Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

As side dishes go, Quinoa is the gift that keeps on giving.  Here I give it a little Mediterranean flair with leftover pine nuts and olives.

This dish follows the basic side dish formula of:  Starchy Base + Something Crunchy + Something Herby + Something Acidic + A Little Bit of Oil.

Though rather than using a vinegar, I let the olives speak for themselves.  You can put half of the fresh herbs in with the quinoa about half way through cooking to let the flavors work in.  I usually save the other half until right before it’s served so they retain their bright green color.

You may have noticed quite a few quinoa recipes on my blog.  In fact, here’s a recent roundup of my favorite recipes.  Plenty of reasons…it’s high in fiber, it’s high in protein, it has a low glycemic index if you’re diabetic and its gluten-free.  There’s a great page on the science behind quinoa that goes through some of the food anthropology and plenty of other reasons.

But back to the salad…  It’s really super simple, just cook the quinoa and mix everything in.