Important things first.

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.