Quinoa Salad with Chimichurri Dressing

As I type this, I am sitting in my bedroom, surrounded by boxes and bags full of my stuff. I packed away most of my cookbooks, except the Food Matters Cookbook, that I still needed for today. There are still so many things to do before I move next Saturday, a bed to paint, boxes to fill, so much to clean.
Packing and moving all your stuff is revealing, only now do I realize all the things I bought in the 2 1/2 years I lived in this apartment. Books, kitchen appliances, and so much food, too. I am slowly going through all the things I bought (because I really needed them), and deciding whether I truly like all the things I have at home.
I found that I can do without Amaranth (I really didnt like it) but love quinoa. Kamut is fine, but farro is a lot better. I love chickpeas and split peas but I am not that crazy about other beans.
This is good to know, and as my last recipe, cooked in this small, less than perfect kitchen, I want to share a quinoa salad that I made.
It was inspired by this weeks pick for the Food Matters Project, Mixed Grill with Chimichurri. I decided to try out a new way of posting the recipes I post here, based more on the way I cook, only giving exact measurements when they are necessary. Please let my know your opinion on that in the comments.


Quinoa Salad with Chimichurri
Notes: I used quinoa and lentils because that is what I had on hand, but feel free to use other grains and legumes that you might have already cooked.

Recipe for the chimichurri from the Food Matters Cookbook, can be found here.

1 handful each quinoa and lentils, cooked
1/2 peach
1/4 of a cucumber

a bunch of parsley
olive oil
lemon juice

1/2 onion, chopped

For the chimichurri, I had to do without garlic, because I didn't realize we run out of it. But feel free to add a clove or two. I also decided to keep it rough, only chopping the parsley with a knife. I added enough olive oil to cover the parsley (in a small glass or bowl) and added a bit of salt and a tablespoon of lemon juice or so. Instead of the garlic I added a teaspoon of the chopped onion.

For the salad, chop the cucumber and peach, add it to a mixing bowl together with the lentils and quinoa, add the onion, a little lemon juice and top it off with a tablespoon or two of the chimichurri.
Taste and add more lemon juice or olive oil, salt and pepper as needed.

Serves one but can be multiplied.
You will have left-over chimichurri, if you need more ideas on what to use it on, check out what everyone else came up with this week.