Spinach Salad with Quinoa

I posted this recipe in March 2017. I think I will add some raspberries to this salad…I am going to buy a bag of frozen raspberries & toss some into this salad. To make this a dinner salad, you can add some cooked chicken or fish to this! I think this is what we are having for dinner tonight!

I love adding quinoa to a salad that has a nice dark green, such as kale or spinach. If the salad is made with kale it lasts a bit longer in the fridge as left-overs because the kale does not get too soggy., though I personally like a soft piece of spinach with the quinoa…When I put this salad together I thought about the different textures and colours of the vegetables & am quite happy with the result. I changed  my ‘go to’ salad dressing that I always use, which was given to me by my friend many years ago, just to adapt it to this type of salad.

Here its the recipe 

Salad

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

1 carrot, grated

1 large stalk of celery, diced

3/4 cup purple cabbage, diced

approximately 6 cups baby spinach ***I used 1/2 of an 11 oz container of baby spinach from Costco

1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds ***I just put them into a dry frying pan and toast them while the quinoa is cooking

 

Salad Dressing

9 tbsp olive oil ***135 ml  or just over 1/2 cup ….  it is 0.56 cups   I just measured the tbsps

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3/4 – 1 tsp salt

pepper

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 garlic clove minced

Method

1. Cook the quinoa as directed on the package, fluff & let cool
2. I prepare my vegetables while the quinoa is cooking and cooling
3. Mix the dressing ingredients together and adjust seasoning (salt and pepper) to your taste
4. Once the quinoa is cool, put it into a large bowl and combine with the chopped vegetables, mix throughly then add the spinach then the pumpkin seeds. Toss together
5. Pour the dressing on. I used all of the dressing but of course the amount of dressing is up to you!

Enjoy!