Rest weekend, and Curried Quinoa Waldorf-ish (esque?) salad

Arrgh! So this morning I learned an important lesson. It is really stupid to run 4.5 miles on a hurt ankle. Yep, it was sore and stiff, and I was limping a lot. Fortunately, I have my own office, and I was able to keep an ice pack on it for most of the day.

So instead of running 8 miles tomorrow morning, I’m going to go to Best Buy.. Get The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the extended edition.. in Blu Ray. And watch the whole thing, while icing my ankle and healing. I might also go to Starbucks, and use my gift card. I’m a little irritated with them right now, though. I’ve been hearing that the Peppermint Mocha is back.  But Peppermint should be a December thing. Keep the pumpkin spice latte for November. NOVEMBER IS STILL PUMPKIN SEASON, OKAY!

November = pumpkin pies ... December = candy canes!

Kidding aside, I am pretty disappointed that I won’t be able to run this weekend. :(

But guess what? I got a lot of compliments on my lunch today. You know what it was?

Curried Quinoa and Apple Salad with Dried Cranberries.

1 cup Quinoa

3 Tbsp Olive oil

2 ½ Tbsp Curry powder (It actually says tsp. in the book, but I messed up and used Tbsp, and I really liked it!)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 chopped peeled crisp apple (I used honeycrisp!)

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup dried cranberries

2 Tbsp sliced scallions

1- Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer under cold water for about 45 seconds.

2- Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet. Add Quinoa and cook, stirring on med-low heat until toasted. About 10 minutes. Add the curry powder and keep stirring for 1 min. Add 2 cups of water, and 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Cook, covered over med-low heat until water is absorbed. About 20 min.

3- Whisk 2 Tbsp olive oil and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add chopped apple, walnuts, cranberries and scallions.

4- Add Quinoa and blend it all together.

It makes a very pretty and fragrant grain salad. And nothing in it will go bad if you decide to take it to a picnic! I don't even think the apple turns brown, because of the lemon juice.