I heart quinoa.
It’s affordable, nutritious, quick cooking and tasty! Also, it’s pronounced keen-wah, not kwi-noah. You’re welcome.
I also love roasted veggies. The prolonged heat brings out their sweet side and makes a good thing even better. If you haven’t roasted veggies before, this recipe is a great reason to try it for the first time.
This is another Budget Bytes recipe. It serves 8 for only $10 which is a hellava reason to drop the Bic Mac, blow the dust off a baking sheet and get busy.
I’ve got to admit, while I was making this dish, I was a little nervous about it. The ingredients were so simple and relied heavily on the flavor of the individual parts. Sure I like all the ingredients, but could they really come together to create something amazing without the help of a bunch of fancy seasonings?
Yes.
Yes they could, and they did.
So, without further ado, here it is:
*Adapted from the original Budget Bytes recipe found here.
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa
- 1 large yellow squash
- 1 large zucchini
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1 medium green bell pepper
- 4 medium roma tomatoes
- 4-5 cloves fresh garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups quinoa
- 4 cups chicken or veggie broth (I used chicken but you could use veggie to make this vegetarian)
- small bunch fresh basil (skip it if you only have dried, it wouldn't be as good here)
- block of feta cheese, crumbled (get a block and crumble it yourself. it's way better than the pre-crumbled stuff...trust me)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and chop the vegetables into large chunks (bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, onion). Peel four cloves of garlic but leave them whole.
- Toss the chopped vegetables and garlic with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet (or two) so that they are in a single layer. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Use 2 pans if you can't get all the veggies into a mostly single layer on one pan.
- Place the vegetables in the oven and roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. If you have two baking sheets on two different racks in the oven, you'll need to switch them half way through to ensure even cooking.
- While the vegetables are roasting, cook the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa first using a mesh strainer or colander with very small holes. Then cook the quinoa in the broth per the package directions.
- After the vegetables are finished roasting, let them cool a few minutes, then transfer them to a cutting board (except for the garlic cloves) and roughly chop. Gather the four garlic cloves you set aside and chop them well. They are probably so soft that they'll just smoosh, but that's okay. You just want them to be able to distribute evenly throughout the salad.
- Roughly chop the fresh basil. Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Combine the quinoa, roasted vegetables, and basil in a bowl and stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper if desired, top with crumbled feta. Serve warm or cold!
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