quinoa meets veggies

few weeks ago i noticed 2 boxes of quinoa that had appeared in the pantry. as i am (read, i try to be) on rampage to empty the pantry and use up almost everything before getting anything new, i took one box and a moment to think what could be cooked with it. as usual, i took the easy way, cooked the quinoa according to package instructions and dug out these veggies from fridge







mini-cherry tomatoes were halved, carrots grated, leek minced, bell pepper and zucchini diced, the eggplant sweated and diced







the cooked quinoa look a bit weird, i had thought it would look something like couscous but bigger grains...live and learn







i roasted the eggplant first on it's own in 250C oven for 20 mins, then added the pepper and zucchini and roasted all together for another 20 mins







meanwhile, i placed the cooked and somewhat cooled quinoa in a big bowl and grated the peel and squeezed the juice of one lemon on top of quinoa, mixed well







then added a generous amount of minced parsley (from freezer) and black pepper and the roasted vegetables and mixed all together carefully as not to mush eggplant and zucchini







when served i added one tbsp of olive oil on top. there were leftovers and they tasted nice even cold. if you want it easier, leave out the eggplant and don't cook zucchini and bell pepper