California Quinoa Salad

My mom made this salad on Tuesday evening and it was so good, I had to take pictures to share it with you! It was a little taste of summer on a chilly January evening! The original recipe comes from Jo Cooks ans it looks like she has some other delicious recipes. My mom made a few changes to this recipe based on what we had on hand, you can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by cooking 1/2 cup of dry quinoa - Follow the cooking instructions indicated on the bag of quinoa. Once your quinoa is cooked, remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool. it must be cooled completely before you can add it to the rest of the salad.

Quinoa is a key ingredient in this salad, but it isn;t always the easiest to figure out! Whenever I have questions about quinoa, I rely on this fabulous article from Cooking Chew. You can find it HERE.

While the quinoa is cooling, chop up 1 mango, 1 green onion (replaced for 1/4 of a red onion in the original recipe) and half of a red bell pepper. Add the mango, green onion and red pepper to a medium sized mixing bowl along with 1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut (reduced from 3/4 cup in the original recipe)

Add in 3/4 cup of sliced almonds and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries (replaced & reduced from 1 cup of raisins).

Add in 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame, thawed and 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. That's it for the contents of the salad! Set this aside as you prepare the salad dressing.

In a glass measuring dish, whisk the juice of 2 limes together with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt & pepper to taste.

Add the cooled quinoa to the mixing bowl and pour in the salad dressing. Once all of your ingredients are in, toss the salad and serve it cold.

CALIFORNIA QUINOA SALAD
ingredients
1/2 dry quinoa
~1 cup of water (to cook the quinoa in)
1 mango, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

for the dressing
juice from 2 limes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper (to taste)

directions
1. Cook the quinoa by following the directions on the package. Once the quinoa is cooked set it aside to cool.
2. Use a medium sized mixing bowl to combine chopped mango, green onion, red bell pepper, coconut, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, edamame, chopped cilantro.
3. In a glass measuring dish whisk the juice from 2 limes together with balsamic vinegar, honey. olive oil and salt & pepper.
4. Add the cooled quinoa to the mixing bowl along with the dressing. Toss the salad and serve cold!

Enjoy!