Sparrow Me the Quinoa

As you can see I got a lot of productive things done on my day off yesterday.  Painting my nails was actually written on my to-do list. :)

I slept in (duh), walked the pupper to Starbucks (duh), played around on the internet and read blogs (duh), read some more Castle (duh), oh…and vacuumed (odd).

While putting together my own blog post about the weekend I was inspired to make another yummy salad with apple and fresh squeeeezed lime…

…and since that package of bacon got opened I just had to have some in my salad.

The manicure process was a wee bit lengthy, but turned out great!  For those of you that care (hello, anyone?)…I have really nice, strong nails that grow quickly and in a great shape.  I’m quite lucky.  About once a week I trim and file them but I rarely ever polish them myself…

For the price of a good manicure I was able to buy three new OPI polishes so I figured it was a fun holiday thing to do for myself! 

I know Shatter polish has been around for a while now but I was excited to try it when I found it in silver!  Part of OPI’s newest collection: Pirates of the Caribbean.  :)  I also got Sparrow Me the Drama (pink, shown) and Mermaid Tears (green, not tried yet).

Two coats of the pink…let dry for HOURS…then topped with one coat of the magic Shatter polish and top coat.  It was really quite cool to see the Shatter in action…and it seems to be holding up very well. :)

All that business kept me busy most of the day so when dinner time rolled around I wanted something simple but tasty.  I found just enough quinoa in the cupboard to make a fabulous creation.

While the quinoa cooked I emailed my friend Tia and asked her for her quinoa salad recipe.  She brought it to a potluck once and it was amazing so I really wanted to make something similar.  Just as I was pulling the quinoa from the heat on the stove she emailed me back…I had all of the dressing ingredients on hand…perfect!

From Tia:  "I eyeball this whole recipe but the dressing is about 1 tbsp of Dijon, a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, balsamic or white or red wine vinegar, s & p, about 1.5 tsp of honey and canola whisked to emulsify. Oh, the key too is to make the dressing in the bowl and toss in the still warm cooked quinoa while you chop the rest of the veggies, it kind of soaks into the quinoa that way.”

I did exactly as she instructed and mixed it with 1 cup cooked quinoa, 1 cup white kidney beans, 1/2 an avocado, green onion, diced cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, sunflower seeds and fresh flat leaf parsley.

At the last minute I added a squeeze of lemon juice just for fun.  Stirred it all up and let sit about 15 minutes before devouring a big bowl.

It’s really all about the dressing.  Use the sesame oil VERY sparingly but don’t be afraid of the Dijon! :)  Thanks Tia.  Loved it!

For dessert the last of the Bacon Cookies.

After dinner I did the Shatter part of my manicure then finished a few more things from my to-do list and then actually took myself to bed relatively early. 

Of course I then proceeded to stay up until the wee hours watching more Dawson’s Creek.  The show actually annoys me to death but here I am on Season 5: The College Years…which should also be known as The Dark Years.  At least Dawson finally cut his hair and Joey is wearing pants that fit. :)