The flavours in this recipe are inspired by a salsa recipe that a friend shared with me.   She added a few of her own twists and made it even better.  I took a few elements from each of this recipes and created this Fresh Fiesta Quinoa Summer Salad.

This recipe is packed with plant based protein:

• Quinoa: this is a complete protein, it has all nine essential amino acids your body needs

• Black Beans - this is a delicious healthy protein and its really inexpensive

This salad is great to bring to a summer BBQ, make it the night before and the flavours taste even better the next day.  

My favourite way to eat it is on a bed of organic lettuce.

Fresh Fiesta Quinoa Salad Recipe

By: saltsole.com

Makes: about 8 cups

What You Need

Flavour base

• 2 organic limes
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 cups diced tomatoes 
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt (or sea salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

Quinoa,  Black Beans & Veggies

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup frozen corn (organic & GMO free)
• 4 green scallions (green onions)
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 cup dried black beans or 1 can of black beans 
• 1/4 cup avocado oil (grapeseed oil or olive oil would also work)

What To Do

Flavour base  

(1) Prep and mix all of these ingredients together and then store in refrigerator overnight so these flavours can develop together.  

• Limes - zest the limes and then squeeze out the juice
• Tomatoes - dice the tomatoes
• Cilantro - tear off 1/2 cup of the cilantro
• Spices - cumin, Himalayan salt, freshly cracked pepper
• Jalapeno pepper-remove and discard the seeds and then dice into tiny pieces 

Its really important to store these flavour base ingredients together for a couple of hours or overnight or you will have random hot spots in your salad from the jalapeno pepper.  I think somehow the lime juice helps to even out the flavours.

Black Beans   

If you are using canned beans skip these 3 steps...

(2) Soak the black beans in a large pot of cold water for 24 hours or overnight.  Rinse a couple of times during the soaking.

(3) The next day, rinse the beans, cover with fresh water about 4 inches above the beans.

(4) Bring to a boil and then turn the temperature down to a gentle simmer.  Cook for about an hour or until the beans are tender.

Quinoa 

(5) Bring 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups of filtered water to a boil in a medium saucepan.

(6) Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes.  

(7) While the quinoa is still hot stir in 1 cup of organic frozen corn,  diced scallions (green onion) and diced bell pepper and let cool.

Final Touches  

(9) Dice the bell pepper

(10) In a large bowl mix the everything together and then stir in the avocado oil.

Let's Get Healthy Together

Get in the kitchen and give this recipe a try.

Enjoy

Let us know how it turns out for you.  Write us a comment or post a picture on instagram and tag us @saltsole, we wanna see it.

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• Smashed Baked Bean Avocado Sandwich on Ezekiel Bread

Credit/Acknowledgement

Hand made napkin

• The beautiful napkin was hand made by a good friend, you can check her out over at etsy - its sew Katrina