Amy’s Quinoa Salad

Here are a few select images of decorations from our 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party.

I say “a few select” because I had more than six dozen to choose from.

Believe it or not, I’m exercising a lot of constraint here.

I have recovered. Tuesday was rough. After working for three days in a row out in the heat setting up for the big 4th of July Pool Party, I spent over 4 1/2 hours on the 5th of July taking it down, packing it up, and putting it back in the storage shed.

It’s brutal out there and it zaps every ounce of energy from you. I think the adrenaline was all revved up while I was planning and setting up and that somehow kept me going from Saturday through Monday, but while taking it all down … well, I was basically a blubbering puddle by the end of the day.

Nearly five hours in the Arizona heat will do that to a person. Here is what it was looking like while I was rounding it up to put away. Most everything is gathered together in these two photos, except for the 8 hanging flags, 12 hanging buntings, and 10 hanging paper lanterns that needed a ladder to get down, so that was 30 times up and down and moving of the ladder from one end of the patio to the other. As I said, exhausting! But enough about that and on to today’s featured pot-luck recipe!

My darling neighbor, Amy, made a delicious quinoa salad for the pot-luck. She found the recipe on skinnytaste.com and then I fixed it a bit, since there were quite a few mistakes as it was originally written, so we’ll call it a revised recipe from skinnytaste.com. Above is Amy with her husband, Scott, and a bunch of cute boys, including their sons, Tim and Will.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups water
• Salt
• 1/4 cup peeled and diced red onion
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 2 cups peeled and diced English cucumber
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place quinoa in a strainer and rinse under cool running water for a minute or two.

Add the 2 cups of water to a medium pot, add quinoa and salt to taste, and bring to a boil. When the water boils, reduce heat to low and cover; simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for an additional 5 minutes without lifting the lid; then fluff with a fork and set aside in a large mixing bowl to cool.

Once cooled, add the red onion, olives, cucumber, and tomatoes to the bowl, then squeeze the 1/2 lemon over the top.

Drizzle the olive oil over the quinoa, add the feta and the salt and pepper to taste, and toss well.

Taste and adjust as needed, adding more lemon juice if needed.

Makes about 6 cups

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