Apricot pecans quinoa salad was inspired from the recipes I received in the mail, together with my free kit from Moms Meet(momsmeet.com). The kit came with an invitation to write a review for one of my favorite pantry ingredients, extra virgin olive oil. It was the first time I did a product review on my blog, so I was excited to try the oil sample in a recipe. I cook with olive oil quite a bit and I always look for European Olive Oil to work with, therefore this was a great opportunity for me.
I was instantly attracted to this quinoa salad, so I decided to dedicate a special post to it. If you want to read about my extra virgin olive oil review, you can click here . There are lots of good information about Extra Virgin Olive Oil and also recipes from my blog where I used olive oil.
For some of you who never cooked quinoa before, here you have the instructions:
How to cook quinoa:
For each cup of uncooked quinoa, use 2 cups of water of both and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook covered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let it stand for 5 minutes. Fluff it up and use it. (Tip: Some stores have already cooked quinoa in the frozen isles. )
How to make the salad using cooked quinoa:
First of all, my salad uses dried apricots, pecans (walnuts go really well also), a little bit of turmeric( the spice that gives curry its yellow color and it is used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb), extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper to your taste.
We chop the dried apricots and the nuts and mix the rest of the ingredients with the cooked quinoa. That’s it! I cannot think of anything easier to put together than that! The result is a delicious salad that can be consumed alone or as a side dish with meats, like grilled chicken breast or pork chops. This is also a great recipe for vegans or vegetarians if you serve it with a green salad, for example.
It could be a great side dish for Thanksgiving or any other holiday, especially if you have people in your family and friends who follow a gluten free diet. You can substitute quinoa with wild rice or farro.
Enjoy!
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup dried apricots chopped
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Roughly chop the apricots and nuts.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the apricots, nuts and turmeric and stir.
- Add the cooked quinoa.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Season to taste.
- Pour the salad dressing over the quinoa mixture and toss together.
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