Quinoa Black Bean Salad

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At work we had an open house that highlighted all the health benefits available to employees. Since I work in employee wellness, I had a booth at the open house promoting a weight management program we'll be offering this year. So for two days, I sat at my booth socializing with all the other booths during slow times. One of the booths at the open house was our chef from the employee cafeteria. He was doing cooking demonstrations and made a quinoa salad. Needless to say, I ate MANY samples of this awesome quinoa salad that he created and thought I would share it with you.

Quinoa is a whole grain that I hear of a lot lately, especially in healthy lifestyle blogs. I think its kind of the "in" thing right now. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a whole grain that is high in fiber and protein and naturally gluten free. It comes in a variety of colors like red, black and white. You can buy it at natural food stores, Costco or even the baking aisle of many grocery stores. You cook it up just like you do pasta or rice. In fact it only takes 15-20 minutes to cook in boiling water, vs. brown rice which can take 45+ minutes!

Here is the recipe that was featured at the open house:

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

1 cup raw Quinoa
1 1/2 cupswater
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups black beans
4 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 large green onions, diced
1 red pepper diced

Dressing
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Rinse quinoa several times. Place quinoa, 1/2 tsp salt and water in a sauce pan and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool completely.

Add veggies to cooked quinoa. Mix together all dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and toss with quinoa and veggies.

Serve chilled and garnish with cilantro.

Makes 6 servings, each serving provides:
276 calories
9.3 g fat
40.1 g carbohydrate
8.5 g fiber
10.1 g protein

***Top with a grilled chicken breast or salmon fillet for a complete meal.