Spinach Quinoa Salad with Grapefruit and Avocado

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I absolutely love quinoa, and in a salad is my favourite way to eat it.

 

This was a quick and easy weeknight dinner for me this past week on a night when The Hubby wasn't home.  It took me about 25 minutes to prepare, start to finish, and then about 1.5 minutes to eat it.  

I like when meals make me feel healthy when I am eating them, and what could be healthier than this complete meal.  Quinoa is one of those super-foods that not only provides your body with numerous vitamins and minerals, but is also a complete protein with 22 grams of protein per uncooked cup (in this salad there is roughly 2 grams of protein per serving).  It's very versatile, and can be used in salads, soups, breakfast dishes, desserts, and pasta.  It's also gluten-free (hooray)!  

But hey, let's not give all of the credit to quinoa in this salad.  Spinach is a super-food in its own right too!  It contains more nutrients per calorie than any food on Earth, and is extremely rich in anti-oxidents.  It also gives you 35% of your daily recommended iron all in one cup, which is important to me because my body runs really low on iron, borderline anemic actually.  I always try to cram spinach into as many foods as possible, whether it's a pasta sauce or an omelette.   

Avocado also happens to be my absolute favourite salad ingredient, and grapefruit is my current favourite fruit, so really when I saw this recipe on Pinterest it made me very, very excited, and I knew I had to make it. 

If you like quinoa like I do (which is a lot), you could always check out these great recipes too:

Greek Quinoa Salad                                  Quinoa 'Mac' and Cheese

                                 

Spinach Quinoa Salad with Grapefruit and Avocado

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa 
• 2 Ruby Red grapefruits
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons shallots, finely minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 4 ounces baby spinach
• 1 avocado, diced

Directions
Rinse quinoa, and placed into a small pot with 2/3 cup water.

Bring to a boil.  Turn heat on low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.  Let cool slightly, then fluff with a fork.

Peel the grapefruit and remove as much of the white pith as possible.  Separate the grapefruit pieces, reserving three pieces for later use in the vinaigrette.  Slice all but those three segments into bite-size pieces for the salad.

Squeeze the juice from the three reserved grapefruit pieces into a small bowl.  Add the olive oil, vinegar, minced shallots, and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  

In a medium bowl toss the spinach, quinoa, grapefruit, and vinaigrette until well combined.  Add the avocado pieces, and serve.  Enjoy the healthy goodness!

Recipe Source: Skinny Taste

 

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