I can't get enough!

It's like a drug, I just can't get enough of it! All day yesterday I was thinking to myself that I couldn't wait to get home so I can make more quinoa salads...today I made a copycat version of a quinoa dish I get at this restuarant called Hummus Kitchen, on the Upper East Side. They call it the "Super-Healthy Salad." And they aren't lying either. I wouldn't call it quite a salad because there's no variety of lettuce in it.

It might be hard to tell what's in this salad based on my photo, sorry I'm not the photographer in the family. I probably should have used the white quinoa so it's a more pretty "salad" in the end, but since I had leftover red quinoa I used up what I had. If you want to go for the pretty effect I'd use white quinoa as opposed to the red variety. If you don't care about that sort of stuff, then GO BIG RED!

Super-Healthy Non-Salad

(serves about 4 as a side dish)

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried apricots chopped

1 cup roasted sweet potato* (about 2 yams or sweet potatoes cubed)

1/2 cup walnuts or slivered almonds (I used a mixture)

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a pot bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of the quinoa to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and then cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Pour cooked quinoa in a sieve and then rinse quinoa with cold water to cool off. Drain and place in serving bowl.

2. Add cranberries, chopped apricots, roasted sweet potatoes*, and walnuts to the bowl.

3. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Pour dressing over salad just before serving.

*If you don't know how to roast a sweet potato read on to get step by step directions.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Pour about 1/4 cup olive oil on the cubed potatoes and mix to coat then lay the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a roasting tray. Roast for 30-40 minutes in oven or until tender.