Ingredients

Salad

  • 2/3 cup quinoa
  • 1 1/3 cups water
  • 1 bunch kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
  • 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped red onion (don’t overdo these!)
  • 1 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (basically 1 lemon squeezed)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Bring the quinoa and 1 1/3 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 13 to 17 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  2. Place kale in a steamer basket over 1 inch of boiling water in a saucepan. Cover saucepan with a lid and steam kale until hot, about 45 seconds; transfer to a large plate. Top kale with quinoa, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, pine nuts, and feta cheese.
  3. Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, sea salt, and black pepper together in a bowl until the oil emulsifies into the dressing; pour over the salad.

Notes

For protein we usually throw in some smoked salmon, sauteed chicken brat slices, bacon or whatever is handy. Typically we use way more feta than called for, an entire red pepper, and half a cucumber. Usually we will 1.5x the dressing ingredients Great warm or cold!