Summer Quinoa Salad

It's been a gorgeous summer... Sometimes a salad is in order as your main dish!

With summer being here, my daugthers and I love to kick it to local farmer's markets! It is a win/win/win. We have fun shopping together, we support local farmers, (local economy) AND we get to eat fresh local produce!

Quinoa is a fantastic, versatile product, that is used like a grain, but is really a seed! It is nutritious, is gluten and grain free, and is considered a SUPER food! Plus, it tastes great.

I normally throw together my salads, but in case anyone asks what I did, what is the recipe, I decided to measure, and to pay attention!

Summer Quinoa Salad

2 C quinoa uncooked
1 cucumber diced
1 zucchini diced
1/2 C sweet corn
1 lg tomato diced
1 avocado diced
1 pepper diced

Dressing
1/4 C raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
2 garlic cloves chopped or pressed
1 tsp raw honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Cook quinoa as directed. I put 2 C quinoa and 4 C water in a sauce pan, brought to a boil. Then turn down and simmer for approx. 12 minutes. Allow quinoa to cool.

Put all of the ingredients of the dressing in a jar, and shake well, and put into the fridge. Alternatively, you could blend ingredients in a blender. But why clean the blender? The dressing will meld flavors, as your quinoa cools.

Dice your veg, and put into a mixing bowl. When quinoa is cool, everything goes into the mixing bowl except avocado. Mix avocado in last, as it breaks apart easily... and voila! Summer salad, using a super food, and magically healthy produce from the market!

*Today I used a 10 oz. can of diced Mexican tomatoes. We ate all of our fresh tomatoes!
*I normally would dice an onion and have that in the salad. This might the first time ever, I didn't have onion in a quinoa salad or side dish.
*You could use lemon juice in lieu of vinegar as your acid in the dressing. 1/4 C lemon juice, or 1 lemon freshly squeezed.
*You could throw in 1/4 C chopped nuts of choice.
*Omit the corn for a grain-free salad. That would make it Paleo for those who are interested!

This salad could be made with veggies of choice. I used what I had on hand!

Yours in health,
Natalie