BLT (Bacon, Lemon & Tomato) Quinoa Salad and Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies

This recipe popped up on facebook the other day and I figured it would be a good meal for dinner on a Monday night. I happened to have everything on hand that I needed for the recipe and that made it a lot less stressful to get dinner on the table.

My dad loves a good BLT sandwich and he grows tomatoes in his garden, so BLT's were always a lunch staple of his in the summer. I personally didn't really like bacon or mayo (I still don't) back then, so I always just watched my dad put these sandwiches together and remember hearing about how good they were.

This salad is really good and the interesting thing is that it really tastes like a BLT. Somehow, the combination of the ingredients, makes you feel like you are eating a sandwich. I know that is crazy, but it's true. In this salad, the lettuce has been switched out to lemon, which adds a brightness to the salad, in color and flavor. I added black beans for fun and roasted some broccoli in the oven to round out our dinner.

That same night we still had lots of lemons and the kids wanted me to make a quick cookie. I found this one on myrecipes and decided it would be easy to throw them together at the last minute. My kids really liked these. They reminded us of these Cornmeal Lime Cookies in taste and texture.

Here is the recipe for BLT Quinoa Salad
* I cooked my quinoa in chicken broth to add more flavor
* I added drained, rinsed black beans
* I tossed my salad with a little bit of olive oil, along with the lemon juice and vinegar

Here is the recipe for Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies
* I added the juice of 1 lemon to the cookie dough, after mixing in the flour mixture