Quinoa Blueberry Salad with Goat Cheese
Ingredients
1 Baby Cucumber (or half english long cucumber)
2 Stalks of Celery
¼ Red Onion
½ Avocado
½ Cup Blueberries
½ Cup Quinoa (uncooked)
1 Log Blueberry Goat Cheese
Dressing
1 Tbsp Minced Fresh Ginger (or ground)
Juice squeezed from 1 Lemon (grate in some of the rind for extra flavour)
½ Jalapeño
8-10 Leaves of Italian parsley
8 strawberries
⅓ Cup Olive Oil
Sliced Almonds (to top)
Optional: 1 Fillet of Salmon (BBQ’d)
Instructions
Makes Appx: 2 Servings
Total Cook & Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Place a pot on the stove with 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of quinoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and set aside. Fluff with a fork before adding to the salad mixture.
Note: If you want to top the bowl with bbq’d salmon, place the fillet on tinfoil with ¼ cup of butter and sprinkle with seasoning salt. Wrap the tinfoil all the way around the fillet to make a small packet. Place on pre-heated BBQ and allow to cook for approximately 20 minutes (depending on the fillet thickness). To test if it’s done, flake with a fork - it should flake easily and the inside should be a light pink colour.
While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.
Slice cucumber into dimes, and then in half.
Slice celery stalks into small pieces.
Dice red onion.
Cut avocado into slices to top the salad or into chunks.
To make the dressing you will require a blender.
Slice stems off of the strawberries in cut in half, dice jalapeño finely, roughly chop the parsley, and add it all to the blender.
Cut the lemon into quarters and squeeze the juice into the blender, optional: zest the rind into the blender.
Peel ginger root and finely mince into small pieces - add to the blender.
Add the olive oil to the blender and blend everything until smooth.
Taste test the dressing, if the strawberries aren’t sweet enough, add ⅓ cup of melted or liquid honey.
Once quinoa is finished add to a large salad bowl, mix in the remaining ingredients. Top with the dressing the slivered almonds, crumbled goat cheese log, and optional salmon fillet.
