Well that’s a mouthful, huh? In an attempt to amp up my boring lunches, a few weeks ago I whipped up a batch of this quinoa dish. I based it off of this Caprese Orzo Salad recipe, but changed quite a few things. What I loved about this dish was that it was filling, super flavorful and chock full of good stuff!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1 cup chopped seedless cucumber
• 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
• Corn from 1 ear of corn
• 1 big handful of spinach
• Goat Cheese (I just used maybe a tablespoon?)
• ½ cup EVOO
• ¼ cup White wine vinegar (or red wine)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Few big shakes of crushed red pepper
• Juice from ½ a lemon

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to the back of the package. While that’s cooking, chop up your veggies.

2. Sautee or wilt the spinach as the quinoa is cooling.

3. Combine the EVOO, vinegar, S&P, crushed red pepper and lemon juice in a separate bowl.

4. Once the quinoa has cooled, add the spinach, corn, cucumber, tomato and cheese and mix together. Add in the ‘dressing’ and refrigerate for an hour before serving.

This dish lasted me throughout the week and I loved eating it alone, on top of my salad and even with some chicken mixed in.

Questions for you: What’s your favorite non-traditional salad? How do you “spice up” your salads?