Cooking with Fresh Produce: Spinach and Grape Quinoa Salad Recipe

I've been traveling this week so I did not have a lot of time to post much here this week. I feel like a hamster spinning on a wheel some days, and it almost seems as if I don't get much accomplished at all. There is always a new load of laundry to do. There is always a meal to create or little people asking for Pirate Booty to be placed in a bowl several times a day. There is always something new placed on my center kitchen island that makes the area even more cluttered. Just ask my husband about how I frustrate him with this. He finally had it cleaned off while I was in Pinehurst North Carolina speaking about social media in travel and tourism industry at the 2015 N.C Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism, but once I returned, it became cluttered again.

I did clear off a spot yesterday to make a new recipe kit from my Papa Spud's produce box, which arrives every Tuesday. As you know, I've been writing about cooking with fresh produce for a month now  I'm what you could call "a new at-home produce delivery convert." Fortunately, for our farmers, there are a lot of these types of services in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill market. I'm not here to say one service is better than another because I don't know that information. What I want is produce at a an affordable price, flexibility, and great tasting food. My needs are being met by Papa Spud's. N.C is a top agriculture state and I want our farmers to thrive. These produce delivery services help to do just that, and I like it.

I chose to become a Papa Spud's customer because it is the service I discovered first, and I gave it a try. It's really that simple. I've been a satisfied customer since my first order arrived in December, and I love how it has helped me embrace a new way of healthy eating via fresh produce. If you really start to change your eating habits, and how you buy produce from the store then I think there is room to use two services with different delivery days spread apart especially when more local produce becomes abundant. I supplement my produce now at a grocery store, and still my buy milk and eggs there. I could add those items to my produce box, too if I expanded with more credits.

I love the idea of produce coming straight to my front door. I like recipe planning in advance while sipping coffee or wine at home. I like being able to pick the produce I want in the comfort of my home. The flexibility and choice selection with Papa Spud's are ideal for me. I do not have the energy to get dressed on a Saturday morning to try and find spaghetti squash for a recipe to only learn that spaghetti squash was at the market last week. With Papa Spud's, I know bok choy is available so I plan a recipe that uses that vegetable.

Papa Spud's has a community that shares recipes for you to use as a resource, but the service also lets you order recipe kits as part of your weekly credits. These kits typically run about 6.00 credits. In the two months that I've been a member, I've ordered two kits and have loved each one  The kit supplies the exact amount of things you need for the recipe and you are asked to supply staple ingredients like salt, pepper, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, etc.  You will know exactly what you need to supply before you order the kit.

I ordered the Spinach and Grape Quinoa Salad kit this week. How many times have you had to buy a bunch of parsley in order to use just a little bit for a recipe. In my house, the parsley perishes before I can use it all because I didn't plan three recipes with parsley as an ingredient. The recipe kit eliminates waste in the kitchen, which in turn cuts your costs.

This particular recipe kit serves two people. You could increase the quinoa amount, and adjust the seasonings accordingly to make larger serving.

Papa Spud's Spinach and Grape Quinoa Salad 

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice, seeds removed
1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 oz. spinach, cut into thin strips
15 oz. Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
4 oz. red grapes
Chopped pecans  and/or feta cheese (optional)

Rinse quinoa. Prepare as directed. You could also increase amount here. The 1/4 cup does not produce a lot of quinoa.

Combined fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and garlic in bowl. Mix well. Pour mixture over quinoa while it is still warm. Add spinach, Italian parsley, and celery. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill for 30 to 60 minutes.

Serve quinoa salad topped with whole red grapes. Add pecans and feta, if desired.

And on a side note, I had never ordered grapes before from Papa Spud's, and if grapes are available this week, I am going to order some because they were crisp and delicious.

I am really excited about the upcoming months because spring and summer is our peak produce months. It's only going to get better.

Here are all the posts in our series:

Eating Fresh Produce: Simple Ways to Get in Your Vegetables
Cooking with Fresh Produce: Three Simple Recipes Using Kale 
Cooking with Fresh Produce: The Right At-Home Delivery Service Offers More Than Just Produce

If you want to sign up for Papa Spud's at-home produce delivery, please use my referral link.

My thanks to Papa Spud's for sponsoring this cooking series on the blog. My opinion of the service was not influenced by the sponsorship. I was a satisfied paying customer before the sponsored series, and I will continue to pay to use the service. I will share more recipes in the future and will share my referral link. Every member of Papa Spud's has one. If you join, you will have one, too and can earn additional produce credits if someone signs up within 30 days of viewing the link.  Be sure to follow my Pinterest boards, for produce-inspired recipes.