*you can buy beets already cooked in the produce section of most grocers, OR you can roast your own. (Which is what I recommend -- they are one of those foods that just tastes better homemade!) You can find my recipe for roasting beets HERE.

**To cook quinoa:

The ratio for making quinoa is 2:1 (two parts liquid to one part dry quinoa). You can use water, vegetable stock, chicken stock, or most any other liquid for cooking your quinoa. When using stocks, I always prefer to use low-sodium varieties so I can add salt according to my tastes.
To cook, add quinoa and liquid (for example, 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups liquid) to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed the liquid. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork. Season to taste.

For more flavorful quinoa, you can start by sauteing a bit of onion, garlic, or spices in a TBSP of olive oil, then add the quinoa and liquid to the pot and cook as normal. For this particular recipe, I like to keep the quinoa plain, seasoned very lightly with salt.

Quinoa expands a lot while cooking (just about tripling in volume), but I rarely cook less than 1 cup (dry) at a time. I portion any extra into baggies, and freeze them so I always have some on hand for quick recipes like this one.