Quinoa Salad

​It's good to have friends who eat healthy because it inspires me to eat healthier food when I am around them.  A couple of weekends ago, we met some friends at the pool for a Friday night birthday celebration.  I couldn't quite decide what to take for my vegan friend but when I ran across this recipe for a quinoa salad on Wholeliving.com, I decided to give it a try.  I modified the recipe slightly and it turned out to be a delicious pool side dinner salad.  

Quinoa Salad
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt
1 1/2 cups quinoa, thoroughly rinsed and drained (about 4 cups cooked)
2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
1 medium red pepper, diced  (I substituted smaller red, yellow and orange peppers.)
1 large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and diced (I used a zucchini.)
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (I only used a 1/2)
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 ripe medium tomatoes, cored and cut in thin wedges
1 ripe avocado, pitted and thinly sliced
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

Bring 2 3/4 cups water to boil in a small saucepan and stir in the quinoa and some salt. (I used unsalted vegetable stock instead of water.)  Return to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat, place corn kernels on top of quinoa, cover pan, and let stand for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, garlic, oil, and salt to taste.

Combine corn, red pepper, cucumber, 
scallions, jalapeno, and cilantro in large bowl.

​Add quinoa. 

Add dressing and salt to taste; mix until combined.

​Arrange tomato and avocado around quinoa. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds over salad. Serve immediately or hold briefly at room temperature.

The quinoa salad was delicious.  I made way too much salad so after a couple days of enjoying the quinoa, I put the rest in the freezer for another day.  I am planning to make another big batch to take to a family reunion this weekend.  I hope that they like it as much as I do.

Ciao!

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