Bacon and Egg Quinoa Salad is today’s recipe!

Bacon and Eggs….one of THE BEST combinations of ingredients, in the world, don’t you think? I do! It might be Homer Simpsons’s Voice coming to mind as I hear the chanting of ‘bacon and eggs, bacon and eggs, ohhhhh bacon, mmmm eggs, ohhhhhhh bacon and eggs!’.

Happy Wednesday my friends! I know that I don’t usually post to you mid-week, however, I had made this DELICIOUS SALAD and wanted to share the recipe with you and I knew I had to do it stat.

To warm our bellies

As I have mentioned a few times lately if you have been following my blog Sweet Caramel Sunday, it has been COLD in Brisvegas. It is quite unusual as we are normally one of the sunniest warmest places in Australia. Bacon and eggs sound like they would make everything warmer, doesn’t it! The cold doesn’t suit me well, having lived in sunny QLD for the majority of my life, I prefer to sweat than to shiver. Luckily I have 3 pairs of flanette pj’s (from tarjay all the way) and an awesome pair of ugh boots that come up just under my knees.

They definitely keep me warm, but if all else fails, I grab my Sous Chef Tonka and have lots of cuddles as he is warm and soft and furry!

In creating the recipe for this Quinoa salad that I am talking about today, I wanted to give you guys a meal that you could serve or eat hot or cold, which would work well in both scenarios. Whilst I am a fan of a salad for a work lunch especially a Caesar with a little crouton crunch, sticking my fork into a dish of cold lettuce, with even colder salad dressing doesn’t quite appeal to me in this weather as much as wrapping my hands around a warm bowl of anything.

In my mind, this recipe had to be versatile, so you could whip it up for a bbq, use as a side dish for a table with other yummy good stuff, or, heat and eat  (especially at work). Getting through those few hours in the morning is always an easier task achieved when you have a healthy nutritious and delicious lunch box in the fridge that has a little something tasty to take away salad boredom.

So, what do I have for you with the ingredients – we have quinoa, because I think it is bloody good and you actually don’t need much of it to make the salad quite a big dish. Just ½ cup of it cooks and seems to multiply little little gremlins. Then we have the bacon and eggs, YUM, even just typing this, I am looking forward to the next time I stick my fork into a bowl of this. The bacon is salty and crispy and is the key ingredient to make this salad, your next go to, keeping the winter blues at bay. So top it off we have some bright green shallots, which are a nice contrast to the other 3 ingredients.

Hello mustard, my friend

The final draw card which ties all of the above together is the mustard drizzle. If you have read my Potato Salad or my Turmeric Cous Cous Salad with Basil Drizzle recipes, you will know that I am a massive fan of simple dressings, from ingredients that I and you and most likely everyone have in their fridge……greek yoghurt plus flavourful ingredient = salad drizzle. In the past, I have talked with you about greek yoghurt and basil pesto, which is del-icious. But when you think ‘bacon and eggs’, basil pesto is not often anywhere near your brain waves……BUT when you think ‘bacon and eggs’ and mustard drizzle, I think you start to hear a choir oft in the distance singing ‘la, la, la’. It works. It is not as laborious an undertaking as whipping up hollandaise sauce, but has a similar colour and texture.

Leave the hard work for the weekends

Another SUPER AWESOME thing about this dish is that you can meal prep your heart out to make it and take it to work. What I did was make the salad and toss with the dressing, then put it into a handy glass storage dish. Then come the crack of dawn (I have an early start each morning), grab said storage dish with yummy scrummy salad from the fridge, head out the door, after telling Tonks I love him repeatedly and that I won’t be gone forever and head to work.

Then at lunch time, I open the fridge, make a little sigh, that I had it together enough to prepare such a delicious meal and don’t have to run off somewhere and grab something quickly. Transfer a lunch sized portion to a bowl, heat, drizzle a little more of the mustard mix and away she goes.

This salad is warm and tasty with great texture and colour and YOU HAVE GOT TO TRY IT!

I am off to yoga right now, tonight is my meditation and yin night and I missed one of the classes last week as I had an appointment, so I am looking to get all zen tonight.

Bacon and Egg Quinoa Salad with Mustard Drizzle

This bright and colourful salad is perfect for lunch. You can serve it hot or cold and it will keep in the fridge for a few days. Power packed with quinoa and with a drizzle that has a cream like texture, you will want to make it again and again! 

4 from 1 vote

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Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Australian, International

Keyword: black bean quinoa salad, Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 590kcal

Author: Adrianne

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup tri colour quinoa
• 3 eggs free range
• 5 rashers streaky bacon thin cut
• 4 shallots thinly sliced

Mustard Drizzle

• 3/4 cup greek yoghurt low fat
• 2 tbsp american mustard

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees, line a baking tray with bacon and cook for 20 mins or until crispy, when cool, use kitchen scissors to cut into little pieces 
• Cook 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup of water at a medium heat 
• Boil 3 eggs for 6 minutes and peel under running water when done. Slice thinly and set aside 
• Slice shallots 
• Combine greek yoghurt and mustard in a blender jug and blitz to combine 
• Add quinoa, bacon, sliced eggs and sliced shallots to your salad bowl. Pour in mustard dressing and toss to combine 

Notes

1. A knife will be fine to cut the bacon if you don't have kitchen scissors 
2. If taking for lunches, also take the left over drizzle and reapply a little bit after heating salad before eating (SO GOOD) 

Nutrition

Calories: 590kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 286mg | Sodium: 670mg | Potassium: 626mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 405IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 183mg | Iron: 4.2mg

Recipe Suggestions

If you like this recipe another one you might be interested in checking out is this Turmeric Cous Cous with Crispy Bacon and Basil Drizzle Salad recipe which can be found here. It is another colourful and bright salad that is a nice change from your typical garden lettuce salad. Or you might fancy making a caesar salad in which case, I have just the recipe for you with this Crispy Chicken Caesar salad.

Are you trying to reduce your meat intake and want delicious meal options, then here is a recipe for my Vegan Brown Rice Noodles which are an awesome Vegan option!

Or you might like to make Pad Thai instead of getting take out and this recipe is a fabulous go to for authentic tasting Thai at home. If you are not in the mood for noodles tonight, why not try something completely different and in that case, I would recommend this delicious Minestrone soup which is sure to satisfy a variety of taste buds!!

One last recommendation I will make is for soup you never know when you are going to get sick and need a bit of comfort food, this recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup is better than a Doctor’s script!

Let me know if you give this dish a shout, I would love to know what you think. If you share a picture on instagram use the hashtag #sweetcaramelsunday I would love to check it out xx

Thanks again for reading and go and make this power packed lunch RIGHT NOW!

Adrianne x (if only we could wear pj’s to work, THAT would be awesome).

P.S If you love food and want to start your own blog, I have written a Step by step guide to starting your own blog and you can get that here.

P.P.S And if you want to up your Food photography, I book I highly recommend is The Food Photography Book by Nagi from RecipeTin Eats.

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