Honey Glazed Carrots with Golden Tomatoes and Garlicky Quinoa

K was right when she said that we sisters love quinoa.   This is a recipe from a few nights ago that I was reminded to post when a blog search with the word "quinoa"  turned up a variety of results.  It's a bit of a spin on basic idea of the Curried Pineapple Quinoa I posted recently, so my apologies if you begin to feel quinoa-ed out (I have a warm-salad-with-quinoa-recipe I will also be posting soon).  I love how many different spins this grain can have, and was pleased that this recipe that I threw together was equally delicious as its inspiration, yet entirely different.

I bought some carrots from a farmer's market, and figured their farm fresh glory deserved to shine in a dish built for them.  Remembering how simple the curried quinoa was, I tweaked it, replaced spices, found a great carrot recipe which I also tweaked, and tossed it together to create this:
For Quinoa:
1 1/2 cups veggie or chicken broth

3/4 cup quinoa

2 teaspoons lemon garlic spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Lemon zest

Lemon juice

For tomatoes:

A quarter of a red onion

1 clove garlic, minced

About 1/2 pint golden cherry tomatoes

For the carrots: 

1 bunch carrots

1 small head garlic, halved

Coarse salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons honey

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Bring broth, quinoa, lemon garlic spice powder, salt, and pepper to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Dice onion and sauté with garlic and olive oil for a few minutes.  Toss in as many cherry tomatoes as you like.  Sauté until onion is tender and cherry tomatoes have cooked down until they begin to char and burst.

Place carrots and garlic in a separate pan, salt and cover with water. Simmer about 10 minutes or until tender. Remove carrots and garlic, and set aside, clean pan. Heat to medium high. Add oil, honey, rosemary, and 1 tablespoon water and cook until bubbling. Add carrots and garlic and cook, stirring, until coated and slightly caramelized, about 5 minutes.

Combine quinoa, carrots and tomatoes and enjoy.