southwestern quinoa salad

"southwestern" quinoa salad

2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic (peeled/chopped)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup of well-rinsed quinoa

2 chicken breasts, cut into ~3/4" cubes
1 cup water
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp red-pepper flakes (lessen to 1/8 tsp if you want no "kick")

3/4 tsp thyme
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
1 cup black beans
romaine lettuce

- heat olive oil in medium pot; add garlic and onion, and saute until the onions are clear
- add the quinoa, water,  chicken, salt, red-pepper flakes, and thyme. bring the water to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. cook for ~15 minutes, or until quinoa is tender.
- stir in corn and black beans, continue to simmer ~5 minutes, until heated through.
- serve over bed of romaine lettuce

i served this for dinner last night, and we LOVED it.  mike scraped every last morsel off his plate, and immediately said that this one should be repeated - yay!!  :-)

but, there is always tweaking - below are some ideas i have for the next time:

- make over weekend, to serve cold during week - especially during the summer

- serve with lime slices

i combined this recipe and this recipe to create the one above - check them out!