It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve cooked anything. I’ve been absolutely drowning in work. But, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and, with a bit of breathing room tonight, I made a quinoa (pronounced keen-wah, to my knowledge) dish that serves well as a light dinner or it can be packed up for lunch to-go.

A few weeks ago I helped make a lamb curry served over quinoa, and I was surprised at how quickly it cooked. For some reason I thought this grain required the same amount of cooking time as rice, but quinoa cooks up in about 15 minutes.

Warning. These tomatoes were not locally grown…I just had such a craving fer tuhmaters.

I started by bringing 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water to a boil, then added chopped zucchini to cook with the grain. While that was simmering, I diced grape tomatoes, chopped parsley, avocado, and sliced a lemon.

Once the quinoa had cooked, absorbing all the water in the pot, I tossed it with tomatoes, parsley, chickpeas, feta cheese, salt and pepper, and then squeezed a quarter of a lemon over everything. To serve, I added the avocado on top and an extra sprinkling of feta.

I thought walnuts would be a great addition to this dish—a nutty flavor to contrast with the cheese and the bite of the lemon—but I didn’t have any on hand, unfortunately.