
Vegetable Quinoa Salad
This is an easy salad to throw together using the veggies listed below and a few pantry staples or you can swap the veggies for your taste and preference. I love recipes like this that let me use up what I have on hand to make a quick substantial salad to use for the week.
Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups water
- ¾ cup dry quinoa
- 1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained, rinsed (you can sub black beans, pulled roasted chicken, sliced steak, or cooked shrimp)
- 1 (6-oz.) bag baby spinach (approx. 2 cups)
- 1½ cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise, then quartered
- 1 large English cucumber, chopped
- 1 medium colored bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium avocado, chopped
- ½ medium red onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup. olive oil
- 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (approx. 2 lemons, juiced)
- 1 tsp. Sea salt (or Himalayan salt) and
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
- Bring water and quinoa to a boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; gently boil, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until quinoa is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Transfer warm quinoa to a large bowl. Add, chickpeas (or protein of choice), spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, avocado, onion, oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper (if desired); toss gently to blend.
- Serve warm or refrigerate and enjoy cold for a quick lunch or dinner.