When cravings collide
What do you get when you can’t make a decision as to what you’re craving more? Holy guacamole… you get Quinoa Guac Salad of course! (…I just got an eye-roll from my kids… not a fan of my mom funnies)
What a lovely marriage of healthy seeds and healthy fats. This is the perfect snack, side salad, or meal when you’re looking to be good to your body with food that’s packed with flavour.
If we make it… summer will come…?
We’ve been whining about winter lately. Nelson decided to make something fresh to remind us of summertime. Maybe we can will back the warm weather if we cook as if we’re going to have a picnic.
Oh, I wish. Can you imagine? Well, Nelson didn’t bring on the sunshine (boooo), but he did succeed in making something delicious (yay).
Comfort food… yes, why not
We’ve been having a lot of side salads lately—trying to balance our meals better because we do tend to favour heavier sides of potato and pasta with many meals.
While we’ve been perfectly happy with our salads, sometimes Nelson likes to change things up—you know…to avoid flavour fatigue.
And you know what… even though we often equate comfort food with hot and hearty meals, this quinoa guacamole salad hit the spot and filled us up. Guilt-free to boot!
I’m not sure I’ll be hugging a bowl of quinoa salad like I do with a bowl of soup… but it’s comforting nonetheless.
Now, as I sit here listening to the wind howl outside my window, I’m going to close my eyes and imagine a warm breeze blowing gently through the trees as I step barefoot along the warm grass to the picnic table where Nelson is serving up grilled steak and quinoa salad.
Ahhh… summer. We’ll get there. Until then, no reason why we shouldn’t eat well, friends.
Quinoa and Guacamole Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ripe avocados (should be a dark colour on the outside and a little soft)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (approx. juice of 2 limes)
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 plum tomato, diced and seeded
- 3 tbsp 2 tbs fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 4 1/4 cups water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups quinoa
- Extra lime and chopped cilantro to top the dish (optional)
Instructions
Guacamole
- Cut and remove the pit from the avocados.
- Using a soup spoon, scoop out the inside of the avocados and place in a medium bowl.
- Add the limes juice.
- Using a fork or a potato masher, mash the avocados, leaving some small pieces.
- Add the onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper.
- Mix well to incorporated all ingredients and set aside.
Cooking the quinoa
- In a medium size pot, bring the water, oil and 1 tsp salt to a boil.
- Add the quinoa and stir gently.
- As soon as the water starts to bubble again, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered. Note: Quinoa looks transparent when it’s cooked.
- Remove from heat and set aside to let cool.
Combining the ingredients
- Once the quinoa has cooled down, mix in the guacamole. Serve this dish at room temperature, warmed up or straight out of the fridge.
Notes
- This dish will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.
- If you have another guac recipe or prefer to buy, feel free to skip the guacamole steps in our recipe, and replace with your own.
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