Quinoa And Cranberry Salad With An Orange Honey Dressing

I really enjoy a good salad but I find that I enjoy it more when it’s made for me and I’m not doing all the prep. Sadly it isn’t possible to go out everyday or order in every time I feel like a light lunch. I’ve been experimenting with various ingredients, usually it’s with whatever I have on hand, and I’ve come up with some combinations that really work for me. Sadly I’m an extremely fussy eater and one that constantly craves new dishes which means either I fend for myself or eat whatever is on the table. I choose the former and this leads to constant experimentation. If you follow me on snapchat then you’re used to my kitchen antics but if not, don’t worry I post every successful recipe on the blog. Today was my salad day and I came up with this one. I adore cous cous and thought I’d share the same enthusiasm for quinoa. Sadly that isn’t the case. I was gifted a big bag of quinoa and it seems that the only way it’s getting consumed is if I add it to my salads so that’s really how this recipe came about. Fairly simple though there is no skill required you will need to put a lot of things together and mix it all up. Hope you enjoy this one and I’ll try and share some more light veggie based salads as well. Happy Eating!

Ingredients –

10-15 chopped cranberries

A bunch of rocket leaves ( can use any salad leaf as a base and as much as you’d like )

10 chopped pistachios

1/4 cup of quinoa ( cooked )

1 orange ( half for the dressing and half to chop and add the the salad )

For The Dressing

Half an orange freshly squeezed. Try and use a big Malta orange not the local smaller ones.

1 teaspoon of honey

A little orange zest

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1 lime ( squeezed and juiced )

Pinch of salt

Method –

Place the salad leaves in a bowl, add the cooked quinoa ( basically boil the quinoa for about 10 mins in water about double the quantity of water to the quantity of quinoa so 1/4 quinoa then 1/2 cup water ). Add the chopped cranberries and pistachio.

Mix all the ingredients together for the dressing and whisk well. Pour it on top of the salad and toss well. You can save a few pistachio and cranberries to garnish later as well. Add the chopped oranges and mix into the salad. Serve Cold.