Spicy Egg Salad Sandwiches, Quinoa with Greens and Apricot Oat Bars

This was our menu tonight. It was filling without being heavy, healthy yet comforting. And it was quick. I really wasn't feeling it as far as making dinner, so it was nice to have a good meal without having to work too hard for it. Since everyone has different preferences for how... dressed.. they like their egg salad, and we each have our own threshold for spiciness, feel free to tailor this recipe to your liking. As for the salad, throw on whatever veggies you have on hand, whether frozen, raw or cooked.

Spicy Egg Salad Sandwiches
5 eggs, hard boiled
1/4 C mayonnaise
1 dill pickle, diced
S&P to taste
Sriracha or other hot sauce
crunchy, nutty whole grain bread

Cut/mash up the eggs in a bowl. Just make sure there aren't any big pieces hanging out, they don't have to be uniform slices. Add the mayonnaise a little at a time until desired wetness is reached. Toss in the pickles and season until it tastes good. Then, add hot sauce 1/8 tsp at a time and mix thoroughly until it's as hot as you want. Toast your bread and top it!
I'm betting there are some eyes rolling out there, as this isn't even a real recipe. Silence nay-sayers! It's tasty, and good, and easy. And I would make it again and again. So THAT is why it made it to this blog.

Quinoa with Greens
1 C quinoa, rinsed
1 C frozen peas or other veggies
S&P to taste
Salad greens (we like Organic Girl's Good Clean Greens 50/50 mix)
Light vinaigrette, honey mustard or cilantro-lime dressing

Boil quinoa in a large pot of salted water. It should take between 10 and 12 minutes, just like pasta. Drain it using a fine mesh strainer. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer, pour out most the water, put a doubled up layer of paper towels in your colander and then pour the quinoa out of the pot. Put the hot quinoa in a bowl and toss with your veggies, adding salt and pepper. Put in the fridge until it's cool(at least room temp, if not colder).
Plate a serving of greens onto each plate and top with a few heaping spoonfuls of your quinoa/veggie mix. Drizzle with a bit of dressing for flavor (not for swimming in). Yum!

Apricot Oat Bars
I'm not going to lie. I stole this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis. It smells like heaven out of the oven, with its warm cinnamon, crunchy oats and sticky apricot preserves.

Filling:
1 1/4 C apricot preserves
8 dried apricots, chopped

Crust:
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 C brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
1 3/4 C oats
1 C chopped walnuts (or pecans!)
1 C butter, melted
1 egg, at room temperature, beaten
1 t vanilla extract

Put your rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, mix the jam and the apricots. Set aside.
In a big bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir in the oats and nuts. Add the melted butter, egg and vanilla and stir until it's all gooey and mixed together.

Make sure your hands are clean and press half of the crust mixture into the bottom of the baking dish you just greased. Then, spread the filling over the crust leaving a tiny 1/2 inch border around the edge of the pan. Cover the filling with the remaining crust mixture and press it ever so lightly to flatten it out.
Bake about 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool for 1 hour, if you can keep your paws off it that long!

PS. Don't cut into it too soon, or it'll just crumble into a million delicious pieces. It's worth it to wait just a little while so it can be enjoyed in large forkfuls.