Honorary Dish of the Day: Warm Zucchini & Quinoa Salad

Honorary Dish of the Day: Our second highlight and honorary dish of the day is this simple yet flavorful and delicious Warm Zucchini & Quinoa Salad 😋. Although we are now officially in Spring season (hello there!), temperatures are still somewhat along the Winter boundary, so we still have a strong preference for warm and hot foods for dinner at our household. Warm salads are a perfect way to get your daily serving of vegetables in a more elevated manner without sacrificing flavor or much-needed warmth. They also offer a great opportunity to infuse some variety into your home menu by taking a break from the archetypal raw and cold salads, so I highly recommend incorporating warm salads into your own menu!

To prepare this dish, I first peeled and sliced 2 large green zucchini into small quarter slices as shown above. I then lightly sautéed them in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a small sauté pan a pictured above. I seasoned them with about 1/4 teaspoon each of ground black pepper, smoked paprika, and some salt to taste and let them cook slowly for about 5 minutes until they became just slightly tender. I then reduced the heat to the lowest setting on my stove and stirred in about 2 cups of leftover white quinoa I had made the previous day (you can reference some of our previous posts on how to prepare delicious quinoa). After allowing the quinoa to warm up for about 2 minutes, I turned the heat off. I then garnished the salad with some dry parsley flakes and toasts sesame seeds and served warm as a side salad with some beef stew that we had previously prepared. This dish is simple and light yet absolutely delightful and packed with flavor...I hope you give it a try too and let us know how it goes! Enjoy 😍💝