Quinoa salad

Fall is in full swing and who knew a three year olds schedule could be so busy! Meals have started to become a little rushed so I thought if I made a healthy salad to have on hand I'd make that better choice.  The thing I love about quinoa salad is you can pretty much put anything in it and serve it warm or cold. It's so versatile. My favourite way is to roast some of the ingredients and keep some raw; this adds great texture.

I put one and half cups of quinoa on the stove to cook.  I usually make my quinoa with stock but I decided to use water since I would be making a very flavourful dressing for the salad.

I roasted thinly sliced fennel with olive oil and salt and pepper as well as red pepper, mushrooms and red onion.  I added raw shredded carrots, chickpeas and green onions. I added all these ingredients to a large bowl.

I added the fennel frawns raw.

I added cilantro oil, cider vinegar, lime juice, baby kale, and spinach; I tossed this all together until everything was dressed evenly.

Once the quinoa was cooked and while it was still warm I folded it gently into the salad. The heat from the quinoa helped to slightly wilt the spinach and kale.

I tasted this and adjusted the seasoning with salt and pepper.

I divided this into portions. This amount made nine lunch servings.

We took a shopping break and Aubrey was the only kid in dollarama begging for a new spatula set!

Here's are happy little man!

I enjoyed this salad with a half an avacodo. This was so enjoyable, a bowl full of health!