Anyway, back to the task at hand. To refresh your memory, Alter Eco is a San Francisco based company that focuses on working with farmers to bring consumers high quality, sustainable and fair trade foods. The products include varieties of rice, quinoa, chocolate, and sugar. They work with small farmers to bring us fair trade and organic food and to help the farmers improve the quality of the food and their lives. Alter Eco works to provide a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone involved.
The products I am reviewing today are the Organic Royal Rainbow Quinoa and the California Olive Ranch Olive Oil. The quinoa is a blend of red, black and white quinoa and is as beautiful as it is nutritious. These little seeds (yes it is a seed and not a grain!) pack a protein punch with 6 grams of complete protein per quarter cup serving and is a versatile ingredient that can be enjoyed in sweet and savory recipes alike.
The California Olive Ranch Olive Oil comes in a beautiful green glass bottle that helps keep the oil fresh longer. According to their website, the olive oil has a "Floral aroma. Smooth flavor with hints of green apple."It really does have a beautiful floral scent and is very smooth and again, very versatile. It is cold pressed from organically grown California olives and packaged within hours of pressing, thus preserving freshness and flavor. It is smooth, light and affordable, a winning combination in my book.
When I was asked to create a recipe using these products my mind raced with a lot of different ideas. Most of them were complicated and didn't test well which made me think... why would I complicate such beautiful, simple ingredients? I decided to stick with what I know and love and really just highlight the flavor of the star ingredients. I created a fresh, light salad to take a break from the heavy, warm foods that dominate a winter diet in the Northeast.
Check out my beautiful, fresh, Mediterranean inspired Quinoa With Fresh Veggie Salad. It is simply dressed with the California Olive Ranch Olive Oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some spices. It is beautiful, fresh and light.
Quinoa with Fresh Vegetable Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked Alter Eco Organic Royal Rainbow Quinoa
1/2 large English Cucumber, cut into half moons
1 large tomato of choice, diced (I used a vine tomato, I'm sure an heirloom tomato would be delicious as would a generous portion of cherry tomatoes)
1/2 large carrot, cut into half moons
1-2 tbsp California Olive Ranch Olive Oil
Juice of 1/4 lemon
pinch salt and pepper
small pinch of cumin
Directions:
1. Combine cooked quinoa with chopped vegetables. Mix thoroughly.
2. Drizzle olive oil over mixture, followed by lemon juice and spices. Mix thoroughly and enjoy!
*I served my salad with some stuffed grape leaves. Other delicious toppings could be falafel, hummus, eggplant spread, or chickpeas. Be creative!
I know the recipe is really simple but I felt that this was the best way to highlight the beautiful ingredients I received.
I definitely recommend Alter Eco and California Olive Ranch products with full confidence. Everything I've tried has been incredible and the work that they are doing for farmers and consumers alike. They have even been generous enough to give one of my readers an amazing prize pack of 4 bags of quinoa, some olive oil and their AMAZING Dark Quinoa Chocolate. All you have to do to enter this giveaway is comment on this post with your favorite quinoa dish by 9:00 pm (Eastern Time) Sunday, February 9, 2014.
Thanks again to Alter Eco and California Olive Ranch for sending me these amazing products to review and for asking me to create a recipe. I definitely recommend you check out their products and the companies. The work they do is truly inspiring.
I almost bought that quinoa chocolate bar for a friend's birthday a few weeks ago...and I put it back because I realized I'd picked up more items than I could afford. But now I wish I'd gotten that! That recipe looks amazing. I love the veggies to quinoa ratio.
ReplyDeleteMy fave quinoa dish would be my Nutty Mushroom Quinoa from my cookbook (probably because it's one of the only quinoa dishes that I make regularly since I typically eat my quinoa plain under some beans or other protein dish).
You are going to LOVE the quinoa chocolate! I'm excited for you to try it! Thank you so much, I was nervous the recipe would be too simple but I'm so happy with how it came out.
DeleteOooh I am going to have to try your recipe, it sounds delicious!
How fun! It's so awesome that they reached out, and you were able to use your creative cooking talents to come up with this delicious dish! I've never had chocolate quinoa, sounds yummy. I'm not very exciting, but the quinoa and sweet corn combo is always great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ingrid! I love working with them, Alter Eco is such a wonderful company and have a mission that I can definitely get behind. The chocolate quinoa is FANTASTIC. I'm with you, I LOVE quinoa and corn together. It's such a great combo.
DeleteGreat giveaway!! I love Alter Eco, they have the best grains and rices and i love how environmentally concious they are.
ReplyDeleteWhen i'm indulgent i buy those premade quinoa patties from PPK at the union sq whole foods. Although i made this ottolenghi recipe at the holidays and it was wonderful (i used less oil):
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/ottolenghi-red-rice-and-quinoa-recipe.html
Ttrockwood
I was so happy that they wanted to do a giveaway because their products and mission are fantastic. Oooh I'll have to check out the recipe, thanks for the link!
DeleteI am new to quinoa but my huband found a stuffed pepper receipe that we plan to try.
ReplyDeleteUsing quinoa to stuff veggies is always a great idea. I don't like bell peppers but I'd love to try a quinoa stuffed zucchini, portobello or tomato. Great idea!
DeleteOh, yum! Thank you for this giveaway. My favorite quinoa dish is either quinoa tacos or a quinoa bowl. I really like the Beans & Greens bowl at a local restaurant, and replicate it often at home. It's quinoa topped with partially mashed pintos (added to the pintos are pickled jalapenos, caramelized onions, and a dash of liquid smoke), steamed then sauteed kale, and a garlic aioli, which I make with vegenaise and roasted garlic. Sooo tasty. Here is another version of the dish from the chef that was published in Vegetarian Times:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/ask-a-chef-john-cochran/
~Cee~ ceevegnashville [at] gmail [dot] com
I LOVE quinoa bowls. That one sounds so delicious! I'll have to see if I can recreate that! I love making burrito bowls with quinoa instead of rice too. Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out.
DeleteYum! What a cool giveaway. I love quinoa in the morning with almond milk, raisins, and a little maple syrup.
ReplyDeleteI love breakfast quinoa too!! One of the recipes I was testing was for a breakfast quinoa but it came out gross so I had to jump ship on it lol. I do want to try it again though!
DeleteI love quinoa salad with black beans, mango and diced red bell pepper seasoned with grape seed oil and red wine vinegar
ReplyDeleteBeccaMFerguson@aim.com
That sounds great! I've never added mango but it sounds so good! I'll definitely have to try that!
DeleteI love anything quinoa for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteMaelena1990@hotmail.com
My favorite quinoa recipe is not a dish, but a dessert. Chocolate peanut butter quinoa cookies!
ReplyDeleteYes!! Quinoa desserts are great too. I think you'd love the Dark Quinoa Chocolate that they have. It's amazing!
DeleteLove your recipe with these ingredients! My quinoa is sadly gone now, but I definitely want to try this with the regular quinoa I have and that olive oil. YUM!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gabby! I have some others that I want to make so hopefully I can make that happen. How great is that olive oil?! I always feel so spoiled by them :)
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