So I came home late from work exhausted. There was a refrigerator full of produce from the home patio garden, the community garden plot and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery a few days back. So I was full of produce but low on energy, not to mention zeroed out on inspiration. My mind toyed with the idea of just calling for pizza. But the produce seemed to call to me:  “No! don’t give up! Innovate! You can do it! Don’t give up!” Well, I had so little mental energy to innovate so I just went with the flow and started pulling things out of the refrigerator and the panty. One thing let to another and a flash of an idea led to another idea and, well, we ended up with an inspired dinner afterall. My eight year old son Calvin “loved it” and all was right in dinner land.

Here is how it went together:

Quinoa, Ham and Garden Vegetable Summer Salad

Freshly picked green beans steam blanched for about four minutes

Eggplant salted for about 20 minutes and then rinsed, cut and sauteed in olive oil until tender

(Put green beans and eggplant put in the freezer to chill them)

Sliced cherry tomatoes

Chopped cucumber

Crumbled feta cheese

Walnut pieces

Pumpkin seeds

Cubed cooked ham

All of the above tossed together and then set upon a bed of quinoa cooked up using chicken broth

Then everything sprinkled generously with a lime and cilantro vinaigrette

Enjoy!!