Run Plant Based

Formerly The Raw Project - Running on a Healthy Vegan Diet

Mexican Quinoa Salad

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After another long day at work, I got to decompress watching this little maniac race around the house with his over-sized cow toy flopping around.

And that toy gets heavy when it’s saturated with dog slobber, I know because he likes to do flying leaps onto my back with it while I’m doing plank exercises. Who needs a weight ball?

Over the last few days, I’ve been eating lots of hummus with lunches and plenty of the stuff at the Fresh & Easy event. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I was starting to feel like a giant chickpea. I was craving something spicy tonight without beans since I’ve had my fill for awhile! I threw together a Mexican themed salad utilizing some fresh tomatoes and red peppers that needed to be used up, but swapped the beans for quinoa for a lighter take on it.

Mexican Quinoa Salad

  • 1 cup dry quinoa, cooked in 1 1/4 cups water or veggie broth, then cooled
  • 2 red bell peppers, chopped
  • 3 roma tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 4 green onions, chopped
  • 1/8 tsp. cayenne (optional)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl and serve. Makes 4 servings.

The cayenne added a slight fiery kick to the salad that you might want to skip for less heat.

The festive and bright colors were perfect with our warmer weather today and for reminding me that the weekend is almost here!

The salad is great by itself, but would also be fun in a wrap or mixed into fresh greens to add more textural flare.

It made a fun, vibrant dish and energized me for a post-dinner workout while not making me feel weighted down or bloated … like too many days in a row of hummus can do. :-)

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