Lunchbox Boost

In education, you bring your lunch to work. There is no time to go out, and the only options by my school are Subway and Sonic. Ugh. I get bored pretty quickly and go through phases with my lunches. I'll have sandwiches for a week, leftovers for a week, salads for a week, and I'm always looking for something new. Last fall, I discovered quinoa. Have you tried it? It is awesome! I had heard of it before but thought it was probably something complicated that took hours to soak and cook. I first used it in a Cooking Light recipe, and it was so easy!

Quinoa is an ancient grain. I would describe it as a cross between pasta and cous-cous though I think it's actually some sort of seed. You can get it at the regular grocery store. At Kroger it's usually in the health food section, and at HEB it's on the rice/grain aisle. Here's the kind I buy:

It's very satisfying, low in calories, and high in protein. It also takes just ten or fifteen minutes to cook. It's pretty bland, so you'll want to add something to it, but it's like a blank canvas! After I started liking quinoa, I started experimenting with different salad options for lunch. I love Greek flavors, so I created this quinoa Greek salad that is my go-to lunch. You can keep a big batch of cooked quinoa in the fridge all week and just add your fresh veggies and protein each morning when making your lunch. You can put in anything you want under the sun, but here's what I recommend:

Katie's Greek Quinoa Salad

Toss the following together in a bowl with a dash of olive oil, white wine vinegar, and salt. Transfer to a sealed container, and you've got lunch ready to go!

1 c. cooked quinoa
1 roasted chicken breast, chopped (I roast mine with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried oregano)
4 jarred sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 baby cucumber, chopped
a handful of low fat crumbled feta
10 kalamata olives, halved
A bit of chopped parsley

I seriously can't wait to eat this for lunch today!