Black Bean Quinoa Salad

First off, it's pronounced "KEEN-wa."

A few weeks back, I went to a dinner party with a friend who's in Yoga school. As you might expect, all vegetarian. Which, frankly, is fine by me. I found a long time ago that, if necessary, I could go meatless, assuming that included fish, eggs and dairy. Vegans, however, are crazy.

Everything was good, but the one hands-down standout was this dish. I'd never had quinoa before and there were a lot of diced tomatoes, which to this day are my kryptonite. But, damn, this is good. Quinoa is a grain which is apparently a "super-food." It's whole grain, so lots of fiber, but chock-full of protein as well. Usually, I think these kinds of food suck. I'm looking at you, kale. But this actually tastes good and has a nice texture. It's kind of like cous-cous. In fact, I bet you could sub it in very easily. It cooks up kind of like rice, so that's easy.

The recipe does feed an army, though. I succumbed to temptation and and made a double batch, to help work down our tomato and peppers crop. Don't do that. Seriously. As good as it is, it gets tiring eating it twice a day for a week just to finish it before it can go bad.

This recipe was actually my first exposure to the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook. Fortunately, I had made it before trying the Gingered Broccoli, so I still have a good feeling about this book.