Black Bean & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Hey, all. Remember me? I'm the one that started this here blog and then proceeded to ignore it for a year... or more. A lot more, actually. Anyway, I have a recipe I want to share that is totally rockin'. It's delicious. My kids jump for joy when I announce we're eating this salad. Seriously, they actually jump up and down. It's nice to also say that this is super healthy. It's actually Don approved, which is saying a lot. (Don is my vegan, no oil father-in-law.) And lastly, this salad rocks because it's easy-peasy to make. I'm not even going to consult a recipe, because I have it memorized. That's partly because it's easy, and also because we eat it all the time.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with quinoa, give it a try! It's a great little grain (actually seed, I think) that's full of protein and is much faster to make than brown rice. I adore brown rice, but it seriously takes for.e.ver. I keep cooked quinoa in my fridge, then for lunch I warm up a tortilla, throw in some spinach/lettuce, quinoa, and beans, drizzle on some salsa (mango salsa is fabulous), wrap it up, and--voila! Lunch! Anyhoo.... The recipe:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

Juice of 1 lemon (Don't you DARE use bottled lemon juice!)

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp sugar (or sub agave nectar)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tomatoes, diced

2 green onions, chopped

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Rinse quinoa well to remove bitter coating, then combine in sauce pan with water, bring to a boil, cover and bring heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Juice and zest lemon into large bowl. Whisk in sugar, salt, and pepper. When quinoa finishes cooking, combine with the dressing in the bowl. Then stir in remaining ingredients. I love this salad warm, but it can also be served cold. Make a big batch at the beginning of the week, and if you're lucky enough to have leftovers you can have it for lunch all week. Just pull it out of the fridge and dig in with a spoon! Our family can go through the whole bowl in one sitting, though, so I rarely have this pleasure.

Tell me if you try it! I wanna know how it goes over.