Thursday, May 21, 2015

Southwest Mango Quinoa Salad




This recipe is so yummy! This one comes from Gina at SkinnyTaste.com. I love her recipes. She's all about healthy, low-fat recipes and because of this, many of them are vegetarian friendly or easily adaptable. This one can be a great side dish or jazzed up a bit as a main meal. We really enjoy this one with tortilla chips, making it more like a "dip" but hearty. When we do it as our main meal, I will shred up some cheese and chop up some avocado to put on top. I've even thought about grilling up a few chicken breasts to have with it for the kids and I. And I think the flavor of this salad just gets better with a little time in the refrigerator, so it's perfect as leftovers.

Once again I made just a few changes to the original recipe to make it my own. First, I doubled the amount of everything in the recipe, except for the vegetables. I felt like this gave a better ratio of grain to vegetable, making it a more hearty meal. I also omitted the jalapeno pepper because I don't like heat in my food, so the husband just adds hot sauce to his. I also added a tsp of sugar to the dressing because I felt like it needed it to balance out the lemon and spices, but just omit it if you don't want the sugar; it shouldn't change the flavors at all. Lastly, just a quick note, I almost always use red onion in this recipe, but when I made it, as pictured above, I used a regular yellow onion and it was still delicious. Enjoy!

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Southwestern Mango Quinoa Salad
Prep time: 10 min Cook Time: 15 min Servings: 6 (as a full meal)

1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 15 oz can corn, drained (or 1.5 cups frozen, defrosted)
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 large mango, chopped
1/2 large red onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
juice from 2 lemons
3 TB olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  • Start by adding vegetable broth and quinoa to a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let summer for 10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. 
  • While quinoa is summering, add corn, black beans, red bell pepper, mango, onion and cilantro to a large bowl.
  • Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder and turmeric and pour over vegetables, mixing to combine.
  • After quinoa is done cooking, pour into a separate bowl and let cool to room temperature (you can always stick it in the refrigerator or freezer to speed this process up)
  • Add cooled quinoa to vegetable mixture and mix to combine. 
  • Add salt and pepper to taste 
  • Serve immediately or refrigerate until you're ready to serve


1 comment:

  1. Mmmmm....this was so good at the picnic. You really are great at fixing recipes (lookin' at you sweet potato salad). Can't wait to be make this. (Still gotta try making that corn chowder!)

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