Cold Quinoa Salad

With the start of school this week also brought the start of quick power lunches I could eat on the go. For me, this meant something that had a balance of carbohydrate, protein, vegetables, and a little bit of healthy fat – the perfect fullness and nutrition combination for me.

I started by rinsing off a cup of red quinoa. I love red quinoa! I actually had only had regular quinoa before this – white quinoa? – and while this tastes the same, it’s just a lot prettier to look at. At least for me and my color-stimulated world.

Cook the quinoa as normal in a two-to-one water-to-quinoa ratio. Let the quinoa cool. Whenever you’re ready (if you’re a slacker like me, this means approximately 1.73 days later) combine all of your cooked quinoa with two cups shelled edamame (mine was still frozen – no biggie!) and two shredded carrots.

Combine and add two tablespoons of hulled hempseeds. These little dudes are quite the seedy powerhouse, packing both a protein and healthy fat punch that’s pretty stellar for such tiny little seeds.

Then add two tablespoons of coconut oil. Don’t fear fat! A little bit goes such a long way, and these two tablespoons bring such huge flavor to the full six cups of quinoa salad this dish makes. *

Squeeze the juice of half a lime for a little acid, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Package up in a dorky recycled Mason jar so you can be the cool earth-loving, hippy-food-eating new kid on your first day of school. Psh, I own that! I be who I be! Also be sure to pack an over-ripe peach so that you can feed the ants peach juice as it dribbles down your hand, face, arm, etc. Public places are prime for this talent.

So far I’ve had variations of this meal two out of three days this week, and I can’t wait for more!

The nutrition stats aren’t too shabby either, ringing in at 215 calories per 1 cup serving (9.5g protein/ 9.5g fat/ 29.4g carbohydrate). **

Please let me know if you enjoy this for your own packed work or school lunches, or heck, even a nutritious side to an end-of-summer potluck.

Cold Quinoa Salad (makes six one-cup servings)

• 1 cup red quinoa (measured dry)
• 2 cups shelled edamame
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 Tablespoons shelled hempseeds
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• juice from half a lime
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the quinoa by simmering in two cups of water until all the water is absorbed. Let cool. Combine quinoa, edamame, and carrots. Add the hempseeds and coconut oil. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over the salad and season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

*Note: if you don’t have coconut oil, no worries. While I love the coconut oil + lime juice combination, you can always use extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, or a cold-pressed sesame oil and a spash of fresh squeezed orange juice, etc. Be creative with what you’ve got and what you like.

**Because I know someone will comment on this, I just wanted to add a little disclaimer that I severely underestimated the number of calories in a cup of this salad, which was why I only had a cup of cold quinoa salad and a peach for lunch. When I was hungry so soon after eating, I calculated the nutrition information. Tomorrow I plan on adding some tofu to my lunch to amp it up a little bit more. Live and learn.