Quinoa Salad

Pinned it, Completed it.

As part of my yearly goals, I wanted to try out some healthy recipes and complete some of my Pins off Pinterests. A couple months ago I had dinner at a deli/coffee shop downtown that serves a vegetarian menu with local produce. The food was amazing! It was the first time I ever tried quinoa, and the salad was so good that I looked all over Pinterest for a copy cat recipe.This is pretty close,  

Quinoa, Black Bean and Cucumber Salad
Source

Ingredients

• 1 cup rinsed quinoa
• 2 cups water

Rinse 1 cup quinoa well in a fine strainer. Place 2 cups water and quinoa in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Turn heat on low, cover and cook 15 minutes. Let cool and fluff with fork.

Salad

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 can black beans (or any kind you'd like)
• 1 cucumber, peeled, quartered and chopped 
• 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 3 TB chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled (cook quinoa while chopping veggies)
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 TB plum vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix olive oil, vinegar, and spices.Chop vegetables. Drain and rinse beans.
In a large bowl, add beans, veggies, and quinoa. Pour dressing over the top and mix well.
Chill and serve.

It's light, refreshing, delicious, and healthy!