A Very Special Guest Post: Crispy Buffalo Quinoa Bite Salad

Today, we have an extra special treat for you!  

This handsome guy (also known as The Cleaner of the Messy Kitchen) is going to tell you all about the fabulous meal he made me last week.  You hear way to much from me, so without further ado!

Your beloved chef and Notes from a Messy Kitchen CEO, Johanna, sure loves her buffalo chicken pizza!

Hi there, my name is Courtney, I am the one you are all jealous of because I have personally tasted all of Johanna’s delicious creations!  Actually, it may come as a shock to you that I’m even writing this.  Johanna’s precioussss food blogging reputation put in the hands of a behind-the-scenes husband (and mere mortal) whose only task, arguably, is to clean up said Messy Kitchen.

Ah, but I’ve got a trick up my sleeve – and no, it’s not just that I’m good looking.  Actually, I know from certain recent outings that Johanna loves We The Pizza’s buffalo chicken pizza.  Spicy boneless chicken wings, creamy blue cheese, mozzarella, and hot sauce – all on a slice of pizza!  Okay, I’m plagiarizing a bit here, but you get the idea.  So if Johanna was going to let me hijack her food blog, what do you suppose would make it worth it to her?  Well I tell you, the best of both worlds of course!  What I mean is a combination of her favorite style pizza and something to make it healthy.

So the question was how to combine all of the delicious toppings from a buffalo chicken pizza into something a bit more healthy?  The answer is fried quinoa bites doused in Frank’s Red Hot over a fresh salad mixed with crumbled blue cheese dressing!

 Crispy Buffalo Quinoa Bite Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Total Cook Time: 45 minutes
Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

Buffalo Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Quinoa Bites

• 2 cups cooked quinoa (follow package directions here)
• 1 cup cannelloni beans, mashed
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk (any kind except skim)
• 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Salad

• Romaine lettuce, chopped
• Carrots and celery, chopped
• Blue cheese, crumbled
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Dressing first. Combine all ingredients except the blue cheese in a bowl and mix well.  Stir in the blue cheese and place in the fridge for now.
2. Next up, buffalo sauce.  Melt the butter over low heat and combine with olive oil, hot sauce and salt in a medium size bowl.  Whisk and set aside.
3. And for the main attraction, the quinoa bites!  Start cooking the quinoa (since it takes ~15 minutes), and in the meantime mash the cannelloni beans.  Add the quinoa, beans, bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper and about 4 tablespoons of the buffalo sauce (leaving some for later) to a medium size bowl.  Mix with your hands and then scoop out a less-than-fist-full to roll into a ball.  You should be able to roll out about 15 balls.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil.  Add one ball at a time to the skillet and gently flip with prongs or your hands to cook until golden and crisp on all sides.  Remove each golden crispy quinoa bite and place on a napkin to soak up excess oils, and then dip in the leftover buffalo sauce.  Voila!
5. Toss the salad and carrots in a bowl or plate and season to taste with pepper.  Top this with the buffalo quinoa bites, throw in as much crumbled blue cheese as you like, drizzle the blue cheese dressing, and add any remaining buffalo sauce!  Enjoy!
   
   Note from Jo: Step 6: Tell Cleaner of the Messy Kitchen how freakin’ amazing his meal is until he kindly offers to make you another batch for lunches for the rest of the week!  Double WIN!

Johanna