January went too fast — I was away at a directing workshop in beautiful Banff, Alberta, and my vegetarian moviemaking efforts mostly consisted of eating spinach salad everyday with chick peas, and making one pot meals of couscous, mushrooms, chick peas, and tomato soup. Not that I’m complaining for one instant: the workshop was amazingly inspiring and wonderful.

But once back home, I realized I had to get back into my more varied salad making ways. So I offer two salads created this past weekend:

First up, red quinoa and baby romaine, with an olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing.

Ingredients (for two generous portions):

4 – 8 cups of baby romaine

1/2 cup canned chick peas

3/4 cup red quinoa (made in advance — this is great to have in the fridge)

1/2 avocado, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup goat cheese bits (optional; I realize this takes away from the vegan appeal of the salad)

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Mix it all together and enjoy!

And now, the second salad, a variation on the same theme:

Ingredients:

4-6 cups of organic baby spinach

1 navel orange, peeled and cut into cubes

1 cup organic baby romaine (had some left over from the day before)

1 cup organic shredded red and white cabbage and carrots (Whole Foods has this pre-made and packaged)

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup organic goat cheese (yeah… I know…)

1/2 avocado, cut into cubes

Dressing:

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs coarse grain mustard

1 spritz of lemon juice

1 tbs balsamic vinegar
Mix together and enjoy!