Summer Quinoa Salad

It's officially summer.  Man does it feel good to say that, I mean there is nothing I love more than sunshine, pool days and a great suntan.  Annnd I'm sure you've noticed that my blog has seriously been lacking content these past few months!  Well that's because May was spent living in a hotel every weekend, one of those week's being right smack on the beach.  Yeah not complaining at all.  Well needless to say it had been at least 3 years since I had even seen the ocean (sinful I know) so I definitely soaked it all in with about 12 of my girlfriends and we had the absolute time of our lives.

It was a bachelorette party after all.

So aside from my traveling and just being plain BUSY, I finally got my life back and was so excited to dive right back into making recipes and photographing my food.  This salad is one I got the idea for while at the beach.  One of my girlfriends brought a quinoa salad and we literally just threw in any leftover veggies we had in the fridge.  This is simple, tasty and so insanely good for you!

Plus what better way to get rid of extra veggies before they go bad!

 I basically threw in all my favorites, everything from broccoli to sweet peppers, red onion and corn along with black beans and fresh basil.  I sautéed the veggies to really bring out their flavor and tossed the entire thing with a lemon balsamic dressing that is legit to DIE for.  You can use any type of quinoa you want, but I just thought the red was really pretty haha.

I'm such a female.

I love this salad because it's best served cold which means it is simply perfect for those picnics or all day BBQs, while at the beach, or in my case, great for weekly meal planning because it sure makes a ton!  Feel free to experiment with this too, next time I may add a little cumin or other seasoning and may try limes and cilantro instead of lemon and basil.  You can't go wrong with this veggie combination though!

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Servings: 12

Serving Size: 1/2 cup

Calories: 112

Fat: 1.9 g

Carbs: 19.9 g

Fiber: 3.6 g

Protein: 4.5 g

Old Points: 2 pts

Points+: 3 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1 red onion, chopped

7-8 sweet peppers, chopped

1 cup broccoli

1 cup corn

1 can black beans, rinsed

Juice of 2 lemons

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 packet Stevia

Handful fresh basil, chopped

To make quinoa, rinse and soak for about 10 minutes in warm water.  Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan and drain quinoa and add to boiling water.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Turn heat off and allow quinoa to sit for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.  Allow quinoa to cool before adding in the rest of the salad.  

Meanwhile, sauté onion and sweet peppers with just a bit of olive oil until onion is translucent and peppers are soft, about 3 minutes.  Add mixture to cooled quinoa then add broccoli, corn and black beans, mixing well.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, Stevia and red pepper flakes.  Add to salad and toss well.  Once salad is coated, add fresh basil and allow to sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

 I swear the more I make quinoa, the more I absolutely love it!  For more of my favorite quinoa recipes, feel free to try out my Chia Seed Quinoa Muffins, my Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Cereal or even these Spring Herb Quinoa Patties!

Enjoy lovelies!

  

IKLAN BAWAH ARTIKEL dan

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