Cucumber Spears with Whipped Feta and Quinoa

These Cucumber Spears are served overtop spicy quinoa and topped with whipped feta and roasted chickpeas. They’re delicious as a side dish or a full meal in themselves!

Oh well hi there! How was your holiday weekend? I gotta be honest, we kept things pretty low-key but also ate a TON of food, hence why I’m sharing these lighter cucumber spears with you today. ….when I say “lighter” just know that they’re covered in cheese so lighter is sort of a loose term. 

ANYWAY.

Let’s break down the weekend, shall we? I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I’ve been dealing with some sort of sinus headache cold thing for close to three weeks now, and though I was hoping it would work itself out on its own, it’s not SO I’m headed to the doctors later this week so hopefully they can tell me what’s up. Sinus headaches=not fun. That aside, Miguel and I spent Saturday afternoon walking around Sewickley, a town slightly outside the city with cute shops and restaurants. We ate at Mambo Italia and each got our own pizza, and I also stumbled upon two separate and equally adorable kitchen/home stores. I can and will never own enough props. Easter was spent at my grandma’s house eating EVERYTHING, which is truly what holidays are for so I said bring on the food. 

But, today is a new day and the start of a new week and today I’m saying bring on the cucumber spears! These cukes can be enjoyed as an entire meal as pictured, served with cheese, quinoa and roasted chickpeas, or they could simply be eaten as a snack with the whipped feta only. I used sazon y azafran to flavor the quinoa, but alternatively you could serve it with A) cajun seasoning or B) simply with salt and pepper. For the seasonings, I’d start with 1 tsp and go from there—you don’t want to add too much! 

The whipped feta is a combination of crumbled feta cheese, cream cheese and yogurt, and it’s kind of the star of the recipe. If you haven’t made it before, you’re going to want to ASAP.

Essentially, these cucumber spears are perfect for the warm weather months and are a healthy (ish) yet decadent meal!

Cucumber Spears with Whipped Feta and Quinoa

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cucumbers sliced in half
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 tsp sazon y azafran or cajun seasoning
• 1 can 16 oz. chickpeas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 tsp sazon y azafran or cajun seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh parsley for garnish
• For the whipped feta:
• 4 oz. crumbled feta cheese at room temperature
• 5 tbsp cream cheese
• 2 tbsp plain yogurt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425°. Drain and rinse chickpeas and then pat them dry with a towel or paper towels; pour chickpeas into a bowl and add olive oil, seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir and then place chickpeas onto a baking sheet and roast chickpeas for 20-30 minutes, or until they're nice and crispy.
• Meanwhile, slice cucumbers in half and set aside.
• Cook quinoa according to instructions on the package. Once quinoa is cooked, stir in the seasoning.
• While chickpeas are roasting and quinoa is cooking, make the feta. Add feta cheese to a bowl and stir with an electric mixer. Alternatively, you can throw it in the food processor and pulse until smooth. Add the cream cheese and yogurt and continue mixing until feta and smooth.
• To assemble: place quinoa on a plate and top it with cucumbers, feta and chickpeas.
• Sprinkle with fresh parsley and enjoy!

Author: The Almond Eater