Quinoa Chicken Salad with Vegetables: A Quick Meal for Every Season

I suppose most people have a favorite recipe they fall back on when they can't decide what to have for lunch or dinner. Ours is Chicken Qunioa Salad, or one of my many variations of it. We are retired and self-employed, and work at home, so we have our main meal at lunch time. I often don't have a lot of time to cook, so I often just make this. One recipe normally lasts us about three days as a main dish.

I make it easier for myself by having all the ingredients on hand. I buy the double packs of broiled chicken strips at Costco and keep about two-three packs in the freezer. They are easy to thaw when I need them. I normally cook one cup of quinoa a week and freeze half. Each half batch will make one recipe of the salad. I use whatever fresh vegetables I have on hand. At various times I use sweet red or green bell peppers, celery, cherry tomatoes, red onions, and cucumbers. I have also added canned olives or artichoke hearts. (I prefer Trader Joe's unmarinated whole artichoke hearts packed in water. Your taste may be different.)

If you have you chicken and quinoa already cooked, about all that's left on the day you make the salad is to cut up the chicken and vegetables, make the salad dressing if necessary, and mix the ingredients together.

One reason we serve this so often is because we have to watch what we eat. We prepare the Italian dressing with extra-virgin olive oil. The quinoa (pronounce KEEN-WA) itself is one of the most nutritious of all grains, high in fiber and protein. It contains all eight essential amino acids, and is a good source of iron. I cup of cooked quinoa contains no cholesterol, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 7 grams of protein, and only 2 mg of sodium. Even with the chicken, it's a light meal. It can be served with a green salad or crisply raw carrots or radishes, and bread, for a complete meal any doctor should approve. If you don't want to eat meat, you can substitute black beans for the chicken.

We like this so much we eat it in every season. In winter we will sometimes serve it in smaller portions as a side dish for a hot soup lentil or split pea soup. But it is really refreshing on a hot summer day. I normally cook the quinoa the night before I need it so it can chill. At the same time I let the frozen chicken breast strips thaw. If you have it left over, all you have to do is pull it out of the refrigerator and eat, with no fuss at all except getting anything you want to serve with it ready.