Recipe: Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potato

Quinoa is a new grain that I recently tried at a pot-luck dinner. It is really tasty and extremely high in protein (with 11 grams of protein per cup), which is great for a vegetarian diet. It cooks similarly to risotto, couscous, or rice.  In general, I have found that grains and rice are really helpful when switching to a vegetarian diet. You can mix savory or sweet things into it and create a really wide variety of delicious foods! 

Here is a recipe that uses Quinoa and sweet potato (which is in season right now). I originally found the recipe on About.com: Vegetarian Food, a site that has some really nice vegetarian recipes and is easy to navigate. I stuck to the general recipe except I replaced cayanne pepper with red pepper flakes. I also added a vinegar-based dressing and pineapple to it for flavor. Let me know what you think!

Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potato and Vinegar-based dressing

Ingredients:

• 2 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I use vegetable broth from Trader Joes. I am looking for some with less sodium) 
• 2 sweet potato, baked and diced
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup pineapple slices
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for salad dressing: 

• 1 tbsp. mustard 
• 3 tbsp. vinegar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Simmer the quinoa in the vegetable broth about 10-15 minutes (read directions on the kind you buy), until water is gone. Quinoa should be light and fluffy when stirred. Remove from heat. 

Mix together quinoa, sweet potato and bell pepper. 

In a separate small bowl, mix together mustard, vinegar and lemon. Then whisk in olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Stir the dressing into the quinoa salad and enjoy!