Fresh Cherry and Pecan Quinoa.
Have you ever seen a cherry butt?
It’s cute.
It shares a pit.
Sort of like sharing a heart… but not.
I have become the master of cherry eating this month. I’ve eaten like ten pounds of cherries since July 1st. I’ll tell you what… it is fantastic.
My hands are stained a deep cherry red.
It’s fancy.
I’ve put cherry pits in the garbage disposal in my sink. Mostly because I’m lazy. Don’t do it… unless you want to sacrifice your fingers and later pay a burly man $137 to use his fingers to scrape cherry pits from the bottom of your sink. What a job.
I forgot to brush my teeth after eating 8 billion juicy, juicy cherries one day then went shopping and smiled like a freak.
Pro? Instant lipstick.
Con? Creeper teeth.
I’ve tried unsuccessfully to do that sexy tie-the-stem-into-a-knot-in-your-mouth trick only to end up eating more cherries so I’d have more stems and spending almost two hours doing this very important thing. It left me nearly choking to death and with cuts all over my tongue. Now that’s sexy.
I was clearly a little heavy-handed with the spoon… and my creeper teeth. I promptly chewed an entire bowl of cherry quinoa with cherry balsamic for lunch before realizing that… oh… I should probably take some pictures. And they should probably be from weird angles that makes it hard to see the quinoa and really difficult to photograph something and not make it look like dog food with white sprinkles. And I should probably take about 35 pictures and not look at one of them and then eat another bowl of quinoa and instantly clean my kitchen. This was a weird day. I never instantly clean my kitchen.
Alas, two pictures. My bad. This is good stuff.
Fresh Cherry and Pecan Quinoa
makes 2 cups
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups water, stock or liquid of choice (I used chicken stock)
1 bulb roasted garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1-2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, reduced (I used cherry balsamic)
Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add olive oil. Once hot, add onions and cook for about 5-6 minutes, until soft and slightly caramelized. Add in quinoa then add in liquid. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 12-15 minutes. While quinoa is cooking, add balsamic vinegar to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to thicken.
Remove quinoa from heat and fold in cherries, pecans, roasted garlic, and feta. Drizzle with balsamic or stir it in. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Note: this would also work with dried cherries. It can be served warm or cold.
If you need me I’ll be in cherry rehab.
118 Comments on “Fresh Cherry and Pecan Quinoa.”
The feta seems like the perfect, tangy finishing touch!
I’m totally with you on the cherry addiction. I’m like a robot reading a book or watching tv and popping them like candy!! I buy them with intentions of making something with them but they never make it!
Love the idea of cherries with feta – yum! I too am on the path to cherry rehab. It’s a dangerous one.
This looks great! I love cherries, but don’t see them worked into savory/sweet dishes that often!
Just picked up a bunch of cherries at the farmer’s market this weekend!!
They may already be gone…
I love cherries but I hate how my nails and teeth look after eating them!
I have been eating B.C cherries non stop. Non stop. Its bad news. Or good….depending on how you look at it
I featured you as my favorite foodie blog in my blogiversary post yesterday!
http://jsbeard.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogiversary-one-year-in-blogosphere.html
Jennifer B.
Thank you so much!!
P.S. I tried to leave you a comment but am unable to because I do not use blogger and you don’t have the Name/URL option!
Gorgeous salad! I love cherries in everything sweet and savory!
I took cannot stop consuming cherries this summer. This has so many of my favorite things (quinoa, cherries, balsamic vinegar, pecans, and feta) in it that I can’t wait to make it. You’re my hero!
I’ll see you in cherry rehab. Living here in WA state, they’re pretty hard to avoid..and I’m not fighting it!
This sounds pretty freakin amazing. I love quinoa, cherries & feta (but I’d prob use goat feta ;) )!
I know what you mean about taking photo’s of ugly food. I tried for 30 min to get a shot of my roasted red pepper hummus that didn’t look like someone poo-ed in a bowl, but alas, I could not. lol. You will not be seeing it on FG or TS. ;P
who needs pictures? the recipe speaks for itself! YUM!
