Sweet Potato, Quinoa, Pepper and Chickpea Salad

Another quinoa recipe? I know, but sometimes I'll decide to make a dish because I have a leftover ingredient on-hand to use up. Last night the challenge was a sweet potato that we'd peeled, but not cooked. I cracked open Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian and found a nice recipe for Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad, which made use of a bunch of things I already had in the pantry and fridge, including some quinoa leftover from the acorn squash recipe. I followed his recipe closely and added some red pepper flakes, for a bit of kick.

Today, for lunch, I reheated the salad and added chickpeas and crumbled feta to make it a full meal on it's own -- this was a perfect lunch: Filling, flavorful and healthy. It would be a good lunch to bring to work, since it would be good at room temperature. If you want to serve it as a lighter side, stick to Bittman's original formula and leave off the chickpeas and feta.

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

Adapted from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

approximately 4 servings

3 cups cooked quinoa
1 large sweet potato
Salt
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1/4 cup minced red onion
Freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons balsamic, sherry, or red wine vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)

1 15 oz. can chickpeas (optional)

1/4 crumbled feta cheese (optional)

1. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions (1 cup dried quinoa will yield approximately 3 cups cooked). Drain in a strainer and rinse. Meanwhile, peel the sweet potato and dice it into 1/2-inch or smaller pieces. Cook it in boiling salted water to cover until tender, about 15 minutes; drain well.

2. Toss together the potato, quinoa, bell pepper, onion, red pepper flakes and chickpeas; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Whisk the oil and vinegar together and toss the salad with the mixture. Taste and adjust the seasoning, garnish with the parsley and crumbled feta and serve.