Quick & Easy Quinoa Salad

It’s safe to say that I’ve had no less than ten spreadsheets, Word docs, and PowerPoint presentations open at any one time since the start of this week. It’s reporting time at my consulting job, and it just so happens that monthly and quarterly reports are due at the same time. The only thing more fun than pulling four month’s worth of data and trying to “tell a story” (if one more person says that with regard to analytics, I swear…), is when PowerPoint decides to crash every time you hit the save button. But hey, at least my crappy work laptop is getting internet this week.

I’m very much an anti-procrastinator when it comes to work. I like to get things done as soon as possible so that I can cross them off my ever-present mental to-do list, and also allow time for last-minute requests or edits. This works out really well for my co-workers (if I say I’ll get a deliverable to them, I will, and it will probably be early). However, when I have something like two reports to do for four accounts in the span of three days, on top of whatever other projects I’m working on, it sends me into a bit of a tizzy.

I put off eating breakfast until it’s lunch, “forget” to change out of pajamas, and yesterday, I spent all morning powering through sixty slides for a meeting today, only to realize when I looked at my schedule that I prepped the presentation for the wrong client. Shit.

But one thing I am not willing to sacrifice in the interests of work? Lunch. Breakfast might get pushed back or consist of a handful of almonds shoved in my face, but I need that hour at lunch time to slow down, re-fuel, and not look at Google Analytics.

This quinoa salad is perfect for those days when you have a million spreadsheets open, your computer keeps throwing in the towel, and you have to talk to a client in an hour. It’s got crunchy, salty, and sweet covered, and requires just ten minutes of prep work to make lunches for the entire week. YES.