Quinoa Summer Salad - So Yummy!

I don't usually do recipes but I shared this a couple of years ago on Facebook and people still tell me all the time how much they dig it.

This recipe makes a gigantic bowl  -  enough for a week's worth of lunches, to bring to a big pot luck, or for sharing with hungry, vegetarian neighbors. Oh yeah! It's also gluten free. If you want to make less, just cut the proportions.

It's really yummy, it sort of tastes like the inside of a burrito. My husband and kids eat this and like it (though I have to serve it with some sort of grilled meat or the Cap'n doesn't consider it dinner because he's from Ohio).

Also, you can use rice instead of quinoa - no big whoop. But the whole thing about quinoa is that it has mystical superfood powers, so replace it and you decrease the amount protein & fiber and increase the amount of carbs & calories in the recipe.  

You can also eat this salad with chips or put it in a tortilla with some cheese and have it as a wrap, but in either of those cases, you're just adding calories.

The stuff you need:

(approx) 3 cups cooked quinoa (tastes better if cooked in broth rather than water) 

1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut each tomato in half - or a couple of cups of regular tomatoes diced. (In the picture above, I have yellow and red tomatoes chopped up.)

1 can sweet corn (or you can be fancy and scrape kernels off an ear of grilled corn like you're Tyler Florence's hot girlfriend. Wait. What? Never mind.)

1 can black beans (rinsed)

1 very small clove garlic minced, or a little onion finely diced, or can just leave out 

1 handful cilantro, finely chopped

2-3 firm avocados, cut into bite size chunks (you can't have enough avocado in your life)

salt and pepper to taste

the juice of one lime (try half a lime, see how it tastes - then use more if you want to. Can also use lemon).

You can also add:

Diced bell peppers

Chopped jalapeño

Baby carrots (because I ALWAYS HAVE THEM)
Whatever healthy thing floats your boat.
A couple of tablespoons of your favorite salsa (I have some homemade salsa in the picture above)

If you want to be super fancy:
Mix the juice of 2 limes with a tablespoon of honey (whisk it) and then add that to the mix. 

Here's a picture of it along with the nutritional information for the recipe (per CalorieCount.com). 

You might be wondering why there's so much fat and the answer is avocados. But they're a healthy fat and they taste like heaven, so you should eat them up all gone.

Also, this salad tastes great with a cold beer or a fruity Sangria or some icy seltzer with a wedge of lime.

Hope you like it!

(c) Mommyland Blogs 2013