Quinoa Salad Recipe (in Off-topic)

so CC asked me for this, like a week ago...

Quinoa salad (my brother's recipe)

Ingredients:
3 cups quinoa
6 cups water
2 cups trail mix (or your own mix of raisins & nuts, whatever.. dates are good)
1 cup dried goji berries (can be replaced with other dried berries, dried blueberries work)
2 lemons (zest & juice)
8 tbsp olive oil
7 tbsp white balsamic (don't use dark, trust me)
sprinkle of mint & cinnamon (1 teaspoon each, or to taste)
1 bunch of parsley
2 avocados

Preparation:
1.) Cook quinoa in water (like rice) and let cool
2.) Add balsamic, olive oil, and lemon zest & juice. Mix well.
3.) Stir in all fruit and nuts (goji + trail mix, or substitutes).
4.) Add finely cubed avocado and finely chopped parsley.
5.) Season with mint and cinnamon.
6.) Give it a final mix and enjoy.

This will make a pretty good amount so you may want to half the recipe. You can also add some sesame or sunflower seeds in lieu of nuts.

I don' think I have forgotten anything... feel free to ask questions.

Oh yeah... keep it refrigerated. It'll keep for 3 or 4 days in the fridge so you don't have to eat it all at once.

Do you leave all the dried things dry, or reconstitute them?

Leave 'em dry... they'll soak up some moisture from the oil and balsamic.

Wow! Thanks, Loch! This looks spectacular and delicious. I'll definitely be adding it to my list of stuff I can make in large batches and then eat over a period of time.

1. Veg stock instead of water = good thing
2. Too much fresh mint = bad thing
3. No nuts = bad thing
4. Little box of frozen pomegranate = good thing
5. Craisins = good thing
6. Underripe avocado = bad thing

Very pretty, very fragrant.

Pretty good, but my limited version definitely needed a salty, crunchy, roasted, chopped nut. Maybe even pistachios. It was way too "sweet and mushy" but there was a nut-allergy issue with the guest list. I used sunflower seeds, but they weren't crunchy enough and they were also unsalted. I even tried adding a handful of coarse sea salt, but it didn't help enough.

Probably could have benefited from chopped dried apricot -- a little orange and chewy would have been lovely.