Quinoa + lentils + walnuts

Will you settle for this quickly snapped iPhone shot from this morning, taken while I was wearing a single sock and brushing my teeth?  I promise the dish is worth it.

Quinoa + lentils + walnuts

• .5 medium onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 can lentils (but surely some of those tiny red uncooked lentils would cook in just delightfully if added during step 2… just make sure you add more water as well)
• .5 cup chopped walnuts
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the onion and carrot for 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the quinoa and stir for a couple of minutes, mostly because it’s just so lovely watching it get all toastedy.
3. Add water; cover; cook on low for 10-12 minutes.
4. When the quinoa is done, stir in the lentils and walnuts.

In other news: SPRING!  I know, I know–I have now jinxed it and the universe is already laughing at me as it plots a wicked blizzard in order to teach me a lesson. But oh!  I had a moment of pure bliss earlier today when, after stepping out of a store and instantly going into my defensive shoulders-to-ears posture, I realized that the air actually felt… nice.  And it smelled, as my friend put it, “almost happy.”

Spinach + pear + quinoa salad with blue cheese and walnuts

Do you ever find yourself promising a dozen of your dearest friends homemade baklava?  And then, much later, realize that you need to spend a perfectly inconvenient weeknight elbow-deep in butter and sugar and nuts in order to keep this promise?

No?

Well, if you ever do, here’s what you should throw together for a quick dinner just after you’ve tucked the baklava into the oven and just before your blood sugar levels plummet below the safe-for-husband threshold:

• 2-3 fistfuls of fresh spinach
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 pears
• 1 fistful of walnuts
• a toss of blue cheese crumbles
• a splash of balsamic vinegar