Ali Cooks: Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Don't worry!  This isn't becoming a blog all about quinoa!  Seriously, I like to bake and eat chocolate too much to only cook with quinoa...plus, variety is the spice of life, and I like to cook with spices, too!  (So bear with the me for having two back-to-back quinoa recipes!)

See, Jenny had my last quinoa recipe at the Student Affairs program orientation the week before last, and she had never made quinoa herself before.  She REALLY liked the quinoa though, so I offered to whip up another yummy quinoa dish to show her how easy and versatile the 'ancient grain' truly is.  Sure enough, she had more work ahead of her as my food prep assistant, since she had to chop a pepper, cilantro, green onions, AND a viciously tear-jerking jalapeno (Poor Jenny!).  All I did was whip up the super simple dressing and babysit the quinoa.  We'll see if I've scarred Jenny from all of the prep work in the future...

But the fun, Jenny-cooking experience allowed me to redeem myself with quinoa, since I wasn't all too pleased with my last quinoa creation.  I had refrigerated the completed dish, which I thought actually dried it out and made it flavorless.  The hot southwestern quinoa dish that Jenny and I made was the opposite of flavorless--it had a zing to it that brought hints of jalapeno, cilantro, and lime!  I was impressed, especially since we nixed the original onion/garlic ingredients.

Here's the part I love though:  when I had some of the southwestern quinoa cold yesterday, it was just as yummy and flavorful!  Good to know that southwestern ingredients preserve their deliciousness in the nooks and crannies of the quinoa flakes!

Ok, so now it's officially your turn to tackle the mighty quinoa.  Sure, I told you to do it in my last post, but it was probably intimidating with me being pretty unsatisfied with the result.  The below recipe is flawless this time, so trust me, and JUST DO IT!

Oh.  And tell me how it goes!  :)

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

*adapted from heatovento350.com

 Ingredients

1/4 cup lime or lemon juice

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp salt plus more to taste

2 3/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups quinoa

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

1 bell pepper, chopped

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 large jalapeno, diced (ribs and seeds removed)

1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Instructions
 

Whisk together lime or lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, sugar, oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Bring the water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan.  Add the quinoa, allowing it to come to a boil.  Then, reduce the heat to simmer and cover.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed most of the water. Turn off the heat and add the corn, bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno, cilantro, and the dressing. Stir together and add salt to taste.  Enjoy...and if there are leftovers, this dish tastes great cold, too!