Despite my love for cooking, recipe creating, and eating in general, I’m always at a loss when faced with the task of bringing something to a pot luck. My mind is suddenly a blank and when an idea does pop up, it’s for something truly generic and not at all creative, like pasta salad.
Our Life Group from church had our Christmas party this past Saturday and it was a pot luck. So, when I volunteered to bring a side dish, I was surprised that I immediately thought, “I want to make a quinoa salad.” The rest of it fell together as I imagined flavors that would sing together and then discovered a leftover head of cauliflower in the bottom of the vegetable bin. Bingo. I had the makings of a delicious and healthy side dish.
If you think you don’t like cauliflower, trust me. You will like it in this. Like I’ve said before and I will say again, roasting vegetables makes them crazy delicious! And cauliflower is no exception.
There are so many wonderful flavors in this quinoa salad. It’s complex yet it all works together amazingly well. The roasted veggies are sweet, the sun dried tomatoes and lemon juice have a zip, the quinoa is nutty, the chives are fresh and bright, and the goat cheese is creamy. It’s so beautiful served warm, but it was also delicious eaten cold the next day for lunch.
You can mix the goat cheese in while everything is still hot which will melt the cheese and make everything super creamy, or you can cool the quinoa salad down first and then simply top the salad with the goat cheese crumbles so that everything retains its own texture. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
This quinoa salad would be the perfect side dish to serve with my Cross Rib Roast or Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts. Give them a try!
The Cheerful Kitchen
Yields 6-8 servings
A healthy side dish with quinoa, roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower, creamy goat cheese and tangy sun dried tomatoes. So much flavor and so good for you!
20 minPrep Time
40 minCook Time
1 hrTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked tricolor quinoa (white or red quinoa would be fine)
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 small head cauliflower
- 3 oz sun dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped chives
- 5oz crumbled goat cheese
- Juice from 1 lemon
- Salt & Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into bite sized pieces. Put the cut up sweet potatoes into a large bowl.
- Cut the cauliflower florets off the head and then cut the florets into bite sized pieces. Add these to the bowl with the sweet potato.
- Pour the olive oil over the sweet potato and cauliflower and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Using two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, spread half the vegetables on each pan in a single layer.
- With your oven racks both near the center of the oven, roast the vegetables for 20 minutes then stir the veggies, switch the positions of the pans, and roast for another 20 minutes.
- While the vegetables are roasting, cook the quinoa according to package directions. *see note
- When the quinoa and vegetables are done, put them both in a large serving bowl. Add the sun dried tomatoes, chives and lemon juice. Season with a bit more salt and pepper and stir until everything is mixed together. Top with the goat cheese crumbles and serve.
Notes
*Quinoa is normally cooked 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Combine the quinoa and water in a sauce pan, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and with the lid on, simmer for 12 minutes until the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
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