Spring Time Quinoa Salad

Quinoa salad is to pasta salad as
turkey sausage lettuce wrap is to hot dog.
Gluten free and slightly healthier.

We thoroughly enjoy cooking with quinoa.  It gives a great texture to our dishes with a flavor similar to pasta.  However, we still have not managed to figure out how much to make for one meal.  It seems that a tablespoon of uncooked quinoa makes about 5 gallons of prepared quinoa.  That may be an exaggeration, but we are frequently faced with an abundance of left-over quinoa, such as after making a quinoa-kale-sweet potato dish.

This leftover presented itself on a Saturday night before heading to PNC Park to watch the Phillies and Pirates play some baseball (if you can call it that).  We had decided to make a turkey sausage lettuce wrap for dinner (even though PNC park has gluten free hot dogs) as a healthy alternative.  What better to go along with a lettuce wrap than a fresh veggie and quinoa salad.  We added fresh chopped red onion, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms with Italian dressing for a quick, easy, and delicious side dish.

Red Bridge (Gluten Free!) at PNC Park

Ingredients
One cup prepared quinoa (chilled)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped tomato
2-3 tablespoons Italian dressing
Veggie-parmesan cheese (to top)
Fresh cracked black pepper (to top)

Recipe

Combine quinoa, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, tomato, and carrots - stir well.  Add Italian dressing, continue stirring.  Plate and top with parmesan and black pepper.

Serving suggestion - add spicy brown mustard and our kick ass relish to your lettuce wrap for a zing.