This week I made Sweet Potato Quinoa and Mayonnaise-free Potato Salad. I consider both of these salads. So, why not add them together...? I'm not sure what to call this concoction other than quinoa potato salad!
This is perhaps the laziest meal that I have made in quite some time. But hey, we all need an easy day, sometimes.
Plus, quick and easy recipes that are versatile and that you can eat on the go all week long are the key to sustainable cooking. It's far too easy to fall into the trap of ordering out or eating junk food when cooking seems tedious. If you can prepare one or two things ahead of time and combine them together for new meals throughout the week, then cooking for yourself becomes far simpler to do!
I made this dish as a meal. But it's likely better as a side dish. I would probably make this for Easter or a summer potluck. This weekend is Labor Day. It's unfortunately raining and during a global pandemic, so I am home with the fur babies! But would likely make a quinoa salad for a holiday such as this.
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Variations of Mayonnaise-Free Potato Salad
I may be pushing the boundaries on what is and isn't a salad here. I feel like any assortment of loose fruits vegetables constitutes a "salad." If you wrap them in a tortilla, it's a burrito. In between bread, it's a sandwich. Nestled in an egg, it's an omelette. Even cold pasta with fruits and vegetables is considered a salad! So cold quinoa and potato salad? Surely that is indeed a salad.
For some other recipes that may push the boundaries on what are and aren't salads, here are some of the dishes that I've been making this season:
A quick and easy recipe. Each of these components, Sweet Potato Quinoa and Mayonnaise-free Potato Salad, take about an hour and can very quickly be combined together. This is one of those lazy day leftover meals that's easy to throw together, but feels like you made something special!
Add eggs and a splash of vinegar (~1 tsp) to a pot. Cover with 2 inches of water. Bring uncovered to a boil. Once the pot reaches a rapid boil, immediately remove from heat and add a lid. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, fill a bowl with a tray of ice and cold water. Add a teaspoon of vinegar. When the eggs have set, either drain or use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs from heat. Immediately add to ice bath. Peel the shell off of the eggs and cut into quarters. Set aside in the fridge.
Dice potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Smaller potatoes can be quartered, but larger ones might need to be diced a little bit more. Add potatoes to a pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. You should be able to spear them with a fork and they will break apart. Drain and set aside.
Add all if the ingredients, except for the eggs, to a large bowl. This includes the potatoes, tomatoes, banana peppers, habaneros, olive oil, lemon juice, and a dash of salt and pepper to taste.
Stir to coat and add eggs. I recommend a 2 hour resting time, but you can also add a little bit more spices and serve immediately.
Cook Sweet Potato Quinoa
Add all of the ingredients into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger vegetables and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the bay leaves, spices, and lemon juice. And then add the quinoa and water.
Press the cook button on the rice cooker. It should take about 45 minutes to cook.
When the quinoa is fully cooked, let sit for 10 minutes, and then fluff with a wooden spoon and serve.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom.
Assemble Salad
Add quinoa and potato salad to a serving dish. If you're serving it as-is, I used a decorative bowl. If you're serving it as a side alongside an entrée, it fits well on a plate.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
For more information on making potato salad, check out my article on Mayonnaise-free Potato Salad. You can also utilize whatever produce you have on hand to make this recipe your own. As well as cut the cooking time in half if you have 2 pots and make the eggs and potatoes simultaneously.
I also have a more in-depth article on how to prepare Quinoa w/ Sweet Potato & Garden Vegetables. You can easily substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand. This is a great recipe to make wanting to have leftovers that will easily carry over to other dishes.
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit my images and I am firmly against alteration of images in food blogs. It's not something that we generally think about when it comes to recipes. But food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm as anything else! Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes.
Because of this, I try very hard not to alter any of my photos. I like to take photos with natural sunlight during the day. Ordinarily this is very true to color and I don't edit the photos at all. However, since my place is very warm with a lot of yellow lighting, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural blue tone. In the following images on this page, I adjusted the levels and hue to try and make this more true to color. In the interest of transparency, these are the before and after photos.
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