This weekend, I had my family over for dinner and was looking online for a salad to serve. I came upon a quinoa and kale salad, but because not everyone likes kale, I decided to make some changes to it and make it my own. In fact, I made a lot of changes (the original kale and quinoa recipe can be found here). This easy, light salad is delicious, easy to make and definitely something that your guests are going to love.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cups of quinoa
- 3/4 cups water
- 3/4 cups of vegetable broth (can replace with water or another kind of broth)
- 1 head of lettuce (any kind – I used red leaf)
- 2 bell peppers
Directions:
1. Rinse 3/4cups of uncooked quinoa (we used rainbow quinoa for ours (mix of black, regular and red quinoa)
2. Add to a sauce pan with 3/4 cups of water and 3/4 cups of broth and bring to boil.
3. Lower heat to simmer and let the quinoa cook for approximately 10 minutes (or until water is gone)
4. Remove from heat, fluff with fork and place quinoa onto plate or dish to let cool
5. While the quinoa is cooling, rinse the lettuce and bell peppers and then add to salad bowl
6. Once cooled, add quinoa to the lettuce and peppers. Toss
A light, citrusy vinaigrette like the one below is highly recommended for the salad.
Lemony Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing:
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (preferably fresh)
- 1/2 tablespoons of lemon zest
- 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
Directions:
Whisk above ingredients in a bowl. Add into the salad and toss or set aside for diners to add onto their salad.
The above salad serves 4-6 people.
Note: Want to use the salad as a main course, perhaps for a lunch? Add lentils!
