A new month has rolled around and I’m super pleased to introduce you to Shelby B. of GlitterfulFelt Stories as our March Top Mom. Besides being a wife and mom of three adopted children, Shelby designs and creates interactive felt board stories that help preschool children learn to read. She’s also a crusader for children’s literacy, autism, ADHD, saving our beaches, feeding the hungry and homeless, and children’s nutrition. Shelby sells her colorful and engaging felt boards based on popular children’s books and writes a family-oriented blog at GlitterfulFelt Stories, please take a minute and check out her site.
Shelby’s youngest child has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and neutropenia and suffers from numerous food allergies, so she raises her own fruits and vegetables and is a strong advocate for cooking at home to give your children the healthiest meals possible. She and her husband are writing a book about adopting children to help others adopt.
In case you’re not familiar with quinoa, it’s considered a super grain because of its unique qualities AND its gluten free and wheat free. Quinoa contains more protein than any other grain and provides all the essential amino acids in a balanced pattern. Quinoa was so important to the Inca culture, they referred to it as the Mother Grain.
Kid Friendly Quinoa Salad
Quinoa is a great way to add a lot of vegetables into your children’s diet. In our home our entire family participates in meal preparation. It is a great bonding experience and the children enjoy helping prepare their meals. I always try and find one thing that they can help with in meal preparation.
Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup Quinoa
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 3-4 green onions
• 3 Tbl. Lemon juice
• 1 1/2 Tbl. Olive oil
• 1/2 tea. salt
• 1 1/2 tea. honey (agave for vegan)
• 1/4 tea. pepper
• 1 package of cherry tomatoes (summer use a large peach)
Directions: Boil water and Quinoa until it comes to a boil. Then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Chop all the ingredients. Let Quinoa cool. Mix ingredients. Serve chilled.
Enjoy 🙂
Watch Shelby prepare this quick and easy salad with her kids and witness for yourself how much they love it!
Tanantha @ I Just Love My Apron
March 8 at 3:34 pmthat’s sad to know….be strong Shelby! What she does to her kids is a wonderful thing. We need to look into what we intake more carefully. I havent cooked with quinoa but would love to!
Pachecopatty
March 8 at 4:28 pmNow this is my kind of salad, I must be a kid;-) Thanks for making the world a better place, how wonderful to be so loving;-)
Kelly von Hemert
March 8 at 4:45 pmEveryone should have such a dedicated mom. With recipes like that, I’m up for adoption!
Lisa { AuthenticSuburbanGourmet }
March 8 at 7:14 pmWhat a great story and Mom! My brother is adopted and I think it is a wonderful thing to adopt kids and make such a difference for them in their lives! I discovered Quinoa last year and I am hooked. Your salad looks amazing!!!
Sanjeeta kk
March 8 at 11:08 pmThis is what I would love my kids to eat at all times. love the cherry tomatoes and the dressing in the salad.
Tiffany
March 9 at 9:06 amOh, my nephews would LOVE this!
RavieNomNoms
March 9 at 9:08 amThis is a great salad, I wasn’t raised on quinoa so I honestly had no idea what it was until I got older and started researching it myself. I love it! This would be a great salad to have during the summer time
Whitney
March 9 at 10:15 amI LOVE this! What a great video, cute momma and kiddo! Thanks for sharing! We LOVE quinoa at our house. I’ve been serving it to my daughter since she was 9 months old. http://squashblossombabies.com/2011/01/03/quinoa/
Magic of Spice
March 9 at 4:19 pmHi Shelby , what a great dish, love the add of honey and always love quinoa 🙂
Wonderful guest post as always!
Firefly
March 9 at 8:07 pmLove how colorful this salad is, I’m sure my kiddo would love this! Great post and recipe!
Angie's Recipes
March 9 at 9:24 pmI always love nutritious and delicious salads like this. Thanks, Shelby.
Sandra's Easy Cooking
March 10 at 12:28 pmAwesome video, fantastic recipe..thanks so mush for sharing!!!
5 Star Foodie
March 10 at 4:44 pmA very colorful and healthy salad, love the video, very cool!
FOODESSA
March 13 at 8:14 amTouching scenario as well as a comforting and healthy grain salad.
I can’t wait for a conclusion to a condition that discomforts so many children and their families.
I use quinoa alot…especailly the brown variety…I do find it tastier…or maybe it’s just my tastebuds ;o)
Ciao,
Claudia