Power Quinoa Salad

Healthy but Tasty Quinoa Salad

Oh, Quinoa... how I love your complete protein goodness. I became quinoa crazy the other day. I made such a large batch that I've been eating this stuff for 3 days. Mmmmmm. Anyway, after a week of eating not-so-good food, I decided to load up a salad with nutrients. But I wasn't finished there. I decided to add an antioxidant as well... green tea. I actually cooked the quinoa in green tea. Strange, you say? It would be too bitter, you say? None of the above, my friends. It turned out beautifully. The tea added a unique and subtle flavour to the quinoa that livened it up a bit. I also went fibre and protein crazy with seeds. This salad is packed with hemp hearts, chia seeds and sunflower seeds. The bottom line, this is a healthy but very tasty meal. Without further ado... the recipe.  
Serves 4 - 6 people.

Ingredients

1 cup white quinoa (mix 1/2 cup of white and 1/2 cup red for a more nutty flavour)

2 cups water

2 bags of quality organic green tea

1 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp shelled hemp seeds

2 tbsp hulled sunflower seeds

1/3 tsp dried dillweed

2 tsp dried parsley

1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 large carrot

100g sunchokes (Jerusalem artichoke) (if unavailable, use 1 more carrot or 1 stick celery)

3-4 medjool dates

1 small red bell-pepper

1/2 small red onion

Salt and Pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

Directions


1) Boil some water in a tea kettle. Add 1 cup of boiling water to a medium saucepan and steep the tea bags in it for 5 minutes. Remove the tea-bags.

2) Add one cup of cold water, quinoa, sugar and 1 tsp salt to the pot. Turn stove to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn stove to low, lid the pot and let cook for 15 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes after cooking and then fluff the quinoa with a fork. Once quinoa has cooled, transfer to a mixing bowl.

3) Cut carrot, (peeled) sunchoke, (pitted) medjool dates, red onion and red pepper into small cubes. Add to mixing bowl.

4) Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and stir the ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you feel like it needs more of a kick, add 1-2 more tablespoons of vinegar.

5) Enjoy!!


So, there you have it. My Power Quinoa Salad recipe loaded with fibre, protein, essential minerals and antioxidants. The best part? No oil. In fact, I don't think anything in this salad is necessarily unhealthy (just don't use too much salt). Give it a try and send some feedback my way. 


Cheers!!