Meatless Monday with Quinoa Beet Salad

Hello and thanks for joining us for another Meatless Monday. Miratel took the Meatless Monday pledge which aims to preserve the planet and its inhabitants by eliminating meat one day per week as one of its CSR business initiatives. Each week, we bring a new recipe to help make meal eating meat-free easier.

As spring has seemingly sprung early this year, you might be looking for something light to enjoy with the good weather. That’s why for dinner tonight we’re making Loblaws’ quinoa beet salad. This vegan recipe comes by way of the Toronto Star, but was created by Chef Mark Russell, the public executive chef of the new flagship Loblaws store at Maple Leaf Gardens. Russell, who is from England was surprised how much Canadians like beets so he worked them into this dish. Russell was also the former private chef to the Weston family.

Quinoa Beet Salad Ingredients:

• 3 beets, peeled
• 1 cup (250 mL) quinoa (white or red), rinsed
• 2 cups (500 mL) water
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp (10 mL) cumin seeds
• 1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) chopped fresh mint
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Place beets in steamer or steamer insert in pan filled with simmering water over high heat. Steam until fork tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle, coarsely grate.
2. Meanwhile, combine quinoa and water in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover. Cook until water is absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes. Fluff with fork. Let stand 5 minutes, then transfer to serving bowl.
3. In small fry pan, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, 7 minutes to soften. Add cumin and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add to quinoa, along with beets, walnuts, mint and lemon juice. Toss well.
4. Let stand at least 30 minutes to cool to room temperature.

The quinoa beet salad will yield 7 cups, which translates into roughly four portions as a main and eight as a side dish. This easy to make simple salad is an elegant main course because of the quinoa. Quinoa is a super food, which is gluten-free and a great source of protein. It is also high in fibre, as well as vitamins such as calcium, vitamin E, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid and beta carotene. Combining quinoa with other vegetables makes this a complete and perfect meal.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.