pin to present, round 7

I noticed that I've pinned several recipes involving quinoa and vegetables - so it was time to finally try one.

recipe and photo from Veggie Belly | today's dinner by me (with some grilling assistance from Peter)

The balsamic grilled veggies with basil quinoa salad from Veggie Belly turned out to be the perfect option for tonight: I had everything in the house for it (except eggplant; I don't do eggplant anyway though), including a zucchini in a use-or-toss situation in the fridge and the two fresh herbs necessary just sitting on my windowsill.

It also turned out to be a perfect recipe for a night Peter got home a little late, because it was ready in about 20 minutes. Just start the quinoa, then cut up, marinate, and grill the vegetables while the quinoa is cooking. And done.

This was another reminder that I should get around to actually trying new recipes like this... it was super easy, and it was really good. I'm sure it will be even better when the vegetables are actually in season locally, but it still got some high praise and will definitely be added to my regular repertoire!

dinner close up | ingredients + windowsill herbs | don't let the placemat above fool you; we eat our 
dinner in the living room while watching The Daily Show on dvr...

A couple recipe notes: Aside from skipping the eggplant, I also skipped the mozzarella. I think the suggestion of adding toasted pine nuts or walnuts would be excellent; Peter's usually not wild about that though, and we had a bit of grilled chicken leftover from earlier in the week, so we just heated and tossed it in with the veggies. And definitely make sure to reserve the balsamic dressing that the vegetables marinated in; it would have been even a little better if we had more of that left to drizzle over the finished dish.