Gaby From What's Gaby Cooking Dishes on the Brown-Bag Challenge

quinoa cowboy caviar salad

In case you haven't heard, FN Dish is participating in Healthy Eats' Brown-Bag Challenge. The challenge: Bring your lunch to work each weekday for the month of September. We know this isn't an easy feat, so we've asked some of our favorite food bloggers to share their experience and favorite recipes to help keep everyone motivated.

This week, Gaby Dalkin from What's Gaby Cooking is getting us through the work-week with her easy Quinoa Cowboy Caviar.

I've always been a brown-bag luncher. It wasn't always by choice, but I'm glad I started this habit early in life.

My mom always sent my sister and me to school with a lunchbox. To be honest, I was totally embarrassed because all my friends got to order the hot lunch at school, and I was stuck with something from home. But my mom wasn't into us eating pizza every day for lunch so there was just no way around it. In high school I had a little more freedom, and I bought lunch a few days a week. After the initial excitement of eating whatever was in the cafeteria that day, I decided I preferred bringing my lunch from home and begged my mom to continue to pack my lunch. In college I strategically scheduled my classes so I had time to run home and whip up a quick salad or something semi-healthy to get me through the day. And now, in the real world, I’m still all about packing lunches and planning ahead.

It’s pretty safe to say that the brown-bag lunch challenge is totally my jam. I'm so excited to be participating in this challenge with other fabulous food lovers across the country and reading about their journeys while sharing my own. It's been a little tough, only because, as much as I love packing my lunch, I usually schedule quite a few lunch meetings during the week -- but I've just started pushing them back to dinner or suggesting picnics in the park here in Los Angeles.

One of my all-time favorite brown-bag lunches is a loaded quinoa salad. Quinoa not only fills me up, but it's full of protein and is a great base for whatever else you plan on adding. Lately, I've been throwing in some cowboy caviar, which consists of fresh corn, black beans, red bell peppers, red onions, avocado and a quick squeeze of lime juice to give it that pop. It's amazing -- it's filling and gets me through that 3 o'clock slump. Not to mention it's ridiculously easy to make.

To make my life even easier, I usually make a big batch of this Sunday night and then just divvy it up for lunch every day and throw in my avocado right before it’s time to eat. You could easily throw in other ingredients if you want; it’s excellent with chopped grilled chicken, skirt steak or sautéed zucchini.

Quinoa Cowboy Caviar
1 cup cooked quinoa
¼ cup fresh corn, cut off the cob
¼ cup cooked black beans
¼ cup red bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 avocado, cut into small pieces (or guacamole – whatever you prefer)

Cook the quinoa according to the package instructions.

Meanwhile combine the corn, black beans, red bell pepper and red onion in a bowl. Toss to combine.

Add the cooked quinoa into the mixture, and add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Add chopped avocado right before serving.

If you'd like to share your brown-bag lunch story, email fndish@aol.com.

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