon slices, and perhaps sprinkle just a pinch more salt over everything before baking:

Rainbow Chicken

Ingredients:

Spice Rub:

2 teaspoons sweet or smoked paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/4 pound chicken thighs or legs, bone-in, skins off or on

1 sweet potato, peeled, diced small

1 medium onion, cut into lengths

1 bell pepper, cut into lengths

1 zucchini, cut into chunks

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 lemon, sliced thin cross-wise

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425F.

Prep all veggies first!

Mix the spice rub ingredients in a large bowl

Rinse the chicken pieces under running water, pat dry with paper towels, then drop into the

Spice Rub and turn to coat.

Arrange the chicken in a single layer in an oven-safe skillet or casserole dish.

Drop the vegetables into the remaining spice rub, give it all a stir and then scatter over the top of the chicken. Top with lemon slices.