Yum! This sounds quite tasty. Is this overly sweet or does the onion balance it out?
I didn’t find it too sweet at all – with a little s and p it was perfect!
I totally had a cherry butt in my cherry bowl this weekend!!!! It was delicious…and romantic. My husband and I shared it. :-) So cute! (However, my husband thought it’d be funny to call it ‘low hanging fruit’…haha, not so romantic!)
My husband and son don’t like cherries. I’m so lucky…all for me!! And I’ve been eating them by the gallon.
I was just looking in my cupboard at my dried cherries and quinoa and wondering if I could somehow mix them together, so more timely this post could not be!! I love the idea of reduced balsamic vinegar over top.
http://asecondglanceblog.blogspot.com/
previous comment redacted. New comment – do you spend all your hard earned monies on food AND awesome dishes?
Cherry rehab would indicate that you want to quit the habit, and I for one, do not :)
Recipe looks delicious!
Mmmm, this recipe looks and sounds amazing! Must try!
Beeeeyoootiful! This is right up my also cherry-stained fingers alley.
Haha, cherry butt. I remember one summer I worked in a cherry packing plant and saw so many of those. And like little kids we all said “hey look at this!” and laughed every time :D The quinoa looks so delicious, what a great combo, especially with the feta cheese!
THIS IS EPIC.
UM HECK YES. FOOD SOULMATES. I am a balsamic adddict and I have a shit ton of cherries in my fridge WOOOO THIS IS HAPPENING!!
oh my gosh i wish i had that cherry balsamic!!!! i want to make this like now! just need to get some feta! OMG YUM!
YUM!
I made this for lunch today, super yummy! I could eat it all day. I used Rainier cherries and walnuts because I had them already. I’ll definitely have to try pecans next time!
Cherry butts are totally cute! Strawberry boobs are pretty funny too
Tasty without any bacon in sight and healthy to boo. Win!
I have been craving cherries with this insane heat and humidity!
This looks wonderful. Quinoa is going on my grocery list.
My oh my that looks good.
I would have cherries fed through me intravenously if I could.
With lots of love from Sydney,
x Kel
Come see why I ‘wear the pants‘
Oh I love anything with cherries! This looks super delicious…I can’t wait to give it a try! :)
Wow, what a flavor combination in such a healthy quinoa dish – cherries, balsamic vinegar, roasted garlic and feta – can’t wait to try this!
Beautiful salad!
Dear Cherry rehab lady, Do hope that you are able to control your cherry craziness. I do understand completely as I am this way with mango. And since we grow many varieties, it is hard not to be crazy abt them. Love the photo of the puppy, can’t wait til our Vet approves a puppy for us, German Sheperd. Anyway, I still don’t know what quinoa is. This is one of those “new” foods that have surfaced, besides its been a while since I have been back to the states. So, don’t think that I am weird or crazy, well I am, but we don’t have such things as quinoa here in Pakistan. Yes, I do have internet, when it likes me, and now must check out quinoa. Love your blog, it keeps me in touch with my ‘old’ world. Thanks for your time.
I love your recipe’s!!! and I want to +1 them on Google+, you should add a button to your posts so I can +1 the recipe’s I like!! :) Just a suggestion.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/
This looks like one amazing creation! I need to find that balsamic vinegar. Yum!
Creeper teeth…I am so using that!
Thanks for a delicious recipe…made it last night for dinner. I couldn’t find Cherry Balsamic so I used Raspberry instead. Nice change of pace from my usual roasted veggies and quinoa repertoire.
So yummy!
Wow this looks DELICIOUS, the cherries and feta make a great combo , cannot wait to try it!!
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This recipe looks interesting. Can’t wait to try it. I love reading your comments, they are so funny.
Hang in there with the cherry therapy.
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This looks delicious! I shared it on our Benjamin Twiggs Pinterest board. Since we have oodles of dried cherries I’ll make it with those.. and of course with the Fustini’s balsamic. Thanks!
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