Quinoa Salad with Summer Produce

If you are looking for a great quinoa salad that is easy, healthy, and filling- this is it. 

Quinoa, chickpeas, and summer produce such as red and yellow cherry tomatoes, scallions, colorful mini sweet peppers, shredded carrots, sliced black olives, parsley, and fresh basil, makes an easy, light, yet filling meal for dinner. 

 

Do you like to eat light in the summer but run out of healthy salad ideas? Grains or pseudo seed grains, such as quinoa, mix well with chopped veggies to make an easy tasty salads. Quinoa is naturally gluten-free and vegan.

Quinoa Comes Out Perfect Cooked In The Instant Pot

The quinoa can be cooked in a pot on the stove top or in the Instant Pot. I always cook mine in the Instant Pot for tjust wo minutes (link to recipe) and then allow it to slow release for 12 minutes. It comes out light and fluffy every time- just perfect.

For the chickpeas and you can either make your own on the stove top or instant pot or just open a can. It’s your choice!

Both quinoa and chickpeas provide enough significant protein to make this flavorful vegan salad a complete meal. 

Sometimes I use romaine lettuce leaves to scoop up the salad. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of white quinoa, washed well and cooked

2 cups of cooked and drained chickpeas

1/2 cup of sliced scallions

1/2 cup of sliced black olives ( I used a small can of sliced olives)

2 cups of chopped cherry tomatoes (red and yellow)

1 cup of chopped mini peppers ( any color) 

1 large organic carrot, shredded ( I grated mine) 

1/4 cup of chopped parsley

1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

Directions: 

Mix everything together, toss with your favorite Italian or Greek salad dressing and serve.

Shared on

Deb's Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sunday where anyone can share a soup, salad, or sammie recipe. 

Notes: 

1. I took the photos before I added the quinoa to the salad ( Just a goof up). Sorry.

2. Since I no longer use oil (I do eat healthy fats- avocado, nuts, seeds but I am oil-free)- I dressed the salad with just lemon for myself. 

3. This salad is vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free before adding dressing.

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. 

Sharing on Souper Sunday where anyone can share a soup, salad, or sammie recipe. 

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

 Pin It

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


 Pin It

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to leave a comment so I know you stopped by!
Pin It  Scroll down to the end of the post and click on comments.