Meatless Monday: Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avacado and Cumin-Lime Dressing

One of my favorite blogs OhSheGlows, is hosting a challenge this month. A salad a day, every day, during the month of June. After being on vacation and having Jared here, basically another vacation, this is a great challenge to try to get our food habits back on track! She has got some fantastic looking salads that I can't wait to try out! I'll be starting the challenge today, just a little late (no surprise) and thought I would share one of our favorite salads!

I found this salad on pinterest and it was a hit! The original recipe is here: eating-for-england.com. We normally leave out the red onion, and throw in any extra veggies in our fridge that seem like they'll work in here. This salad is multi functional in our house. It has served as a light dinner, would be great with some tortilla chips on the side, as a regular ol' side salad, and our favorite - as the "rice" in our veggie burritos. Either was you eat it, it's fantastic. I usually squirt a little lime juice over the top when it's done just to kick up the lime flavor a little bit.

Quinoa Sald with Black Beans, Avocado and Cumin-Lime Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tbsp olive oi
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 avocado, chopped into chunks
• handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped into chunks
• small handful cilantro, diced
• 1 limes, juiced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• salt, to taste

Directions: 

1. Add quinoa and water to a pan and simmer with a lid on for 20 minutes.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare all other ingredients. Prepare the dressing by combining the lime juice, oil, cumin, and salt. Whisk it aggressively. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
3. When the quinoa has finished cooking, remove it from heat and fluff with a fork. Add black beans and toss to warm them through.
4. Let the quinoa cool for about five minutes and then add all the remaining ingredients, including the dressing, and mix. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

 I hope everyone had a great weekend. We celebrated Chad and Jared's birthday with lots of cake, movies, hiking, and burritos for everyone! Pictures coming tomorrow.... :)