Quinoa Black Bean Salad

Okay, so there a a million quinoa salad recipes out there.  You have probably made one of them already!  I didn’t really jump on the quinoa band wagon until recently.  I am not really into fads (as you know by my only recently visiting Trader Joe’s for the first time) so I think that may be the reason.  Also, it irks me that people who stay away from grains tend to hale quinoa as some kind of super food?!?  But guess what?  It IS a grain!  Surprise!  (Just like corn is a grain.)

It was actually my daughter, Emma, who got me to first make quinoa and since then it has gained it’s place in our lunch rotation.  This is our favorite way to eat quinoa.  It is perfect for a nice, light healthy lunch.  I like to pair it with salmon (because I LOVE salmon).  The nice thing about this recipe is that you can customize it, want more beans – use  the whole can, want more tomatoes – dice another one, don’t like onions – leave them out.  Make it however you like!

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Quinoa Salad

Fresh diced vegetables, black beans, corn, and quinoa are tossed with zesty lime for a fresh summer salad.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa prepared according to package directions
• 1 roma tomato diced
• 1/3 cup orange, yellow, or red pepper diced
• 3 Tbls onion diced
• 1 jalepeno diced, no seeds
• 2/3 cup black beans
• 2/3 cup corn
• 1/2 large avocado chopped
• 1 lime
• 1 1/2 Tbls olive oil
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook quinoa according to the package directions.  I boil 2 cups of chicken broth, add quinoa, and cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. While quinoa is cooking, chop and dice all of the vegetables and add to a medium bowl.

3. When quinoa is done, put in the refrigerator to cool.

4. Once quinoa is cool, add to the bowl of vegetables.  Add beans and corn.  Sprinkle with the juice of the lime and olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.