Quinoa, Kale, and Chicken Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette

With the temperatures heating up, I was craving a salad that would be filling, healthy, and "light" at the same time.  This salad hit the nail on the head for me.  You can certainly add more veggies, swap out ingredients - whatever makes you happy....enjoy!

Quinoa, Kale, and Chicken Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 2 as a main dish

For the salad:

2 cups cooked, diced chicken (I used the breasts from a store-bought rotisserie chicken)

1 package of seasoned quinoa (I used the Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil from Nature's Earthly Choice) - cooked, following package directions

2 cups of bite-sized pieces of kale

2 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

1 avocado, diced

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

For the dressing

1/4 cup coarse ground mustard

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Salt & pepper, to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

To prepare the salad, combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl.  

To prepare the dressing, combine the mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and whisk.  Slowly add the olive oil, whisking as you go.  If you add it too fast, your dressing will "break" and there isn't a really good way to recover from that.  When you stir quickly and pour slowly, you will achieve the success of a nicely combined vinaigrette.

Pour the dressing over the salad and gently stir to combine.  

Serve immediately.  

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

I saw Guy Fieri make a dish similar to this on his show Guy's Big Bite and it looked delicious.  This week, I decided to take a peek in my kitchen to see what I had so that I could make something similar. 

I thought my boys would have no issue with this since they eat all of the ingredients that were in the stuffed pepper, but because it was served in a halved bell pepper, it completely threw them for a loop.  So, after dumping the mixture out of the bell pepper onto their plates, it somehow tasted much better to them. 

You can switch out the sausage for whatever type you like.  I have been using bulk sweet Italian chicken sausage from Sprouts lately.  Since I usually crumble it anyway, might as well start with it not in the form of links!

This was fairly quick to pull together and The Hubby and I thought it was delicious!

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Serves 4
Recipe adapted from Guy Fieri

1 pound bulk sweet Italian chicken sausage
4 red bell peppers, halved and seeds removed
Quinoa - I used Nature's Earthly Choice Easy Quinoa that was roasted garlic and olive oil flavor.  I would guess it made about 2 cups once cooked
1 cup kale leaves, chopped into small pieces (no stems)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

In a large skillet, cook the sausage until brown and crumbled.  In the meantime, cook the quinoa.  Once the sausage is browned, remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Do not clean the pan in which the sausage was cooked.  Add kale, garlic, and onion and a little bit of olive oil if the pan seems dry.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until onions are soft and kale is bright green and slightly wilted. 

In a large bowl add the cooked sausage, cooked quinoa, kale mixture, and Mozzarella cheese.  Mix well.  In s small bowl combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. 

Fill each bell pepper halves with the sausage and kale mixture and place in a large baking dish. 

Top with the bread crumb and Parmesan mixture and drizzle each with a little bit of olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and then turn up the oven to broil and cook until the breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture browns. 

Chicken-Apple Sausage Quinoa

Awhile ago a friend of mine made this dish for our family - and I'm glad she did.  The entire family loved it!  I knew I had to get the recipe from her and was pleased to hear that it came from Family Circle magazine.  You know, some of the best recipes come from good, tried and true sources!  I told her that I knew I would be making it again and got the "a-OK" to post on the blog. 

I made the dish again this week and it was once again devoured by my family.  When my little one likes something he chews, nods, and rubs his belly.  He repeated these steps throughout his dinner.   We did tell them that the kale was spinach - they don't know the difference and it got them to eat it. 

This is a pretty healthy dish, full of flavor and very filling.  I hope you'll give this one a try and let me know what you think.

Chicken-Apple Sausage Quinoa
Serves 4
Adapted from Familiy Circle Magazine

1 pound baby kale
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup raisins
1 12 ounce package fully cooked chicken-apple sausages (can usually be found in hot dog section of grocery store)
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Salt and Pepper

Bring 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon olive oil to a boil in a medium-size pot.  Stir in quinoa and raisins.  Reduce to a simmer and cover.  Cook 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, bring another large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add kale and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.  Drain and set aside. 

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan on medium heat.  Add sausages and cook 5 to 6 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.  Remove sausages to rest.

To the same pan, add remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Saute onion 3 to 5 minutes or until soft.  Add garlic and kale, saute 3 minutes.  Meanwhile, slice the sausages on the bias; add to pan along with quinoa mixture, almonds, salt, and pepper.  Stir to combine and cook for a couple of minutes until heated through.