As seen on Pinterest ~ Quinoa Salad

It's not because I have young kids that my meals should be *kids friendly*, I want them to be adventurous, ready to try new food, new flavors, new colors.  This week for my, make something from pinterest, I choose Quinoa salads.

Before you ask, Qui what? Yes if you never heard what Quinoa is, it's a grain, some call it an ancient grain, with a light nutty flavor (reminds me of brown basmati rice). You prepare it like you would rice, I always prepare some extra and freeze a few portions to use in a hurry.

Back to the pinterest Quinoa salads, did you know that there is a amazing amount of recipe for it on pinterest, who know Quinoa was so popular! I choose Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea salad pin this week and did my version of it.

Source: thediva-dish.com viaMama on Pinterest

Looks delicious doesn't it!!!

If you want to read the original recipe you can visit here. If you are like me, recipes are just a guideline, that you tweak to make it your own. Let's face it, I want my kids to be adventurous in their food experience  but I have to model that myself by being adventurous in the kitchen.

So you may noticed that I was inspired by the pin, I however did not followed it to the T. I think this is a way to use all our pins, just to get inspired, to get to creative juice flowing and dare try something new.

What you will need for the salad

• About 2 cups of cook Quinoa (prepare at your liking, using broth or just water)
• 1/2 cup of Chickpeas (cooked, and drained)
• 1 can of black bean (rinsed and drained) *optional*
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes cut in half (or any other tomatoes cubes)
• 2 avocados diced
• 1/2 cup of cook corn
• 1/2 orange pepper (red of green can also be use)
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 3 green onions finely chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 2 jalapeño  peppers (optional)
• Crumbled Feta cheese (optional)

And for the dressing

• Juice of 2 to 3 limes (depending of your taste)
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Simple mix it all together, leave it to rest in the fridge for  at least 1 hours (for the flavors to all blend in together) before serving and voila. 

Can be served as a main meal, or a side. Also delicious as a dip for corn chip the next day.

How about you, are you adventitious in the kitchen or are you following the cookbook to the letter?

Follw me on pinterest at Mama S