Quinoa Lover's Salad

Doesn't this salad look amazing?  

It contains quinoa, fresh spinach, orange segments, chick peas, walnuts, mint, and roasted beets making it a nutritional powerhouse of antioxidants and vitamins. In addition, quinoa and chick peas are high in protein, making this salad a meal in a bowl. It's dressed in a light orange refreshing citrus dressing.

There is nothing like a hearty salad, especially during the summer when you may not feel like doing extensive cooking. A salad, such as this quinoa salad, could be a perfect lunch, light dinner, or even a side dish to complement any entree.

This recipe was shared with me by my daughter-in-law's mother, Jeanette. We were invited  last Saturday to their beautiful home in upstate New York. Knowing that I am a vegetarian, Jeanette surprised me with this delicious salad. After one bite, I knew I would want to share it with you on my blog.

The homemade fresh roasted beets in the salad are exceptionally delicious. However, if you are in a hurry and want to able to throw this vegan salad together more quickly, I would use cooked beets from a jar or even the roasted beets from the refrigerator section of most supermarkets. 

Jeanette told me she found the recipe on a blog called the Gluten Free Goddass. I adapted her recipe to suit my own taste and made the recipe oil-free, so please check out her blog for the original recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of quinoa washed well and cooked (see below)
2 medium-large uncooked beets, trimmed and quartered and roasted (do not peel and see roasting directions below) 
3 cups of baby spinach leaves
1 cup (drained rinsed) cooked chick peas

Small handful of walnut halves

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 fresh orange, peeled, trimmed, cut into bite sized pieces

Optional: add slivered almonds, pine nuts, avocado slices

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Directions:

Beets: Preheat the oven to 375ºF to roast the beets. Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the whole trimmed beets on the parchment paper. Roasted in the oven for 45 minutes until the center of the beet is soft. When cool to touch, simply rub off skin. Cut beets into bite size pieces.

Quinoa: Cook quinoa according to the directions on the package and set aside. You can also make fluffy quinoa in minutes in the Instant Pot (link to the recipe). 

Wash spinach and set aside

Assemble 

To assemble the salad, mix the warm quinoa, chick peas, walnuts, mint, and spinach leaves in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Add the cut up beets and orange pieces without tossing to keep the beets to from excessive bleeding (everything will turn red if you overdo it)

                       


Try some of these other recipes that I  posted last July::


Basil Spinach Pesto




Cucumber Dill Dressing (vegetarian, not vegan)



Middle Eastern Lemonade- a recipe passed down in the family


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