For those of you who were miffed with my recent digression into steak recipes thanks to anemia, you will be happy to know that today I am sticking with cooking with quinoa. In fact, I am being extra good and sharing a clean eating quinoa recipe!

It has been a while since I posted a new quinoa salad recipe, so I thought I would share a new favorite with you.  The inspiration for this quinoa recipe came from this month’s Clean Eating magazine.  (If you don’t currently read clean eating you are missing out!  This, combined with Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook has helped me to drop about 30 pounds.)

Try The Eat Clean Diet Today!

Click Here to See The Eat Clean Diet Books and Cookbooks

I made some changes (of course) and I am very happy with the results.  It is still very healthy, but if you are really watching your starchy carbohydrates, you can always leave the corn off.  As always, I have to warn you that I like my food spicy, so if you prefer things a bit tamer, you can always scale back on the garlic and peppers!

I think that cilantro really makes this dish, but it would also work with parsley if you cannot find or don’t care for cilantro.  I give instructions for cooking on the stove top but you could also prepare the quinoa in your microwave rice cooker or steam cooker. Just remember that if you decide to cook red quinoa grain, you will need to increase the time by about 20%.

I tend to always end up adding cheese to dishes, but this really did not need it! (Vegan cookbooks here I come!)  Keeping the cheese away really helps with the fat and makes this a great clean eating quinoa recipe!

When I make black bean recipes, I always like to cook dried black beans first.  If you don’t have time for that you can substitute a can of black beans.  I recommend Eden organics since they are BPA free.

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Clean Eating Quinoa Salad Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups quinoa, rinsed

2 cups cooked black beans

1 pint grape tomatoes, cut into quarters

1 ½ cups fresh cilantro, chopped

1 cup frozen corn, thawed (you can also use canned or fresh)

1 cup roasted red pepper, chopped

¼ cup olive oil, best quality

Dressing

4 limes, juiced

Zest of 1 lime

¼ cup white balsamic vinegar

2 T balsamic vinegar

6 cloves garlic, minced

Sea salt

Black pepper

1/8 tsp ground chipotle pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and add quinoa.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Drain quinoa into a fine metal colander.
2. Bring a small amount of fresh water to boil.  Place quinoa over it in the strainer.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and lid.  Steam for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl mix beans, tomatoes, cilantro, corn and red peppers.
4. Place dressing ingredients in a blender and combine.
5. Add cooled quinoa to the bean mixture.  Toss with dressing and top with diced avocado.

One thing to remember is that you want to dice the avocado right before you plan on eating.  If you have any avocado left over you can drizzle it with lemon to keep it from getting too brown.  Just make sure that you eat it soon!

If you are looking for another clean eating quinoa recipe, you may want to try this Minestrone soup!

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Tagged as: clean eating quinoa recipe, cooking with quinoa, Quinoa Recipes