Lent Friendly Dishes : Veggie Quinoa Skillet

Here is another meatless meal for the Lent observers out there.  It is a Veggie Quinoa skillet that could serve as a meal or a side.  It was rather filling with the cheese, quinoa and veggies and had good flavor but next time I'll probably leave out some of the lemon honey vinaigrette because it was a tad overpowering.

Veggie Quinoa Skillet
(This makes 2 to 3 dinner servings)

 Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 c. chicken broth
- 1 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
- 1 small yellow squash, quartered and sliced
- 1 can corn
- 2 green onions
- salt and pepper to taste
- handful cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1/2 c. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. chopped basil

For vinaigrette:
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper

Instructions:
- Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer until water runs clear.
- Bring chicken broth to a boil, add quinoa, turn down heat to medium low, cover and cook until broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender.  When quinoa is cooked, fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.

- Whisk lemon zest and juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper together, set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Saute garlic until it starts to turn brown around the edges, add zucchini, corn and onions, season with s&p and saute about 4 minutes until just tender.

- Add quinoa and half of the vinaigrette, stir and cook for about a minute.
- Add tomatoes, feta, basil and rest of vinaigrette.  Stir and add s&p to taste.  (you can leave out the rest of the vinaigrette for a less powerful taste)

- Let cool a few minutes and serve.

Chris wasn't a huge fan because of the overpowering lemon flavor.  To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan either, (for the first time ever I will say this) too much lemon!   I'd like to see what it was like sans vinaigrette.  But it was definitely good with the feta and for having quinoa for the first time it wasn't bad!  Chris wasn't totally sold on the quinoa part but maybe it just takes some getting used to.  Quinoa is a great replacement for starches like rice or pasta in our diet so we'll have to see if we can find some other dishes to try!

Next up I've got a couple more LFDs (Lent Friendly Dishes) to share before Lent is over!

Cheers!
Steph