Karma Kameleon Keenwah

My Muse
Mersh-my chameleon, my roommate, my inspiration, and truly a girl after my own heart. Just look at her munch that kale, what a champ! Her beautiful coloring and love for greens inspired this bright and healthy quinoa salad; a dish that is delicious served hot but also does great for days in the fridge.

Quinoa
Quinoa and I have had a rocky relationship. We were tight last summer, but we spent a little too much time together and then...I got bored. But recently, I have missed our old bond and decided to rekindle things with my one-time favorite seed. This seed, disguised as a grain, comes in an array of colors like pink and orange, but you will most commonly see the yellow, black, and red varieties on the shelves and in the bulk sections of many stores. It has a great crunchy, nutty, fluffy thing going on, not to mention an adorable curly-q that pops out when cooked. Quinoa is a great (gluten free) protein source for vegetarians and also boasts high levels of Vitamins B2, E, and fiber as well as having a good amount of iron (also good for the veggieheads).

To Cook:

Rinse and strain at least twice to get rid of the bitter flavor on the coating of the seeds

1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water (as you can see I mixed varieties and used 1/2 cup yellow and 1/2 black)

Bring water and quinoa to a boil with a pinch of sea salt

Reduce to simmer and cover

Check for doneness after about 15 minutes (should be a little more translucent, with the curly-Q exposed, and a slight crunch!)

*When cooking quinoa for a savory dish, I always make a little extra as it makes a wonderful breakfast with cinnamon and apples! Maybe even a little almond milk…

Chameleon Friendly Pesto
To flavor the quinoa I took some ideas and ingredients from my cold-blooded friend who loves dandelion greens and kale. I had an abundance of basil ready to be picked, plenty of dandelion greens for Mersh, and as always a bunch of kale in my fridge. Get creative with your pesto! Dandelion is a wild green that grows in abundance almost everywhere, it’s a little bitter, but easy to mask. And just to be clear, Mersh doesn't eat this pesto, so it's not actually chameleon friendly...

Wild Pesto

Large Handful of fresh Basil

1 cup loosely packed washed dandelion and kale

1 tbs Olive Oil

3 or 4 walnuts or pine nuts...or not

2 cloves of garlic
sprinkle of sea salt

big pinch of parmesan 

Combine in a food processor or blender, 

adding more oil or even a little water if needed!

Blending it in
Use whatever you have in the fridge! Pack as much color in as possible to get the most nutrition out of the meal and experiment with different shapes and cutting techniques, you’ll end with something beautiful! To max out the color in this dish I used ½ cup of black quinoa, and ½ cup of yellow in addition to a steamed broccoli head cut into florets, a handful of chopped purple cabbage, some torn green kale, and a carrot cut into matchsticks.


Finishing up!
 When the quinoa is just about finished stir in the raw kale and cabbage as another 2 minutes in the simmering quinoa should be enough to lightly cook the veggies (above pic). Once the veggies are a little soft and the quinoa is all done, remove from heat, drain any extra water, and stir in the pesto, broccoli, and carrots! For 1 cup of quinoa I used about 2 tbs of the pesto to flavor!

Yin Yang!
Couldn't resist...