Directions

Quinoa (pronounced “keeh-wah”) is everywhere. It seems to be the “in” grain, if there can be such a thing. I’ve hopped on the bandwagon, but honestly, I hope it’s not a fad. This stuff is good, and good for you. (For the nitty gritty on that, click here.) I’m always looking for ways to get more of this into my family.

Did any of you see the ad played during the football games on Sunday with the Eagles fan lamenting over the box of Quinoa burgers his wife made him bring to the tailgate? I honestly can’t remember who or what the ad was for, but it made me laugh. I’m pretty sure that my husband had the same reaction to quinoa the first time I brought it into our kitchen. Thankfully, he’s come around…or at least, he knows well enough that he should keep his lamenting to himself, much like the poor guy in the ad!

I ran across this quinoa salad recipe in one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. It’s simple, fresh, light, and very family friendly. We had it alongside grilled pork tenderloin. For those of you counting WW Points, a “generous cup” of the salad is worth 4 PointsPlus.

I started by cooking up my quinoa. Quinoa comes in different varieties, but I happened to have red on hand, so I went with that. I actually prefer the red quinoa as it seems a little heartier to me.

It only takes 15 minutes on the stove top to cook, so while it was cooking, I got to slicing up my strawberries and kiwi fruits, and I drained a can of mandarin oranges.

The fruit went into a bowl and then I mixed up the dressing. It was simply some fat-free vanilla yogurt, some chopped, fresh mint and a couple of tablespoons of orange juice.

Once the quinoa was done, I fluffed it with a fork and let it cool for a few minutes. I didn’t want it to be fire-hot when I mixed it with the fruit and dressing. Once it had cooled down a bit, I tossed the quinoa with the dressing and fruit in a large bowl. Then, I covered the bowl and let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours until I served it up with dinner.

We really enjoyed it. It was much more fulfilling than a regular fruit salad, and really not much more difficult to put together. I’m thinking you could change out the fruits too, depending on what you happen to have on hand. I bet melon and blueberries would be good additions to the mix as well.

QUINOA FRUIT SALAD

Adapted from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

Quinoa Fruit Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Cuisine: Healthy

Author: Adapted from Weight Watchers

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

2 cups water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1 1/2 cups sliced, hulled strawberries
2 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange sections, drained

Instructions

Combine water and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the quinoa is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork, and allow to rest for a bit so it can cool off.
To make the dressing, whisk together the yogurt, orange juice and chopped mint.
Combine the strawberries, kiwi, and orange segments in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the fruit and toss to coat evenly. Add the quinoa, and toss well to combine.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours. Serve within 2 days.
ENJOY!
one cup = 4 WW PointsPlus