Pesto Quinoa Salad

Spring happened today. Actually, that was just a calendar thing. It didn't feel like spring today. But last week it did. That's when the sun came out to play, and when I started craving fresh summery foods. Like salad of random veggies and grains (not lettuce!). And basil. And garlic+nuts+oil+basil, which gives you pesto.
 
That's also when I took my container of aforementioned foods outside to lunch. Context: Out of the 15 buildings in my office complex, no one is outside eating, ever. There's just smokers by the smokers' doors. Then there's me: the strange girl who grabs a towel out of her car, finds the opportune spot for soaking up sun and plops down in the middle of the grass.

Oh, and my date for sunshiney lunch was Patti Callahan Henry's new book, And Then I Found You, which arrived that morning/a few days after I had written a story about it for Village Living. To keep this spring theme going, the plot is centered around the first day of spring, the day that the protagonist placed her daughter for adoption. The kind of book I liken to emotional candy, I ended up finishing in two late night sessions and getting excited whenever I came upon a Birmingham reference like Highlands Bar and Grill or Vulcan or the field by Mountain Brook Elementary.

Pesto Quinoa Salad

3 cups cooked red quinoa (about 1 cup uncooked)
1 batch Pesto
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped fine
2 tomatoes, chopped

Stir together all ingredients.