Summery goodness, but first a little story

So some other things I will be sharing with you in the blog are some recipes. I have always liked to cook, not saying I am a gourmet chef or anything. But I have quite a bit of experience under my belt. I want to share these recipes or ideas with you because most are things I just "make up" or put together. I'm not good with recipes because I always forget about them or just do not have the time to follow step by step with two little ones at my feet. That could be a recipe for disaster.....pun intended. 

A little history for you. When I first began cooking I would cook anything and was not very conscience of the calories involved. You know, in college no one really counts calories!  Now that I'm on that downward rapid slope to 30 I put things more into perspective. Actually I did about 5 years ago, I took the plunge a little slower in the beginning but now our house is mostly full of healthy options. 

We really started eating cleaner and choosing healthier items when Giada was born, three and a half years ago. Chris and I wanted to raise our kids eating healthy from the beginning so they would not have to make the life change later on in life, which is much harder. So with that it meant us eating much cleaner as well. Now we love eating the healthier choices in life. I will not lie to you, that wouldn't be right, it was harder in the beginning but we knew it was a lifestyle change and would take time. Don't get me wrong.......we still have our guilty pleasures or cheat meals here and there. But overall we truly enjoy eating healthier. 

Now that you know a little bit about the types of food ideas I will be sharing with you, I want to assure you that they ALL taste great or I would not eat them myself ;)

So one recipe that I created this week is perfect for these hot summer days that are rapidly approaching.....

Chilled quinoa salad

The thing I love about this salad is that you can change up your veggies in it each time to create a different salad with the same yummy taste!

These are the ingredients I use for cooking the quinoa. I use a rice cooker and prepare it as if it were rice, if you do not have a rice cooker prepare the quinoa on the stove top as the directions state on the package. I add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and olive oil to taste. Each ingredient is mostly just a splash. 

Once the quinoa is cooked let it rest and cool in a large mixing bowl until it is about room temperature. This is the time I use to wash and chop my veggies of choice. 

For this salad I chopped red onion, pepper and cucumber. I steamed and cooled the corn and edamames. Once all the veggies were ready I folded them into the quinoa. After they were nicely mixed in I added about half a cup of balsamic vinaigrette. For the dressing feel free to use which ever is your favorite. I like the suddlety of this dressing with the quinoa and veggies. 

Once I'm ready to serve I add some blue cheese crumbles and a few drizzles of the vinaigrette.....and VOILA!!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did ;) and note make your quantities to your needs. I made enough to feed an army and that was mostly because I planned on it being lunch for a few days. 

HAPPY MONDAY!!!