Thursday, January 23, 2014

Recipe :: Eat Colorfully


This week has been all about injecting more color in your life - be it with travel, fashion, or interiors. But today we're going to talk about arguably the most important way to live colorfully, with your food!  It is a commonly known fact that eating a variety of colorful foods is a sure-fire way to improve your health {unless those foods are strawberry ice cream or mint green macaroons, then you're out of luck} and what better to combine these power foods than in a salad?  Yesterday I made this delicious Superfood Salad and absolutely loved it!  My favorite thing about the recipe?  You can literally throw in whatever you have in the fridge.  Broccoli?  Sure.  Apples?  Absolutely.  Barley?  Why not.  Cheese?  Um, is that even a question?!  In addition to the below I added a bunch of chopped up spinach, some crumbled goat cheese, and a few grilled shrimp.  Super easy, super healthy, and super delicious...definitely a keeper in my book!  Recipe below:


INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate worth)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper

LEMON VINAIGRETTE: 
2 lemons, juiced (need 1/4 cup juice)
2 garlic cloves, microplaned or finely minced
dash of sweetener (agave nectar, stevia or white sugar)
salt & pepper
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside to cool.

For the Lemon Vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake to combine. Or, add lemon juice, garlic, sweetener, salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk in oil.  This made a little more than I wanted, so I used it to marinate the shrimp that I grilled to throw on top of the salad.

Combine cooled quinoa with red onion, orange segments, avocado, beans, pomegranate arils, corn, cilantro, salt and pepper. Pour Lemon Vinaigrette over the salad and stir to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Recipe and image via Iowa Girl Eats

20 comments:

  1. Can you believe I only started eating shrimp within the last year or so? I never had a taste for it until then! I've made up for lost time though ;) and this salad looks delicious.
    PS. Found you through some of our favorite mutual haunts (Little White Whale, Plumed Nest, etc). Hi! xo

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  2. This looks absolutely delicious, and I fully support your addition of grilled shrimp - yum!

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  3. Looks super tasty!

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  4. Thanks for sharing such an easy recipe! After my honeymoon to Peru, I'm always looking for a good quinoa recipe!
    http://liveitinerantly.com/

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  5. This looks insanely yummy (minus the shrimp, since I'm a veggie). I've been going crazy over colorful hearty salads lately, especially with brown rice!

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  6. It's like you looked into my heart and took everything I loved to make this dish. In love!

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  7. DELICIOUS! I'm a huge fan of shrimp. and of recently quinoa. Pinning this recipe now, I cannot wait to try my hands at making this. Simple!

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  8. Looks like dinner tomorrow. Yummers!

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  9. Yum yum yum! It looks delicious!

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  10. that looks delicious! I definetly agree with you about not only living colorfully with our clothing or interiros - it also should translate directly into our food (fresh + natural food that is!)

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  11. it is seriously awesome! i am thinking of a zillion ways to alter it already...can never have enough quinoa in my life :)

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  12. i'm kind of the same way with oysters...i never liked them until a year ago and now i can't get enough! thanks for stopping by, so glad to meet a fellow francophile :)

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  13. grilled shrimp makes everything better :)

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  14. me too! i just bought some spelt at the store yesterday, super excited to find a salad that incorporates it :)

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  15. you are too sweet pamela! so glad you liked :)

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  16. you will have to let me know what you think! seriously, the simplest salad ever. i'm already thinking of ways to change it around...was thinking next time of incorporating walnuts, spinach, butternut squash, and goat cheese :)

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  17. absolutely! not only does it make the food prettier but i always feel SO much better after eating a colorful meal packed with super foods :)

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