quinoa chard pilaf with chickpeas & roasted red pepper

today is day 1 of attempting to eat a month without dairy and very limited grains & sugar. i had a bit of a rough day.....i think the mental aspects of such a task are far more daunting for me than trying to figure out what to cook! i have NOT given up my afternoon coffee however and i very much enjoyed sitting down this afternoon with my americano-chai and savoured EVERY last drop! okay. on to the recipe...

this, was SUPER easy.

cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of veggie broth according to package directions. add herbs and seasonings of your choice in with the quinoa, tonight i used a pesto epicure seasoning mix.

while this is cooking, saute 1 medium onion, finely diced in a little olive oil over medium heat til translucent, splash with a little balsamic vinegar and continue cooking a little longer 'til it starts to caramelize slightly. turn down heat if necessary.

remove stems from 4 chard leaves of your choice ( i used red chard tonight ), coarsely chop and set aside.

2 cups cooked chickpeas, i used canned chickpeas tonight as i was feeling a little lazy : )

1 roasted red pepper, diced (again, feeling lazy i used a roasted red pepper from a jar : ) if you don't feel like roasting peppers and have none on hand a diced red pepper will suffice!

toss onions, chard, chickpeas, and roasted red pepper in with the quinoa and combine.

i sprinkled hemp hearts over the whole thing along with a little more seasoning mix and topped with cloves from a whole roasted garlic. the hemp hearts added a nutty flavour and you can never go wrong with roasted garlic!

manje!