Roasted Eggplant and Creamy Rosemary Quinoa Salad

As you can tell from a lack of posts, occupational therapy school has overtaken my life. I do still cook, very often in fact. But finding the energy for shopping specific ingredients, jotting notes, taking photos, finding recipes or making up I truly feel like sharing all have to align.

 What I can say is if you know someone in graduate school, check and see how they are doing. Surprise them with a phone call, or old-fashioned letter. Find out something they might appreciate that you could send electronically even-like an easy recipe if they cook, a song you recently heard that could energize or calm them down, recommend a fun read or podcast for a brain break. Maybe if you want to send a physical item, think about what they've been talking about the weather there-sending a knit hat or a creamy lotion to combat arid climates. It makes me laugh but a friend of mine who did law school said buying her own extra pairs of undies so she didn't have to do laundry as option helped keep her sanity. Funny those gifts we didn't appreciate as kids can be so comforting in stressful adulting times. Off topic from food... so here we go back on track.

Here's a recipe from yours truly that relatively simple and the only thing ahead you'd want to do is soak the cashews the night before. You can take it to school or work and not have to worry too much about refrigeration as there is no meat or dairy and can eat it cold or warm.

Roasted Rosemary Eggplant and Creamy Quinoa Salad

4 servings, each about 305 cal, 12 g fat, 48 g carbs, 10 g protein. 

Materials:

mixing bowl

roasting pan (1 or 2)

blender or food processor

Small pot to cook quinoa in

Ingredients:

 To Roast: 

1/2 onion (coarsely chopped) 

3 small tomatoes (~1.5 cups chopped)

1 Italian eggplant (~ 4 cups chopped)

2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp ground rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss all ingredients in mixing bowl, then spread in roasting pan(s). Bake 20 min. 

To boil: the quinoa

1 cup quinoa, boil 7-8 minutes  (until you see the spirals pop off. ) And if quinoa's not your thing, pick a grain of your choice-I personally like barley salads. If you can do gluten/wheat, coucous probably will do well here. Just adjust the cooking time to make sense for your ingredient. 

To blend, the Cashew cream sauce:

Soaked 1 cup of cashews in just enough water to cover it overnight. Then pulverize them nuts using your food processor-add just enough water that it makes a creamy consistency (peanut butter like or thinner if you prefer). Will have plenty leftover from this recipe and as a vegan sour cream substitute.  

For a serving of salad, put 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa, 1/4 of the roasted veggies and about 1 tbsp of the cashew cream. Mix up and eat warm or cool.