Saturday, February 7, 2015

Spinach and Quinoa Mediterranean Salad

I recently made this delicious, healthy salad and plan to make it again, so here you go!

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Ingredients:

Dressing:
3 tbls freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 tbls red wine vinegar
1/2 tbls olive oil, and a pinch of oregano

Salad Stuff:
1 cup cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in chicken broth.)
3 cups fresh baby spinach (missing from my photo above, btw; Mr.4444 was picking some up)
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup of chopped cucumber (missing from Pop Sugar's recipe, as well as my photo above)
10 grape or cherry tomatoes
10 sliced kalamata olives
1/4 cup feta cheese

First, mix the dressing ingredients while you cook the quinoa.


In a medium-sized bowl, gently mix the spinach, quinoa, and half of the dressing.

  
Add the other vegetables.

  


Fold the feta cheese in gently.


Pretty and delicious!


A few years ago, a woman took the time to leave a comment on Mrs.4444 Cooks, chewing me out for sharing so many unhealthy recipes. I found that hilarious (and still do), as if I was twisting people's arms to make unhealthy food. Whoever she was, she'd be proud of me today; this recipe is relatively healthy; the dressing is deliciously lower in fat than a typical salad dressing. There's plenty of fiber, protein, and potassium here. The olives are 20% of your sodium for the day, but check out the vitamin content!
There are about 300 calories per 2-cup serving (This makes about six cups worth.) and the olives provide a fair amount of monounsaturated fat (the good kind!). As mentioned previously, this salad is delicious, and I look forward to making it again!