Fast Dinner, Mixed Reviews

So I love Pinterest, I get a lot of ideas from friends, family, and others for all kinds of things from home decorating to vintage items to just stuff in general.  And I NEVER spend too much time looking for new things to post (you don't either, right?).  Well I also look for good gluten-free vegan recipes to try.  My latest was the Spinach Quinoa salad in the picture above.  The tempeh was easy enough...I mixed equal parts of maple syrup and hickory barbeque sauce together (about a half a cup or so...I'm not really big on measuring) and maybe a teaspoon or two of olive oil to keep stuff from sticking.  Then I just sliced up a few blocks of tempeh, coated them in the sauce, and broiled them for a few minutes of each side.  You could do that with seitan, tofu, or whatever.  I love to broil, as things get a little crispier!  The salad, on the other hand, was something that I had been wanting to try, so I purchased all the ingredients a week ago and thought I might give it a go tonight.  I was tired from working all day, so this was actually not a bad recipe.  It was pinned from the website Gluten-Free Goddess.  Here it is:

What you need:
1 cup organic quinoa (get instant, trust me)
Sea salt
2 good handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained
1 large ripe pear, cut into pieces (my pear went bad before I could make this, so I used apple)
1/2 cup chilled chick peas, rinsed, drained (forgot the chick peas, it was still great, haha)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A handful of pecans, pan toasted and salted to taste (my husband, bless his heart, bought walnuts instead of pecans...and because I was tired, I didn't toast...again, it was still good...this recipe is one you can get creative with)
Dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
What to do:
Place the quinoa in a saucepan or a rice cooker. Add 2 cups fresh water, and a pinch of sea salt. Cover and cook on a low simmer until all the water is evaporated and the quinoa is tender- roughly 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and dump it into a large salad bowl.
Add the baby spinach, pear, chick peas, and chopped parsley to the quinoa and fluff.
Whisk together the vinaigrette, pour it over the quinoa salad and toss gently to coat. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper.
Just before serving, add the toasted pecans and lightly combine.
Makes four main course servings, six side dish servings.

The review from the fam: half and half.  My daughter and I loved both the tempeh and the salad, it was very yummy.  My husband (even though he purchased the ingredients) would not even put the salad on his plate because he decided that he hates quinoa...plus, he put the tempeh between two pieces of bread.  Ten minutes later he had a plate of french fries...fail.  AND in turn my six year old also hates quinoa, now (gee, so suddenly)...but he's part mine so I MADE him eat some because it is so GOOD for you.  I am mean mommy now, of course.  If you have picky eaters, you may want to skip this meal and make veggie dogs and french fries instead.  For something different if you have a family with an adventurous palate, this was a winner in my book!!  Bon Appetite!