BBQ Chickpea Quinoa Salad

This recipe is adapted from a BBQ Quinoa Salad recipe given to me by my friend Nicole S. No left overs made it in the fridge. It was a "Are you gonna eat that? Cause if not, I'm gonna eat it." kind of meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. cooked quinoa (about 1/2 c. dry)
• 1/2 c. grilled corn (or frozen and cooked)
• 1/2 c. black beans
• 1 can BBQ roasted chickpeas
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 4 Tb BBQ sauce
• 2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse and drain the chickpeas and pour into a bowl. Add 1 Tb. olive oil and 2 1/2 to 3 Tb BBQ sauce. Mix well. Pour chickpeas on a pan (you can line it with foil for easier clean-up) and roast for 15 min. Stir, then cook 10 min. more.
2. While the chickpeas roast, cook the quinoa. Put the 1/2 c. dry quinoa and 1 c. water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer about 15 min. until quinoa has absorbed all the water.
3. Toss the quinoa, corn, beans, chickpeas, avocado, scallions, and BBQ sauce together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Quinoa Sloppy Joes

I found this recipe and adapted it from Real Mom Kitchen's cookbook. Super yummy. My sister even liked them and she is often hesitant about my kitchen experiments.

Ingredients:

• 2 c. cooked quinoa (about 1 c. uncooked plus 2 c. water)
• 1/2 c. to 3/4 c. onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed tomato soup
• 3 Tb brown sugar
• 2 Tb BBQ sauce (or more if you want)
• Biscuits, homemade or from the can...whatever you want to make, or you could use buns

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa by putting quinoa and water into a sauce pan. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat. Cook for 15-20 min. till quinoa is fluffy and water is absorbed.
2. Saute onion and red pepper 5-10 min in a tiny bit of olive oil.
3. Add the cooked quinoa, tomato soup, brown sugar, BBQ sauce. Stir to combine. Heat thoroughly, 5-10  minutes.
4. Serve on top of halved biscuits. You can eat them open faced or closed.