Powerhouse Parsley

Today I'm here to tell you that parsley needs more credit. Sure, you can sprinkle it over pasta and make a bland plate look brighter, but parsley is a powerhouse herb, densely packed with nutrients, antioxidants, fiber, blood sugar stabilizers, B vitamins and is one of the richest sources of Vitamin K! Thus, it should be consumed in large amounts regularly! Okay, it may seem weird that I'm pushing it as a staple in your house, but if you consider that I regularly use it in my smoothies (seriously, try it), for juicing, to add to recipes and to star in salads, it truly has become a staple in my house. When I bring it home from the grocery store, I fill up a glass of water, drop the parsley stems in there and it stays fresh and turgid (grade 10 science class, right) for days.

That being said, here's a delicious salad that came about the other day. With quinoa, parsley, carrots, onions, garlic and lemon, this salad is a bit of a powerhouse super salad itself. Full of protein and phytonutrients this is delicious, fresh and energizing.

Parsley-Quinoa Salad 

1 cup uncooked quinoa (rinse in a fine sieve, add to pot with 1 3/4 c water. Cover and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, keep covered and cook for 20(ish) minutes or until done. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.)
3 cups packed fresh parsley- washed, dried and chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 a small onion minced (for flavour rather than texture- so chop finely)
3 or 4 cloves of garlic finely minced
1/4 cup olive oil
6 tablespoons lemon (or to taste)
1.5 teaspoons salt
pepper to taste

Mix together everything other than the quinoa. Then add 1.5 cups of cooked quinoa to the fresh ingredients, and mix again. Feel free to add more or less of everything, according to your tastes and desire. I probably used less quinoa, and more parsley (should have written it down), and you may want more or less dressing. So be flexible! And enjoy!