Day 184: It's Pronounced KEEN-wah

Quinoa has been all the rage for the past year or two.  This protein packed whole grain is totally up my nutritional alley but oddly enough, I had never given it a taste until tonight.

I get the feeling that quinoa doesn't offer up much flavor of its own but that its tastiness depends on how and with what it is prepared.  Luckily, I found a really good recipe on Epicurious.com and my quinoa dish was infused with lots of yummy fresh lime juice and tossed with black beans and tiny, sweet pear tomatoes.  If you try the recipe yourself, note that I replaced the butter with olive oil and skipped the vegetable oil.  This increased the healthfulness of the dish while not decreasing the delish factor.

Our other side dish was fresh spinach, sauteed in butter with freshly minced oregano and half a sliced shallot.

I mention our main course last because frankly, it wasn't all that.  We had purchased a whole whack of limes recently and I was looking for a way to use them and so I prepared tequila lime chicken.  What saved this recipe was that I soaked the chicken in only half of the marinade and reduced the other half into a sauce that added a ton of extra flavor when drizzled over the dish.

So that was our dinner - the highs and the lows.  And while this is not 365 Days of LUNCH, I do want to mention Michael Chiarello's new restaurant "Bottega" in Yountville.  We had an absolutely lovely and memorable lunch there today.  If you find yourself in wine country, I highly recommend you give it a try for lunch or dinner.

Well, I'm halfway through this blog project now and am looking forward to another 181 days of good food ahead!!