The Best Quinoa Salad... Ever!
Hands down, this is my most favorite lunch, EVER, for two reasons. First, it's just that freakin' good and every time I make it I seriously have to calm myself down and have patience to wait until lunch to eat it. Second, it's got it all! Quinoa (whole grain, protein, butt-load of nutrition), fruit (raisins), veggies (red & green peppers), nuts (pine nuts), an herb (cilantro), and other super healthy ingredients. I make this just about every week, and it lasts til Wednesday or Thursday, depending on if Elle eats some or not. She likes it - I'll put some in a wrap if I have any and she loves it. It's a hot mess if she eats it straight out of the bowl, but I'll take a mess any day if she's eating good.
At IIN, they stressed the imporance of "cook once, eat twice" when Clean Eating - or when eating in general. You shouldn't be slaving in the kitchen every day making fancy smancy meals - we keep things simple here, and that's the way I stay sane. This dish can be a breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, or appetizer (think of a dry salsa).
I usually make the entire bag or box of quinoa, scoop out what I need for this, and keep the rest in the fridge for our cereal, adding some to DIY yogurt, or anything else I can add it too. I even add it to my scrambled eggs sometimes. Why? Why not!?
The nice part about ANY salad, is that you can customize it to your liking. Don't like peppers? Add another veggie that you do like. This exact recipe is how I love it, but your perfect recipe may be different. As long as you are adding in veggies, you're good!
Oh, and when you learn how to toast pine nuts, you'll want to add them to EVERYTHING. They are so much better that way! (Directions on how to do this below).
FYI: When cooking quinoa, it's 2 cups water per 1 cup quinoa.
QUINOA SALAD (pronounced keen-wah)
INGREDIENTS
3 cups cooked quinoa
¾ cup dried fruit – I used raisins
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted (directions on how to toast pine nuts below)
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 bell pepper of any color, diced (I used red & green, mostly to add in color)
Dressing
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of salt
DIRECTIONS
Mix all salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
In a separate, smaller bowl whisk together all dressing ingredients.
Pour the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly. Can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge. Mine usually keeps about 5 days.
HOW TO TOAST PINE NUTS:
Heat a medium frying pan on Medium heat.
You'll want to wait and make sure the pan is ready before putting the nuts on.
Add nuts to the pan, spreading out into 1 even layer.
Wait about a minute, then 'shake' the pan to get most to flip over. You should notice the brown color on ones that have flipped.
Keep 'flipping' until most nuts are toasted, but not getting burnt. This process should only take about 2 minutes total.
Remove pan from heat and immediately transfer nuts to salad (they will continue to toast if left on pan).
