Quinoa has largely replaced rice in my household. It is great with both hot and cold dishes. In this case it is in a salad along with poached chicken, dried cranberries, cucumber, hearts of palm and avocado – omit the chicken and it is vegetarian/vegan. If you have it use lemon pepper (I always use it when cooking chicken) if not freshly ground black pepper. Pour over a small amount of lemon dressing and voila!
2 cups boiling water
1 cup quinoa
1 large chicken breast – poached in juice of 1/2 a lemon and olive oil and seasoned with salt and lemon pepper/freshly ground black pepper and wrapped in aluminum foil and chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 an English cucumber – diced
3 x hearts of palm – chopped
1 avocado – diced
Handful of dried cranberries
DRESSING
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and lemon pepper/freshly ground black pepper
Whisk all ingredients together
Let the quinoa and chicken cool then place them along with the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl, pour over the whisked dressing, mix well together, transfer to a salad bowl and serve.
