Quick Fix Meal: Quinoa Chicken Salad

{Quinoa Chicken Salad}

It's always difficult to pull together a healthy meal that doesn't take too long to cook. This past weekend my boyfriend and I decided to stay in and make dinner, which usually is some mish-mash meal consisting of random sides like shrimp cocktail and balsamic tomatoes (or whatever else looks good to him at the store).

This night we actually planned it well - I had quinoa and broccoli, he picked up chicken and aromatic veggies and herbs. It turned out delicious - the chicken was moist, the flavors meshed together extremely well, and the dish was hearty and still healthy.

{Broccoli, cilantro, red onions, and a red jalapeno}

The ingredients are simple (as they should be) and you can really substitute anything in this dish. I'm not usually a one-dish kind of person: if I'm cooking a meal I want courses and sides, for all of my food to be separate, so I can dip my broccoli in my mashed potatoes and eat it with a bite of steak. My boyfriend is exactly the opposite: he enjoys throwing everything in a bowl, tossing it together and eating it out of a trough (okay, I exaggerated the last part).

Ingredients:
2 cups roasted chicken (sodium free) bones removed, shredded or cubed
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion finely diced
1 red jalapeno finely diced
1 lemon, juiced
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP pepper
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa

Prepare the quinoa as directed: put the water, broth and quinoa in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

In a large bowl combine all of your ingredients: start with all of your veggies in the bottom of the bowl and add the quinoa on top of them. The heat from the quinoa will cook your veggies ever so slightly and make it more fragrant. Add your lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper over the hot quinoa. Top it off with your shredded chicken and toss it all together. Pile it as a heap into a large bowl and enjoy! You'll be surprised how filling and delicious it is.

{Pile into a big bowl and enjoy}