Dairy Free,  Gluten Free,  Main Course,  Recipe,  Vegan,  Vegetarian

Spring Spinach & Couscous Salad with Maple Mustard Dressing

April 19, 2017 /

You wanna know something?

The first line of writing a blog post is almost always the hardest part, don’t know why, but now that I took the cheater route for today’s intro line I can relax and tell you about this salad. #LazyGirl


Okay, so when my week gets busy I tend to really gravitate towards quicker and easier stuff. I mean, I think we all do that right? For me, salads are a big go-to because you can literally just put everything into a bowl and mix it up, done. Oh my goodness, I sound so lazy today. Hey, what can I say, it’s hump day.

So anyway, salads, is it just me or do they tend to get a really bad rep? I feel like I’ve talked about this before but it’s still just as true as it was the last time. A salad has the potential to be anything but boring and everyone seems to forget that. This one is a simple mix of couscous and fresh spinach, plus a ton of other delicious ingredients on top. A friend of mine brought me a little carton of what will probably be this season’s last blueberries (I love autumn but not that part; enter sad face.) so I had to add some of them to my salad. I also made a no hassle dressing with just 3 ingredients and it’s AHHH-mazing!

You can of course add more protein to this salad if you’d like to have it for lunch or dinner and you want it to be a bit more filling but I wanted to keep it simple. Actually I’m finding myself wanting to simplify a lot of things in my life right now because, seriously, sometimes I way over-complicate stuff. That’s why a salad is the perfect thing for my mood today. I hope this recipe is at least something inspiring in your day!

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Summer Berry, Sweet Corn, & Basil Quinoa Salad + Seedy Vinaigrette

Nothing says fresh like a seasonal Summer salad to take advantage of all the delicious produce!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Salad:

  • 4 cups fresh salad greens lettuce, spinach, etc., roughly chopped
  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup whole kernal corn off the cob
  • 1 cup fresh berries of choice washed (stems removed for strawberries)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 to asted pepitas
  • 1 bunch fresh basil leaves roughly chopped if large

Seedy Vinaigrette:

  • 1/2 cup sunflower oil
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • 2 tablespoons pepitas
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Seedy Vinaigrette:

  1. Combine all the ingredients for vinaigrette in a medium jar with a tightly fitting lid and shake very well. Add salt and pepper to your taste then store in fridge until ready to serve.

Salad:

  1. Gently toss the greens, quinoa, corn, and basil together for the salad in a large bowl using salad tongs. Top with fresh berries, sunflower seeds, and pepitas. Store salad in fridge until ready to serve.
  2. For serving, either gently toss entire salad with vinaigrette immediately before serving or serve on the side for individuals to add as desired.

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