California Quinoa Salad

This recipe from Damn Delicious is a "copycat recipe" inspired by a salad at Whole Foods. I've never tried this salad before but the combination of ingredients (mango, red pepper, coconut, raisins, red onion, lime, cilantro) looked interesting to me so thought I should give it a try.

This salad was light and fresh tasting, and had a unique flavour.  I will definitely be making it again!

A few notes:

• I didn't add mangos. Sold out at 2 grocery stores. Who knows, maybe it would have made the salad even better! If anything, it may have made the salad too sweet for me - I felt the raisins and coconut had enough of a subtle sweetness.
• The orange in the picture is an orange bell pepper as I only had half a red bell pepper
• I toasted the sliced almonds
• Not stated in the recipe but I seasoned (to taste) with salt and pepper

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas, Cucumbers, Lemon, Dill, & Feta

This recipe is from Two Peas & Their Pod.  I liked this salad - light, fresh, and quick to prepare.  Using dill was a nice change too with it's very distinct flavour!  This salad held up well the next day - when I was eating it I thought it would be a good one to bring to a potluck.

Quinoa Salad

This recipe is inspired by a quinoa salad I had at Prairie Ink Restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Ingredients:
Salad

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 1/2 c almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup carrot, peeled and grated (this is approximately one 6-8" carrot)
• 2 small tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4 cup corn
• 3/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 shallot, finely diced (or 1/4 cup red onion, diced)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 to 4 cups arugula

Dressing

• 1 or 2 limes, juiced (this is about 5-6 tbsp if you have juicy limes)
• zest of 1 lime
• 1 heaping tsp cumin
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp honey (optional)

Directions:

1) Cook quinoa according to package directions. Cool.

2) Toast almonds* 

3) Prepare dressing by whisking ingredients in a small bowl.

4) In a large bowl, combine quinoa, carrots, tomatoes, corn, black beans, chickpeas, shallot and cilantro and mix gently.

5)  Add dressing to salad.  Salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, toss with arugula. Garnish with toasted almonds.

*Throw almonds into a pan, cook on low-medium heat, and stir occasionally until golden brown.  No need for butter or oil.

Notes: 

• I kept a little reserve dressing and lightly tossed arugula in it before adding to salad.
• I kept the arugula separate from the main salad until ready to serve because I wanted to eat the salad the next day and was unsure if the arugula would be soggy
• I used a blend of red, black and white quinoa

This salad was great, I will definitely be making it again!

Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Beets

I am trying to experiment with vegetables I don't normally use.  I found this recipe with beets at Taste of Home.  I liked this salad - easy to make and very tasty.  I especially enjoyed the subtle flavour of the beets.

A few notes:
I cooked the beets a little differently than this recipe suggests.  First, I peeled the beets.  Then I chopped them into bite sized pieces. Finally, I steamed the beets on the stove for about 15 minutes.

Bocconcini and Oregano Salad

This salad is from the cookbook Quinoa 365 and posted with permission from the publisher at CookThatBook.

I actually didn't have bocconcini so you can see in the pictures that I used a bit of feta instead.  This quinoa salad was good, but not spectacular. I would like to try this recipe again with the bocconcini and fresh (rather than dry) oregano.

Quinoa, Pomegranate, Almond and Feta Salad

This recipe is from cooking-spree.  This salad was awesome, beautiful colours and nice flavours.

Note: For the quinoa part, I used a blend of white and black.

Kale and Butternut Squash Salad

Here is a new salad I tried.  I was inspired by some super juicy dried apricots I bought and decided that they needed to go in a salad.

Kale and Butternut Squash Salad

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 4 dried apricots, chopped
• 1/3 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/2 avocado, chopped
• 4 cups baby kale
• 1 tbsp chia seeds, optional

Dressing:

• 3 tbsp oil (or olive oil)
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Peel and core butternut squash.  Cut into bite size cubes. Place squash in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread squash on baking sheet and bake for 35 min or until squash is tender.

2) Toast almonds in pan on medium heat until golden brown. No oil or butter necessary.  Just remember to stir occasionally or else the almonds will burn!

3) Combine ingredients for dressing and whisk.

4) Prepare rest of salad ingredients.

5) In a large bowl, lightly toss kale, apricots, green onion and avocado.  Drizzle dressing on salad a little bit at a time, toss to incorporate.  Divide salad onto plates.  Top with "just out of the oven" butternut squash and almonds (optional: chia seeds).

Serving size: 2-4

Asian Quinoa Salad

Recipe from two peas & their pod.

I really wanted to love this salad, beautiful colours and individually the ingredients are things I like. But, unfortunately for me, the end flavour just wasn't something that I really enjoyed.