Warm Quinoa Salad and Scallops

This was dinner.  

I had a version of quinoa salad from Bacchus recently, so I decided to try my own.  I made 1/2 C quinoa according to the directions on the box (making quinoa is like cooking rice - one part quinoa and two parts water).  I started the quinoa and removed it from heat, covered, once it was cooked.

While the quinoa began cooking, I quickly chopped a parsnip and began heating it in an oiled pan.  Then I chopped half a small yellow onion and added that to the parsnips.  After about three minutes, I added a splash of orange juice, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and a splash of rum.  I let the parsnips simmer for a couple minutes, and then I added a chopped gala apple, raisins, and chopped apricots.  I added a dash of the following: nutmeg, garlic powder, the tiniest amount of ginger powder, and tarragon.  I added a splash more of the orange juice and rum.  I covered and simmered until the parsnips were tender.

While that mixture was simmering, it was perfect scallops time.  In a small saucepan, I heated a bit of butter.  Once it melted, I added six scallops.  I sauteed the scallops in the butter for about 2-3 minutes per side.

To make the warm salad complete, I mixed the parsnip stuff with the quinoa, and I sprinkled crushed roasted hazlenuts atop the salad (the hazlenuts were roasted vestiges from an earlier recipe).  I placed the scallops next to the quinoa salad, snapped a few pictures, and that was that.  And I even have plenty of quinoa salad and scallops for another meal.

I think my dinner lacked something green.  Next time I will eat scoop the quinoa salad on top of a bed of spinach.  Or maybe I will add fresh basil.  Who knows.  There's always tomorrow to practice with the leftovers.