Meatless Monday: Southwestern Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

In some ways, its good to be home.  I love sleeping in my own bed.  I missed my sweet dog.  And I don’t know that I could handle another day with all 3 meals eaten in a restaurant!  Don’t get me wrong…every single meal we had was absolutely amazing!  But it just gets to be a little much after awhile, especially when my only workout was walking on the beach

But I am definitely missing the sunshine, bright colors, and awesome Mexican food that we had while we were there.  So I attempted to incorporate those three things into today’s lunch!  A super colorful, light and bright lunch with Mexican-inspired flavors like lime, cilantro, and chipotle.  SO good!!!!

I know I was just saying that I try not to go overboard with the quinoa dishes, but this just totally hit the spot today.  I cooked 1 cup of quinoa for about 15-20 minutes until it was perfectly fluffy and put it into a bowl to cool while I chopped up the veggies and made the dressing.

Quite a bit of chopping going on here – 2 roma tomatoes, 1/2 of a red onion, 1 small avocado, 1 jalapeno (no seeds), 1/2 of a yellow pepper, and 1/2 of a red pepper.

I wanted the dressing to be a little thicker so I made it in the blender similar to how I make my balsamic vinaigrette.  By pouring the oil in slowly while the blender is running, it emulsifies into a nice thick dressing.  But this is optional as the dressing could just as easily be whisked in a bowl. The dressing is a combination of fresh lime juice, garlic, a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, kosher salt and extra virgin olive oil.

Mix in chopped veggies and a can of rinsed and drained black beans.  Then, top with a handful of fresh chopped cilantro.  Mix thoroughly to combine all ingredients.

Now all I need is a margarita, a palm tree, and some ocean waves!!!

Southwestern Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well and cooked according to package

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well

1/4-1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

For Dressing

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes for me)

1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (I chose a smaller one and sliced it open to remove the seeds and lessen the heat), finely chopped plus 1 tsp. of adobo sauce from can

3 small cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Rinse quinoa well to remove the bitter coating and cook it according to directions on package, about 15 minutes covered over low heat, plus additional time to steam until it is perfectly cooked and fluffy.  Place quinoa into a bowl to cool.

Chop all veggies and rinse black beans.

Make dressing either by whisking to combine in a bowl or in a blender.  If using blender, add lime juice, garlic, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, and salt and blend on medium to medium high speed until combined.  Reduce blender speed to low and slowly drizzle olive oil in through center cap.

Pour dressing over quinoa and toss to coat.  Add chopped veggies and black beans and mix thoroughly.  Add fresh cilantro and mix again.  Individual servings may be topped with an extra squeeze of lime, if desired.