Quinoa Confetti Salad

Are you a quinoa lover? 

This colorful quinoa confetti salad, trimmed in curly red lettuce, is a tasty salad for a spring or summer day.

I often make quinoa and use it as a simple warm side dish, a filling for stuffed peppers, or as an addition to a salad. 

The chopped salad, the quinoa, chickpeas, and red curly lettuce around the sides topped with red onion slices. 

I brought this healthy salad to a Mother's Day luncheon today.

Quinoa is a light gluten-free grain/seed that is high in protein, fiber, all 9 amino acids, and vitamins and minerals which rightfully earns the name "superfood". Consumed for hundreds of years in South America by the Incas, it has now become a popular food in the US. 

The salad base before I added nuts, quinoa, and chickpeas

I diced up cucumber, red pepper, parsley, black olives, celery, green onion, and red onion. I then tossed it in a salad with chickpeas blanched almonds, and cooked quinoa- making it a high protein vegan meal. 

Quinoa comes in three colors: white, red, black.. the white is the lightest and I like it best in salads. 

Need to know an easy way to cook quinoa so it always comes out fluffy and perfect? Follow my link for perfect quinoa 

Cooked White Quinoa

The Dressing- 

I use freshly squeezed lemon juice- period.

Personally, I have stopped using oil in my diet. For those following my blog, this explanation will be repetitious. 

I don't use oil because I am following the advice of many board certified plant-based doctors and cardiologists who say oil is a highly caloric food that does not contain fiber or nutrients.-in other words it helps make you fat! (I know- there is lots of controversy around that issue)  However, until you hear their side of the story, I wouldn't be convinced that it is so good for you. 

These doctors suggest it is better to eat fat in its whole form of nuts, olives, avocado etc. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of chopped cucumber

2 cups of chopped red pepper 

2 cups of chopped celery

1/4 cup of sliced black olives

3/4 cup of chopped curly parsley

1/2 cup of chopped red onion 

1/4 cup of chopped green onion

3 cups of cooked quinoa, room temperature

2 cups of cooked chickpeas

Optional: 1/4 cup of blanched almonds 

Dressing: 

Juice of 1 lemon

optional: 1/4 cup of olive oil mixed with the lemon juice

Directions:  

Mix together the cucumber, red pepper, celery, black olives, parsley, red onion,  and green onion. Add cooked quinoa, chickpeas, and balanced almonds if desired and toss. Decorate with lettuce leaves and slices of red onion. Dress with freshly squeezed lemon juice or a lemon and olive oil dressing if you eat oil. 

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