Salad Okay - Zucchini Not So Much

The week continues with recipes from Moosewood's Low-Fat Cookbook. Wednesday was Quinoa Black Bean Salad with a side of Zuchinni with Cilantro Sauce.

Both dishes were easy to make. The cooking instructions for the quinoa appeared to be a bit off as I had to cook over twice as long as noted.

We thought the salad was pretty good. It reminded me of a black bean and rice salad I used to make with chicken broth and a bit of oil. This was a very satisfying and healthier version. Matt found it to be a little sloppy. Maybe if I dump the seeds from the tomatoes it would work better. The Quinoa does not pick up the extra moisture like rice would.

The zucchini just left us wondering why you would steam a vegetable that is so full of water. I like zucchini sauteed in a pan till the sugars brown a bit and the center melts. Matt reminded me that I used to have this so mastered that I could do it without any oil in the pan. I find that many of the cookbook writers that I like have problems with zucchini. I wonder if they are just used to starting with the big horrible ones.

I will probably never try another steamed zucchini recipe and I will try not to pair an entree in lime dressing with a side dish in lemon dressing. I would definitely make the salad again but probably just for the two of us as a lunch.

We are thinking that the Moosewood cookbook is about 50/50.