You’ll want to add this salad to your meal plan. Great as the main course or as a side. It is also almost a copycat of the delicious Costco Quinoa Salad- just a few things different.

Health Benefits of Quinoa

• High in protein.
• A good source of riboflavin.
• It only has 172 calories per ¼ cup dry quinoa.
• It’s gluten-free.
• It is a complex carbohydrate with low glycemic index. This is again good for weight management.

I-Love-Quinoa Salad 

This is best made up a day, or at least a few hours, before serving and let it chill in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups red and white quinoa, cooked
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fairly fine
• 1/2 cup English cucumber, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped fairly fine
• 3/4 cup cooked mung beans (optional)
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped fine
• 1 cup red lentil, cooked
• 3/4 cup Roma tomato, chopped
• 2 scallions including greens, chopped
• Black pepper
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2-1/3 cup EVOO
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar

Cooking quinoa:
Cook according to directions. Keep it covered with water while boiling and add more water if you need to. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking process. Drizzle with a little EVOO and lightly toss to avoid clumping. Let it sit and cool completely.

Make vinegrette:
Add vinegar and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk in EVOO.  Season with salt, pepper. And additional vinegar & lemon juice or olive oil as desired.

Combine:
Add tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, bell peppers, lentils, mung beans, cilantro and parsley plus vinaigrette and toss. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Let quinoa sit overnight, preferred, or at least a couple hours before serving so the quinoa can marinate in all the delicious flavors. Enjoy!