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Quinoa Salad

So the other day I was strolling through the grocery store and one of the food samples was Quinoa Salad. I knew it was my lucky day, usually it seems they strategically place the greasy, cardboard-looking frozen pizza in my way! (maybe it's good pizza - I don't know, I've never tried it...but anyway). The store chef told me he used a little olive oil, some fresh veggies and some pepper. So I tried his version and of course I added a few more herbs, because I like them!
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (this is uncooked)
1/2 medium cucumber, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 carrot, sliced into small pieces
1 small shallot, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T olive oil
black pepper to taste

I included some steps for cooking the quinoa from the savvyvegetarian.com . It's helpful if you this is your first time using quinoa. 
  1. Soak the quinoa in warm water for 5 min in a 2 quart pot. Soaking helps quinoa to cook evenly. taste.
  2. Rinse the quinoa into a small screen mesh strainer.
  3. Drain well and transfer back to the cooking pot, add 1 1/2 cups water & 1/4 tsp salt.
  4. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down.
  5. Simmer for 15 minutes.
  6. Remove quinoa from heat and let let sit five minutes with the cover on.
  7. Pour into a medium size bowl and put in the refrigerator to cool (about an hour).
  8. After it has cooled take it out of the refrigerator and stir in your veggies. 
  9. Add the olive oil and seasonings and stir in together.
You can serve it right away or cool it in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of hours before serving. It's great the next day if you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, the flavors really soak in. So if you haven't quinoa before - try it now! It's gluten-free, healthy and so yummy!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi
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