Apple Quinoa Salad

This "salad" takes a while from start to finish, but it's really quite simple. Most of the time is consumed by cooking and chilling, so you just need to plan a little.  It keeps well and is an easy salad to make up to a day ahead of serve time.  This is great at any picnic or potluck and is paired really well with a creamy vegetable soup in these colder months!

I love this salad for it's freshness that is paired with such a fall-inspired comforting spice. The apples in the picture are chopped larger than is preferable, so take that into consideration. Also, feel free to play with this and switch the raisins out for craisins or currents!

Apple Quinoa Salad

Serves: 12 (feel free to half)

Active time: 20 minutes

Cook/Chill time: 30 minutes and 1 hour

Total time: 2 hrs (including the hour of chill time)

Serving suggestions:  For a light but filling dinner, serve this with Carrot Apple soup along with a green salad.

What you’ll need:

• 2 cups apple juice
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups dry quinoa – rinsed
• 1 TBLS cinnamon
• 4 Granny Smith apples - diced
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 TBLS olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 TBLS apple cider vinegar OR lemon juice OR mixed half and half
• 1 cup of chopped/slivered almonds

What you’ll do:

• In a large pot, heat juice, water, quinoa and cinnamon until boiling.  Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes (until the liquid is absorbed). You can also do this step in a large rice cooker.
• Once quinoa is done, place it in a large serving bowl, let cool a little bit, and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool completely.
• Once quinoa is cool, stir in the apples, celery, raisins, oil and salt. Sprinkle the apple cider vinegar over the top and stir.
• Return to the fridge to chill at least one hour.  
• Sprinkle the almonds on before serving.

Time Saving Tips:

Chop apples and celery while quinoa is cooling