I love junk food, but I also enjoy being somewhat of a crunchy hippie when I’m puttering in the kitchen.  It’s a fair toss-up as to what I’m in the mood for at any given time.  In this case, it was very crunchy, but in pretty great ways!  I was looking for something relatively simple to throw together for lunch for folks, and this came out rather well – though, apparently the photo is a little fuzzy.  Sorry about that. Anyway, it combines many things I enjoy, so here we go:

 

The Goods:

quinoa, cooked

brussels sprouts, trimmed and roasted or sauteed until just a bit browned and cooked through

dried cranberries

toasted walnuts, rough chopped

diced gala apples

balsamic vinegar, a couple good splashes

olive oil, a good drizzle or three

salt & pepper, to taste

 

The Method:

Uh, mix all that stuff together.  You can also add some thinly sliced or red onion or shallot, if you want a little more punchy flavor (I love onions, but I try to do relatively low FODMAP these days for one of my housemates.)

Or swap out the balsamic vinegar for lemon juice, if you want a brighter acid (or less sweet notes).

Hate cranberries? Raisins are nice, or you can omit the dried fruit entirely.

Basically, mix up some nice produce with some lovely, protein-filled quinoa and have yourself a bowl.  Enjoy!