Quinoa and Tomato Salad

I've been wanting to jump on the quinoa bandwagon for a while, and finally did so over the weekend.  This salad is the result.

According to wikipedia, quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain; and is closely related to the tumbleweed.  When I told my daughter our salad was made out of tumbleweeds, she quickly told me that you just can't eat those.  She may be right, if tumbleweed tastes like quinoa.  Which is...bland.  So I suppose it's a good base for any dish you want to make as it should take on the flavor of whatever is going on around it.

Here are the grains after they are cooked.  Or "dots" as the girl called them.

As for this salad, it wasn't bad.  Definitely had potential.  It needed a little "oomph", a little something.  I'm just not sure what.  I substituted basil for the chives it calls for to salvage what I could from my little dying basil plant.

Here is the recipe from Weight Watchers.

Ingredients

	1 cup(s) uncooked quinoa
	2 cup(s) grape tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, red and/or yellow*
	1 Tbsp olive oil
	1 Tbsp white wine vinegar, or more to taste
	1/2 tsp table salt, or more to taste
	1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
	2 Tbsp chives, fresh, minced

Instructions

• Put quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve or fine strainer. Place under cold running water until water runs clear (this eliminates the bitter taste contained in quinoa's coating); drain well. (Or you can buy certain brands of quinoa that are pre-rinsed.)
  
• Place rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan and cover with 2 cups of cold water; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the grains are translucent and the germ has come out of each grain, about 15 minutes. Cover and remove from heat; let sit for 5 minutes.
  
• Spoon quinoa into a large bowl and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, finely chop tomatoes, reserving 2 tablespoons of the tomato juice; set tomatoes aside.
  
• In a cup, combine tomato juice, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and chives; stir well.
  
• When quinoa is at room temperature, stir in chopped tomatoes; add tomato vinaigrette and toss again. Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.