Mexican Quinoa Salad
Monday, July 15, 2013From our skinny table to yours ...
Today we are switching up the typical pasta salad and making a cold quinoa salad! Quinoa is one of our favorite protein sources. If you haven't yet tried quinoa, what are you waiting for? It's super easy to make, heart healthy & high in fiber and protein making it a delicious winner all around.
We start with two cups of cold cooked quinoa (1 cup dry makes 2 cups cooked) and mix in fresh avocado, red bell pepper, ripe tomatoes, corn, black beans and fresh cilantro. Our salad dressing is a light and citrusy lime vinaigrette. We simply whisk together lime juice & olive oil and season it up with garlic, onion and a touch of brown sugar for sweetness.
This recipe makes 6-8 (6 as a full lunch or 8 as a side dish!) servings and is the perfect 'pasta' salad for summer BBQs as there is no mayo. We served this up as a side dish for dinner but we were happy to have leftovers for lunch for the next couple days :)
Hope you enjoy this Mexican twist on the typical pasta salad!
Nutrition Facts Per Serving
Serves 8
Calories 274
Fat 10.7 grams
Carbs 38.5 grams
Dietary Fiber 8.4 grams
Protein 9.5 grams
Ingredients
1 cup dry quinoa
1 tomato
1 red pepper
1 avocado
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans
1 cup cilantro
3 limes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt & Pepper
Let's Get Cooking!
1. Cook 1 cup dry quinoa according to package directions. Refrigerate to chill.
2. To make dressing, combine juice of 3 limes, olive oil, garlic, onion and brown sugar. Whisk to combine.
3. Chop avocado, tomato and red bell pepper. Add to dressing.
4. Add corn and black beans (if you use canned, make sure to rinse them to remove the excess sodium!) to salad.
5. Stir in quinoa and cilantro.
6. Season with salt & pepper ... Enjoy!
Makes 6-8 healthy portions :)
5 comments
Totally making this soon! I actually just bought quinoa and I've beed craving Mexican, so this is perfect! Thank you (:
ReplyDeletexo, Hima
Hima Hearts
Yum!! That looks so good!!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so delicious and I love quinoa, since I have to cook vegetarion every day and don't want to use all the same basic ingredients like pasta or potatoes everyday quinoa is just amazing.
ReplyDeletexoxo
All Saints Day
Weekly Wishes #2
New follower here! I found your blog from the Let's Get Social Sunday Blog Hop! You ladies are too cute, I'm also health obsessed, hence the degree in Nutrition ;) Love this read :)
ReplyDeletehttp://hellonewlywedlife.blogspot.com/
This recipe sounds so good. I wish my family were more adventurous. I think I'd be the only one eating it. (Maybe not such a bad things but that takes the "skinny" out of it if I eat it all myself, right?)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing this on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!