My quinoa salad has been a work in progress. I have created so many different quinoa recipes with so many different ingredients, but this one is the most colorful and crunchy!!! My sons both love it...it has become a requested staple when they come home from California to visit.
Quinoa is a super food! It is one of the few plant based sources of complete protein...it contains all nine essential amino acids. One cup of quinoa contains 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, 30% DV magnesium, 15% DV iron, and 19% DV omega 3 fatty acids. It cooks quickly, tastes nutty and yummy...what more could you ask for???
I like to buy "rainbow quinoa" which is a mixture of all 3 varieties of quinoa... white, red, and black. You can also use just one color, if you prefer. I just like all the different colors. It really all tastes the same. I also buy sweetened dried cranberries. Also note the apple cider vinegar is Bragg's brand, my favorite. I added the hemp hearts for their health benefits as well as crunch. The hemp seed has Omega 6 and Omega 3 essential fatty acids that have heart health and anti inflammatory benefits. We put hemp hearts in our smoothies every morning, so if you buy them for this recipe try throwing a tablespoon in your smoothie.
Quinoa cooks quickly. Like rice you add twice as much water as quinoa. In this recipe its 1 1/2 cups quinoa to 3 cups water. Only takes 20 minutes to cook. Notice the little halos around each grain, this is how it looks after it has cooked.
It is important to toast your almonds and pine nuts in this recipe. It brings out the flavor and the color looks more appetizing. I used to toast nuts in the oven, but I would often burn them. So now I dry roast them in a saute pan on medium heat. Let them heat up in the pan about 5 minutes, once you smell them start to stir them every once in a while for another 5 minutes until they are golden like above. I use toasted almonds and pine nuts so often in recipes and salads that when I buy them I toast the whole bag and keep in the freezer. They taste great on a salad on a week night when you do not not to fool with toasting them!
The secret to this recipe is cutting all the vegetables small so you when you take a bite you get a little bit of everything. To prepare the carrots, peel first, then cut longways down the middle. Lay the flat side down and cut thin strips. Then cut the strips into small carrot dices.
For green onions, first cut a little off each end, then peel one layer off the lower white part. The easiest way is to just peel off one outer layer of the green branch and the outer layer of the white will come off with it.
I know it seems strange to chop cranberries, but as I mentioned before taking a bite of the salad and getting a little taste of everything is the goal here. So just chop the cranberries a little bit...for a since of scale you can see the 2 cranberries on the left that have not been chopped.
To chiffonade the basil, stack the leaves on top of each other. Then roll them up like a cigar and then thinly slice. You will have created basil chiffonade. Now you are cooking like a pro!!
Once the quinoa has cooled you can add all the other ingredients. This salad actually tastes better the next day...all the flavors combine overnight.
QUINOA SALAD RECIPE
Serves 8 as a side dish (11 cups)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (if you like things spicy)
- 1 cup carrots, finely diced
- 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
- 1 cup green onions, chopped
- 3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries, roughly chopped
- 10 basil leaves , slice into strands (can be more or less than 10)
- 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1/4 cup hemp hearts
- 1 cup crumbled feta (or 6 oz package)
PREPARATION
- Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in medium saucepan. Add quinoa, stir, and cover. Reduce to medium/medium low. You want it to simmer.
- Simmer 20 minutes, turn off heat and let rest for 5 minutes.
- While quinoa is cooking mix olive oil, cider vinegar (make sure and shake the apple cider bottle...all the good stuff is at the bottom), garlic, and red pepper flakes.
- Transfer quinoa to large bowl and stir in liquid mixture while quinoa is warm. It will absorb the flavors more when it is warm!
- While quinoa is cooling ( you can throw it in the fridge if you want to speed things up) chop your veggies.
- Toast your almonds and pine nuts on the stove as mentioned above.
- Once quinoa is no longer warm add all remaining ingredients and stir to combine. If you add the veggies and cheese to the warm quinoa it will make the veggies soggy and melt the cheese!
SERVING SUGGESTION
This salad is great as a side dish, or served on a bed of spinach or arugula, topped with poached salmon, chicken or avocado as a healthy lunch or dinner.
Note: You can halve the recipe, but if you do you will be sad since you will eat it all...and you will wish you made more...just sayin!!