Happy fall equinox! My parents gave me a bunch of butternut squash from their garden so I decided to use it for this week’s recipe. This is a simple 2-pot quinoa salad that is great for lunches throughout the week. I’m a huge fan of making a big batch of quinoa at the beginning of the week to add to vegetables and make lunches out of it. The original recipe calls for a vinaigrette but honestly I don’t think this salad really needs it. It’s good with or without. The fresh thyme and shallots give this dish plenty of flavor! I’ll give a synopsis below of the plant power of the whole foods in this recipe.
Similar to sweet potato, winter squash is packed with antioxidants in that bright orange color. 1 cup of squash will provide you with 59% of your daily vitamin A and 26% of your daily vitamin C.
Kale, as you probably know is one of the most nutrient dense foods in the world! Providing you with 1180% of your daily vitamin K, 98% of your daily vitamin A and 71% of your daily vitamin C, kale also protects against cancer and helps lower cholesterol. Chopping kale is important to activate the cancer fighting isothiocyanates (ITCs). Steaming kale helps the fiber-related components do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract, making it easier for bile to be excreted which results in lower cholesterol. Raw kale is great too, just doesn’t have quite as big of an effect on lowering cholesterol.
As I’ve mentioned before, quinoa is a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine of the essential amino-acids that our bodies need to thrive. It’s also considered a valuable source of heart-healthy fats as well as packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients.
Onions contain angiogenesis inhibitors which prevent abnormal cancer cells from obtaining blood so they can’t grow. So many disease fighting ingredients in this recipe!
quinoa salad with butternut squash & kale
recipe adapted from helene of tartlette blog
serves 4 to 6
ingredients
2 cups *sprouted quinoa
4 cups water or vegetable stock
extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil
4-6 small shallots or 2-3 large, chopped (or 1 yellow onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small butternut squash or 1 large, diced (directions here)
1 head of organic green curly kale, washed, stems removed and chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, hard stems removed, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
directions
to cook quinoa bring water and quinoa to boil in a medium saucepan. add salt to taste. simmer covered until water is absorbed about 20 minutes. remove from heat and fluff with a fork, leaving lid off to cool.
while quinoa is cooking, heat a little olive oil in a large skillet, add shallot and cook until soft. add the garlic, butternut squash and kale. cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat. remove the lid, check that the butternut squash is tender but not mushy or hard when you poke a piece with a fork. add the thyme and continue cooking with lid off until the all the liquid created by the cover has evaporated. season with salt and pepper to taste.
let cool to room temperature. gently fold the cooked quinoa and the cooked vegetables together
serve room temperature
*soaking quinoa overnight in filtered water sparks the sprouting process which neutralizes natural phytic acid (which can interfere with absorption of nutrients). be sure to discard the soaking water and rinse quinoa to remove phytic acid residue. use fresh filtered water to cook.
