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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Cultured Mondays - Warm Feta Quinoa Salad with Salted, Cultured Lemons

It's Cultured Mondays again!!  How is everyone doing with their cultured foods goals?  We have been enjoying my cultured "orange-ade" all week; working our way through gallon two right now!  So yummy - my husband and son both love it.

This week I am going to give you a recipe using the salted, cultured lemons that I made a while back.  These lemons are simply amazing and I am having fun finding ways to incorporate them into different recipes.  I think this is my favorite use so far - I wish I had a picture of the salad, but it simply vanished into our mouths before I could take a shot!

Salted, Cultured Lemons
Warm Feta Quinoa Salad with Salted, Cultured Lemons

*1 1/2 cups dried quinoa (if you have the time you can soak the dried quinoa with 1 T apple cider vinegar or whey and 3 cups of water for 8 hours to help remove phytic acid, which is a nutrient inhibitor)
*3 cups of bone broth or water
*8 ounces feta cheese
*2 small cucumbers, cut in bite sized pieces
*3/4 cup sun dried tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
*1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
*1/3 cup minced cultured lemons
*salt to taste

Combine quinoa and broth (if you soaked the quinoa, then discard soaking water and rinse well; if you did not soak your quinoa, then you can rinse it well before combining it with the broth).  Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes until the broth or water is absorbed, then fluff and remove from heat.  While the quinoa is cooking, chop your cucumber into bite sized pieces.  If you use fresh tomatoes, you can cut these into bite sized pieces as well.  Mince your cultured lemons and parsley.  Place your cooked quinoa into a large bowl.  Allow 15-20 minutes to cool so that quinoa is warm, but not hot.  Add your cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, and lemons.  Stir well to combine.  Lastly add your feta cheese, crumbing it well.  Stir a few times to incorporate the cheese into the rest of the ingredients.  Salt to taste.  I found this needed little to no extra salt.  Enjoy!  This can also be eaten cold. 





3 comments:

  1. I'm a little confused. Will the 1 Tablespoon of vinegar or whey make 1 1/2 cups of grains wet enough to call them soaked? Or are we supposed to add some water (how much) to the grain to soak it. I'd think we'd want to add enough water to cover the grains and then add the vinegar/whey and stir, then soak. But since I've never soaked a grain before, I don't really know this for sure.
    TIA

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    1. Darlene - Thanks for the question! I forgot to add in the soaking water, which I just did. The purpose of soaking in water and an acidic additive is to reduce the amount of phytic acid that is in the quinoa, which is a nutrient inhibitor. A great cookbook for those new to soaking is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

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  2. Thanks for the reply! This looks very tasty. I need to do the lemons first, but they look SOOOO good. (My dentist used to fuss at us for eating raw lemons - it can take the enamel off of teeth, but we LOVE them!)

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