quinoa chickpea salad with lemon tahini dressing

Hello hello! Somehow another week has flown by. Spring break is around the corner, and graduation is in less than 2.5 months. Eek. Where is time going?

After a family-filled weekend in San Diego where I ate one too many buttery, chocolatey cookies, I felt like eating something nice and light this week. This simple quinoa salad was deliciouslly light yet filling, and it came together in minutes (though I did have to make a special grocery trip for some ingredients that I don’t usually buy).

Like capers. I’d only used capers once or twice before, but I re-remembered how much I love them. They add a perfect salty tanginess to the quinoa.

I also made a quick dressing with some tahini, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and water.

To the cooked quinoa, I also added some chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and some roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

I poured a little dressing on top, gave it a good stir, and plopped down on the couch with a big bowl of quinoa and caught up on lots and lots of tv.

In a few months when my life is consumed with bar studying and overwhelming panic about my imminent unemployment, I’ll surely look back and miss easy days like today.

Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1/3 c sunflower seeds

1/2 c chickpeas

3 teaspoons capers

Handful of roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Salt

For Dressing

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons tahini

1/2 t garlic powder

5 teaspoons nutritional yeast

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Dash of salt and Trader Joes 21 Seasoning Salute

Cook 1 c of quinoa with 2 of water on stove until water is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy.

Meanwhile, pour all dressing ingredients into blender and blend till smooth. Add salt or other seasonings as needed.

Once quinoa is cooked and cooled, pour in the sunflower seeds, chickpeas, capers, and sun-dried tomatoes. Add salt to taste. Scoop out quinoa into a small bowl and pour on desired amount of dressing.

I found that this quinoa tastes best chilled or at room temp, as opposed to heated in the microwave. Store extra dressing in the fridge.