Greek Quinoa Salad Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato

Four and a half months ago, when quarantine had just begun and everyone was in a hectic, confused state as the reality of the pandemic set in, I started this food blog. With helpful suggestions from my mom, and a curiosity of cooking/baking of my own, I set off on this journey, and since then I have consistently posted multiple times a week. I hope that there are some readers who have been following each post, but to those who are just seeing this one - I am glad you made it here! I named the first recipe I tried Morning Delight; I found it in a magazine with a section on anti-inflammatory eating. I decided that I wanted to start making some of my own meals because then I could choose to keep my body healthy.

Many months later, I still have that mindset, and I stumbled upon another quinoa anti-inflammatory dish. This dish is part of a five day meal plan with various recipes for anti-inflammatory eating, so that is where the link will take you. I wasn't sure how the quinoa salad would go with the warm sweet potato, but I am happy to say that I loved it! I ate part of the salad just by itself, until I realized that taking part of the sweet potato, and adding it to a bite of the salad is absolutely to die for! My siblings opted to just eat the sweet potato, but my more adventurous parents, who have benefited the most from my cooking, loved the quinoa salad in a sweet potato creation.

Unfortunately, our home garden did not include red onions and sweet potatoes, but I was able to harvest the cucumber and tomatoes from our garden for the salad! Our cucumbers have seen better days, and are slowly but surely coming along. Our tomatoes on the other hand are flourishing. It is that time of year, so every trip to the garden means a handful of cherry tomatoes and quite a few larger ones as well! I think it is so special to be able to have such fresh food, and I am very lucky to live in a place where having a garden is a possibility.

Ingredients ~

5 medium sweet potatoes, rinsed, poked, and patted dry

Greek Quinoa Salad:

1/3 cup raw quinoa

2/3 cup water

1 cup sliced grape tomatoes

1 cup diced cucumber, quartered

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

For Greek Quinoa Salad Dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions ~

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Wash sweet potatoes and remove any debris or dirt, and then pat dry. Place the sweet potatoes on the baking sheet and poke several holes around each of them using a fork or small knife.

3. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a fork can easily be inserted into the flesh of the potatoes.

4. When the sweet potatoes have about 20 minutes left, cook quinoa. Just combine the uncooked quinoa and water in a small sauce pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook 15-20 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa has opened and is tender. Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork, and then set aside to cool.

5. Once the sweet potatoes are done baking, let cool slightly. Once cool, cut the sweet potatoes open and shred the flesh from the skin so that the inside is mashed and easy to scoop out.

6. For Greek Quinoa Stuffing, in a large mixing bowl, combine cooked quinoa and the rest of the ingredients for quinoa salad. Set aside.

7. In a separate small mixing bowl, make the quinoa salad dressing by adding the ingredients for the dressing and whisking them together.

8. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and then toss everything to combine evenly.

9. Stuff the sweet potatoes with the quinoa salad and enjoy!

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Recipe From: a sweet pea chef