Easy Quinoa Salad

Have you ever had quinoa (pronounced keen-wa)? It is a delicious grain, a seed actually, that was originally grown by the Incas in South America. It is full of protein and has a light, nutty flavor. It is a great, healthy side dish, but it makes an even better vegetarian main course.

This salad is very easily customized to what you have on hand. I usually try to use a combination of flavors and textures: sweet, bitter, salty, crunchy, etc. It's a snap to prepare because you just combine everything into individual servings; the only cooking required is the quinoa. Serve the salad with flatbread on the side.

Tonight I used

• 1 cup of quinoa, cooked according to the package directions (cooking it in broth will add flavor) - this should be enough for 4 servings
• arugula
• sliced cucumbers
• halved cherry tomatoes
• diced carrots and celery
• chickpeas
• currants
• sliced green olives
• slivered almonds
• feta cheese
• lemon-poppy dressing (recipe below)

For the lemon-poppy dressing, whisk together the juice of 2 lemons (about 1/2 cup), 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 tsp. of sugar, 2 tsp. poppy seeds, and salt and pepper to taste.

Note: This probably makes more dressing than you will need for 4 servings. I try not to buy bottled salad dressings, so I just keep the extra in a closed container in the fridge. Then I have dressing available for side salads.