lovely lunchly quinoa

I used to make this yummy quinoa salad all the time, but fell out of the habit. The carrot salad was a new recipe to me.

Carrot Salad with Lime and Cilantro (Epicurious) (syn-free)

• I used this recipe as a rough quide to quantities and left out the oil entirely. In our household we prefer fat-free zesty carrot salads.

It was nice but I'm not sure whether the flavours were a pleasant compliment to the quinoa salad or too similar in a scary stalkery Single White Female sort of a way.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa (Epicurious) (3 syns per serving on EE/Green)

• this recipe serves 2 as a main dish
• cook quinoa in a rice cooker; 1 1/2 cups water and a little bit of salt to 1 cup quinoa - don't faff with all the steaming instructions!
• omit vegetable oil and butter; use 1 tbsp olive oil (6 syns)
• omit sugar
• increase quantity of lime juice to your taste; I usually like to squeeze some over the dressed salad when I sit down to eat it
• add ground cumin and a crushed garlic clove to the dressing
• add one small can of Niblets sweetcorn
• consider doubling the tomatoes if you are using puny British ones
• for extra-tasty black beans, combine them with the dressing early on and let them absorb the flavours while the quinoa is cooking

This dish is somehow both light and filling. I like it best when it's really zingy with lime juice but others prefer it a little more mellow. Either way it's awfully healthy, I think.