Autumn Grain Salad #Recipe!

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Since we're starting to get close to Fall, I've got a delicious salad recipe that incorporates some of those Autumn flavors for you. :-)

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked quinoa
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup pureed tomatoes
1 20oz can chickpeas drained
2 ears corn broiled or grilled and removed from cobs
2 roasted bell peppers any color chopped
1 small pumpkin
2 onions chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup olive oil plus some to drizzle


Combine the quinoa, stock, and tomatoes and cook as you would normally cook quinoa. Set aside to cool. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the "guts." Then cut the two halves into "smiles" and place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle the smiles with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Broil them until the pumpkin meat is fork-tender. Cool and remove the meat from the rinds. Cut the pumpkin meat into small chunks.

In a saute pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the onions. Cook until the onions start to caramelize. Add the garlic, pine nuts, and raisins. Cook until the pine nuts start to toast and then deglaze the pan with the wine. Simmer the wine for a couple of minutes and then remove the pan from the heat and cool the onion mixture.

In a bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, pumpkin, corn, chickpeas, onion mix, and peppers. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining olive oil and vinegar. Stir the dressing into the quinoa mixture. Serve chilled.

Bon Appetit!