Flexible Quinoa Salad - safe to bring to dinner parties!

This is one of our favourite naturopathic-friendly go-to recipes that can easily be altered to suit your tastes or pantry supplies. The bonus of this very healthy (and dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, vegan) recipe is that it is safe enough to bring to dinner parties (ie. not too weird-looking and enough flavour to appeal to everyone's tastebuds, even for those who aren't health-conscious). We have tested variations of this recipe out at a few potluck parties, and it always gets rave reviews.

Flexible Quinoa Salad

Ingredients
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water
pinch of salt

½ cup dried apricots or cranberries, finely diced
½ cup red bell pepper
½ cup yellow bell pepper
¾ cup toasted pine nuts, cashews pecans or walnuts
¼ cup chopped cilantro or basil

Vinaigrette
grated lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon
splash of balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil

Directions
1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water then pour into a fine meshed strainer and rinse again under running water (if not rinsed well, quinoa tends to be bitter).
2. Bring water to boil and add salt, then stir in the quinoa.
3. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 15min. Taste the grain. There should be just a little resistance and the opaque spiraled ring of germ should show. If necessary continue cooking until done.
4. Pour into strainer and set it to drain over a bowl.
5. Toast all the nuts either in a dry pan or the mini oven works great too! Just put them on some foil in the mini oven, watch them carefully and stir often because they may burn.
6. Combine the apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro in a large bowl.
7. Mix together the ingredients for the vinaigrette and add to the bowl of yummy apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro.
8. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the bowl. Give it a good mix and ENJOY!

Bulk Barn Healthy Options & Gluten-Free Section

Aileen and I work and live in downtown Toronto, and as such we hardly encounter Bulk Barn, which always seems to be somewhere in a random plaza in the burbs. We happened to be out on the northwest end of Toronto this past weekend, and stumbled across a Bulk Barn.

We all have fond memories of Bulk Barn...pretending not to notice the "Do Not Sample" signs, and tasting - just a few - of every awesome snack available. We were quite impressed with the extensive gluten-free section. (Note that although these are labelled gluten-free, this is more applicable to gluten-sensitivities rather than celiac disease, in which case bulk sections are not recommended due to cross contamination with trace amounts of gluten).

The gluten-free options range from almost every type of whole grain (organic quinoa, amaranth, teff, millet, and a great variety of rices) to flours and pancake mixes to gluten-free pasta.

Of course, prices are reasonable as a result of being sold in bulk and use much less packaging...I think they would actually be even cheaper, but Bulk Barn must be taking into account the "snack factor" that we all have been guilty of.

Other awesome finds: Cassava chips, bulk almond and sunflower seed butter, apple butter, tamari almonds, honey-coated sunflower seeds, dried herbs, pinatas, and cool cake and pastry molds. And since this blog is all about healthy compromises and honesty, of course, we had to get a selection of some nostalgic childhood candies. Aileen loves her gummy green mint leaves and blue sharks, and I love my red lips and sour keys. Mm mmm.

Heard there is a Bulk Barn just at Leslie and Lakeshore, just a few minutes from downtown...I think we will be paying it a visit once our new stash of clear-bagged goodies starts to dwindle down.

Mini Detox Check-in... (and sample detox menu)

So Aileen and I are on Day 7 of our midsummer detox...and this is my breakfast (recipe is a variation of the one listed on my protein powder post). We are surviving it better than we were expecting; I think we were both in the right mindset to take a little break from typical summer indulgences.

I incorporate my favourite Thorne Mediclear cleanse powder containing 30g of organic brown rice protein, along with liver, digestion supportive nutrients, and supe it up with L-glutamine (to strengthen the lining of the digestive tract and lean muscle mass) and Organika Spirulina. Aileen prefers her hemp protein powder, and adds a shot of pomegranate juice in her shake...adds a nice bit of flavour.

We are both feeling 'digestively strengthened' (I'll keep it at that to avoid sharing too many details of our bowel improvements), with no cravings for wine (Aileen), beer (me), sweets or dairy, which were our biggest vices in the early part of the summer.

Energy has been fantastic, having great sleeps, and just feeling overall cleaner and less congested. We both agree that this was well-needed and surprisingly easy to incorporate. A bonus is that it is pretty easy to structure meals and menus for the week.