Quinoa and Kale Salad Recipe

Cold Quinoa and Kale Salad for summer!

As the heat rises, I’ve been thinking a lot about fresh summer meals like cold salads – as well as a great recipe for the kale we received in our last produce delivery. Quinoa is a grain that is perfect in cold salads and is incredibly healthy.

This is a quinoa salad that can be adjusted to suit the ingredients you have on hand, but this variation is not just healthy and fresh, but also a great partner to grilled food, tacos, and just about any meal that is looking for a refreshing companion.

Ingredients:

Cooked Quinoa – see instructions below

1 Red bell pepper – diced

12 oz. Black Beans or Black Soy Beans, drained

12 oz. sweet corn, kernels, fresh or frozen

1 medium bunch Kale (or collards or spinach), trimmed, separated from stalk (discard stalks), and sliced very thin lengths of less than 1”

1 small Onion – diced

Olive Oil, 1 1/2 tbsp.

White Wine Vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp.

2-3 limes, juiced

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. sugar

½ tsp black pepper

*1 ½ tsp. adobo seasoning can substitute the salt and pepper

*2 tbsp. coarsely chopped cilantro

*optional

Quinoa cooking instructions: add 1 cup quinoa to 1 ¼ cup of boiling water. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes and fluff. Place Kale in a steam basket and toss with 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. white wine vinegar, ½ tsp. of salt, and ½ tsp. of sugar. Place basket over simmering water, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Combine corn and black beans in water and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Once everything has cooked for this time and appears done drain the beans and corn and allow the quinoa, beans and corn, and kale time to cool to room temperature. Once cooled combine these ingredients and add the red bell pepper, onion, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. black pepper, ½ tbsp. olive oil, ½ tsp. white wine vinegar, and lime juice. Combine everything and add or substitute optional ingredients as appropriate.

Quinoa is a very good foundation for cold salads. And this recipe is a great foundation to build and adapt salads to suit your tastes or the nature of the food or even what you have on hand.

Originally posted on brewersorganics.com