Fuel your day with this Vegetable Quinoa Salad! Packed with the best of the season, this salad is as delicious as it is nutritious.
It seems like at least once a month I am out with the family doing errands and someone gets cranky. This of course means we must stop what we are doing and get everyone fed. Though we do eat at real restaurants from time to time, most often impromptu meals out while we are running errands end up being at Whole Foods. (Since we are going there anyway.)
I always get the salad bar, which I've developed a love-hate relationship with.The hate part involves the fact that no matter how hard I promise that I will not overbuild my salad, I always but always end up with a $12 - $14 salad that I can't finish. (And is soggy by the time I get home.)
Which leads me to my other frustrations - namely that in my humble opinion any salad that costs more than $10 should be made by someone else, served to me and be accompanied by non-plastic silverware. It should also have a rocking salad dressing, which Whole Foods does not.
All these things don't stop me from getting it though. At least there are the grilled vegetables.
Oh, how I love grilled vegetables. Strangely they aren't something I make all that often at home. Really, it makes no sense, especially since I have my handy dandy Griddler, which doubles as an indoor grill.
(For some reason, I've never mastered the art of outdoor grilling. Perhaps it is because hubby loves to play with fire and doesn't let me near the grill is so good at it. You can, of course, grill your veggies outside, provided your husband will allow it without exhibiting behavior that has you grabbing the baby and running for the fire extinguisher.)
Anyways, grab your indoor grill or fire up the grill (and grab your fire extinguisher if necessary!) and try this salad. And if you want to be really industrious, do what I did when I made it and double the vegetables so that you can have them for another meal.
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Tools for Making Quinoa Vegetable Salad
Vegetable Quinoa Salad
Vegetable Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into thin strips
- 1 red onion sliced ¼ inch thick
- 1 zucchini sliced lengthwise into thin slices
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes quartered
- ¼ cup thin sliced fresh basil
- ¼ cup fresh chives chopped
Instructions
- Heat an indoor grill pan over medium high heat. Brush both sides of the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Grill vegetables until tender, flipping once. (You may also grill on an outdoor grill.) Remove from heat and when cool enough to handle cut the vegetables into ½ inch pieces. Stir in quinoa.
- Meanwhile make dressing by combining vinegar, olive oil,, garlic, crushed red pepper and sea salt in a blender. Process until smooth.
- Toss vegetables and dressing and stir in cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil and chives and serve. (Optional: Sprinkle with goat cheese.)
Shannon Graham
Grilled vegetables on a salad....I love it.