And here’s the 3rd seasonal salad I promised. The prior salads mainly featured cucumbers: Cucumber Kefir/Yogurt Salad and Mediterranean Cucumber-Tomato-Mint Salad.
This salad offers just a few more seasonal treats, along with cold cooked quinoa. Isn’t it colorful? And it is oh-so-delicious.
Bring that same feeling to your dinner table with this healthy, light quinoa vegetable soup. It’s packed with spring veggies!
Adding chicken and cheese — or how about some diced hard-boiled eggs? — turns it into a main dish. Such an easy meal!
I make this salad using the dump method. Have I not shared this method yet? 😉 You dump a bunch of ingredients in a biiiiggggg bowl, and then mix. Taste, adjust, and mix some more.
Quinoa Garden Salad
Ingredients
- a few cucumbers diced (peeled if desired)
- a few bell peppers diced
- a few tomatoes diced (using Romas keeps them firm longer)
- a few carrots shredded
- an onion or half, diced
- a few cloves garlic crushed
- a few sprigs herbs chopped (or use pinches of dried)
- a hunk raw cheese diced
- a few handfuls cooked chicken diced
- 3 to 5 cups quinoa soaked and cooked*
- extra virgin olive oil to taste
- a drizzle sesame oil or toasted, to taste
- sea salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- apple cider vinegar OR coconut vinegar or lemon juice, to taste
Instructions
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Combine all ingredients in a big bowl.
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Mix well, but gently.
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Taste and adjust seasonings.
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Chill or serve immediately.
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Chill leftovers.
Recipe Notes
Low Vitamin A variation: Choose low Vitamin A veggies, such as peeled cucumbers, radishes, and green beans. Use avocado oil instead of extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil. Omit cheese and pepper.
*Now, don't be scared away by having to soak and cook the quinoa ahead of time (soaking and cooking whole grains). Nothing scary about it! (But if you need some handholding, check out the Fundamentals eCourse.)
Let's say you want to eat this salad tomorrow night.
Tonight, rinse about 3 cups of quinoa under running water for 2 minutes.
Put it in a pot with 6 warm cups of water and 6 tablespoons of some acid (apple cider vinegar, Kombucha, kefir, yogurt, etc.).
Cover the pot, and let it sit out for a minimum of 7 hours, but probably until tomorrow morning.
Then put the pot on the stove and cook the quinoa, by bringing it to a boil, then turning it down to a simmer, covered.
It will probably cook in 10 to 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat.
Let it cool.
Chill it.
Then tomorrow afternoon, dump it into the bowl with all the other ingredients.
See, that wasn't so hard, was it?
I thought you all would enjoy seeing the visitors in my picture!
For more main dish salad ideas, check out these 40+ Hearty & Nourishing Main Dish Salads (THM options!).
Interested other cold grain salads? Check out Erin’s colorful and tasty smoked salmon and rice salad. And Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship uses my favorite grain, spelt, in her cold spelt salad. I haven’t tried whole spelt berries in a grain salad yet, but since her family loves that salad, it’s on my list.
What else would you add to this salad? What other veggies are dying to get dumped into the bowl, too?
This post was featured in 33 Nourishing Main Dish Salads, 50+ Tomato Recipes (from breakfast to dinner), and 60 Easy and Nourishing Picnic Recipes.
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Love the ducks! Quinoa looks really tasty, too! Thanks for the recipe Wardee! 🙂
Erin — Next to spelt, quinoa is my next favorite. So yummy! I’m getting some black quinoa in my co-op order tomorrow. I’ve never had that before.
Yum! Looks good, Wardee! It made my stomach growl already this morning. 🙂
Hi, Kimber! Hope you got something else yummy for breakfast today. 🙂
Looks yummy!
I just wanted to to you and all those who have helped you with the Sourdough eCourse, I am thoroughly enjoying it!!!
My bread is not coming out perfect, but it is still good. I made the sourdough chocolate cake last night, (again) and as always it is SUPER!!
Going to try sourdough tortillas today or tomorrow.
I tried to make sourdough oatmeal chocolate chips cookies last night. Can I just say, “CRUMBLY!” I tried putting the rest of the dough in a square baking dish and making bars, still CRUMBLY. But they taste really good, so we will still eat them. Maybe I will press the crumbs into a crust of some sort and make a pie? or cobbler?
Thanks again,
Tiffany
Tiffany — I’m really happy you’re enjoying the eCourse, and I’m sure you’ll get the bread down eventually. There’s such a learning curve with bread, isn’t there?
Erin is going to be sharing a sourdough cookie recipe later on in the class. I suppose with yours I’d crumble them in a bowl, pour milk over the top, and eat some for breakfast!
Wardee, I love quinoa salad, just posted a recipe a few weeks ago as well. http://pebblecrossing.blogspot.com/2010/08/greek-quinoa-salad.html
Thanks for posting and sharing your wonderful salad and how nutritious quinoa can be. I believe if more would try it, they would know it really does taste wonderful.
blessings ~ Carmen
Carmen, I remember your quinoa salad! It looked so yummy. I agree, if more would only try quinoa…. such a lovely grain. 🙂
If I want to end up with 3-5 cups of cooked quinoa for a salad, I want to start with 1- 1 1/2 cups dry. Am I figuring that right?
Stephanie — I figure the volume at least doubles when cooked. So 1-1/2 cups would yield 3 cups of cooked quinoa. If you’re shooting for more than that, cook a little more. I usually do a 3 cup pot and put most of it in the salad.
Thank you! I served this over a bed of lettuce and it was a big hit. My husband says this is what we are taking next time we go to a party or family dinner. He also thinks it needs artichoke hearts 🙂
Stephanie — Wonderful! Artichoke hearts would make the dish, I agree. Your husband has good taste!
This looks beautiful! Delicious! Satisfying! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Katie! Have a wonderful evening!
:Your salad looks beautiful. I can’t wait to try it. Thank You…
I made the sourdough tortillas last night for dinner. Chicken tacos.
They turned out great and my family enjoyed them.
Thanks!
Yum! I know my family would truly enjoy this ~ the fresh vegetables and chicken.
And THANK YOU for including a picture of your visitors in the background.
Eye candy, my heart skipped a beat! Blessings ~m.
beautiful and so good! Thanks for sharing.
I like that the quinoa will give you some protein on top of the chicken, often in the summer we eat vegetarian so we need a protein boost. I have shared this recipe on my July Real Food Meal Plan.