Summer Quinoa Salads

Lately I have been very into the quinoa salads that Whole Foods offers on their hot bar, so much so that I would want to get dinner from there on the regular almost solely for the quinoa. Well I finally decided I should figure out how to make something similar at home. I started by browsing Pinterest for ideas and came across many variations. In the last couple weeks I have made two entirely different versions, so here they are:

 

Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• One cup quinoa
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 orange bell pepper diced
• 1 large carrot diced
• Cherry tomatoes quartered
• Spinach
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 lime juiced
• Honey
• Olive Oil

1. Prepare quinoa in 1 cup vegetable stock and 1 cup water
2. Once the quinoa is done cooking throw in a couple handfuls of spinach and stir in so they become "wilted"
3. Then toss in all diced vegetables
4. Drizzle with a little honey and olive oil
5. Top with lemon and lime juice to taste, I threw both in my juicer and drizzled on the mixture until it had the fresh flavor I was looking for (I think about 2-3 tablespoons)
6. Serve chilled and enjoy


Whole Foods Inspired California Quinoa Salad

I found this recipe and knew I had to try it since this is one of my favorites that whole foods offers. I did change it up just a little due to taste preference by doing the following:

• Cooking the quinoa the same as above with 1 cup vegetable stock and 1 cup water
• Eliminating the onion since raw onions are not liked in our household
• (accidently) eliminating the raisins, but next time I wouldn't mind adding them in
• Using the lemon and lime juiced again and no zest

If I made this again I would probably change it a bit, maybe even go closer to the original recipe but it still tasted great and was a perfect summer side dish.