Eggplant and Zucchini Quinoa Salad

So once again I had my farm fresh box with an array of goodies and I needed to come up with something fun! I had one eggplant and probably 8 zucchinis! I had also just been home in NY where I had a fabulous Quinoa cumin garbanzo bean and tomato salad. So,  I came up with this fun little summer salad!

Ingredients: 

1cup quinoa

1 chopped eggplant

2 chopped zucchini

1/2 cup green onion

3 cloves garlic

3/4 cup mini heirloom tomatoes 

1 can of garbanzo beans (rinsed)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1tbs cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

3 tbs hemp seed (optional)

Ok, lets get started!

Grab your eggplant and two decent sized zucchinis.

Chop them up into nice bite sized pieces!

Mix up the Eggplant and Zucchini into a large casserole dish and use 1/4 cup of olive oil and some salt and pepper to season. 

Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes mixing and stirring every 10 minutes.

Next, slice your heirloom tomatoes into bite size pieces (or just get cherry tomatoes and slice them in half!)

Mix your tomatoes in with  the rinsed garbanzo beans and set them aside. You won't need these for a while.

Cook one cup of quinoa (red, white or tri colored, it  really doesn't matter too much!) in two cups of water.

While the quinoa cooks, slice up some green onion and two cloves of garlic. (get some good and big cloves, don't be shy!)

Juice your lemons till you have 1/3 cup ready to go!

To make the dressing, mix the lemon juice with 1/2 cup of olive oil, one minced garlic clove and some salt and pepper.

By this time you can add the onion and garlic mixture into the quinoa with a lil bit of olive oil and the cumin and cayenne pepper. Then let it heat up and then sit for a bit while everything else is cooling off. 

Once everything has cooled down add the quinoa mixture and eggplant and zucchini into a big bowl.  Then add the garbanzo beans and tomato mixture. I also added 3 tbs of hemp seeds because I am a lil bit obsessed with them and I think they make everything better! Feel free to leave it out, but I recommend experimenting with them a bit! 

Mix it all up real good, then add the dressing and mix some more!  Let the salad sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (60 if you can wait that long) for the best flavor.

Then you are done! Grab a bowl and enjoy!

It is even better as a left over the next day!  This recipe will make quite a bit so you can share it with friends or just eat it tomorrow or the next day!

Enjoy! If you like it please send us some pictures of your finished product! We would love to see and find out what you think!

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