Black Bean Chili with Avocado Salsa

Quinoa Salad with pears, spinach and chickpeas

If you haven't yet visted the Gluten Free Goddess website yet, I highly suggest you do. I'm not gluten free and don't plan on ever going gluten free, but she has some amazing real food recipes that cannot be passed up. Such as this salad- the pears and apples are so sweet it gives a great contrast to the quinoa and spinach. A great summer salad!

Quinoa Salad Recipe with Pears, Baby Spinach and Chick Peas in a Maple Vinaigrette
*Recipe from Gluten Free Goddess

1-2 cups cooked quinoa (I use rice cooker, otherwise follow directions on box)
2 handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained (I used a full package of organic girl)
1 large ripe pear, washed, stemmed and cored, cut into pieces
1 sweet apple, sliced into pieces
1/2 cup chilled chick peas, rinsed, drained
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
A handful of pecans, pan toasted and salted to taste
Feta Cheese, crumbled

Maple Vinaigrette Dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Fluff quinoa with a fork and scoop into a large salad bowl.

Add the baby spinach, pear, apple, chick peas, and chopped parsley to the quinoa and fluff.

Whisk together the vinaigrette, pour it over the quinoa salad and toss gently. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper.

Just before serving, add the toasted pecans and feta and lightly combine.

Quinoa and Black Bean Burritos

If you are a lover of Mexican food, you HAVE to try this. It is amazing. I modified the recipe from the Cooking Quinoa blog (a fabulous site for incorporating this superfood into everyday meals). This is fabulous by itself, with chips or in a tortilla. I didn't add meat to mine and didn't miss it a bit. Seriously, couldn't get a healthier, tastier burrito. We used the leftovers to make quesadillas and they were just as great. This is definitely being added to my regular meal rotation.

Quinoa and Black Bean Burritos

Olive oil
1 small onion, diced
Diced green and or red pepper (I used both)
1-2 cups black beans (or one can)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (less if you use canned beans)
2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 lime (or 1/2 lemon)
1/2 bunch cilantro (I forgot to add mine and it still tasted fabulous)
diced avocado, tomato

Heat 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil in pan and saute onions and peppers. Stir in black beans, salt, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Stir in quinoa just until heated through. Remove from heat and toss with lime or lemon and cilantro.
Serve with avocado and tomato. I had mine with whole wheat tortillas. I didn't add any sour cream or cheese, but that would also be a nice addition.

Quinoa: Breakfast of Champions

This is truly the breakfast of champions. Serious cancer-preventing breakfast. Quinoa, blueberries, kiwi and strawberries, all disease preventing superfoods.

Simply cook some quinoa (I use the rice cooker function of the Fagor 3 in 1 multicooker- takes 6 minutes)   use a 2:1 ratio- 2 cups water to 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed and looks like the picture below.

Stir in a bit of honey and cinnamon, top with your favorite fruit and nuts and a little milk. YUM.

*I've discovered that bananas are THE perfect fruit to go along with quinoa, the flavors blend together amazingly well, especially with a bunch of cinnamon.

Black Bean Salad aka Cowboy Caviar

This is one of my favorite dishes because it's so simple and so healthy. It is my "go to" dish when I'm exhausted and don't feel like cooking. You can eat it warm or cold, with a spoon, tortilla, or chips. Plain, over rice, or lettuce. So versatile, and did I mention healthy?

2 cans black beans
1 can corn, drained or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 avocado, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup zesty italian dressing
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Chop the tomatoes, onion, avocado and cilantro and toss with beans and spices. Here is a great recipe for zesty italian dressing (I simply mixed a little olive oil, garlic powder, honey and italian seasoning together and liked it much more than the storebought stuff I used to buy). Refrigerating it for a few hours helps the flavors to soak in and give the beans a good flavor.

For an even healthier boost- try adding some cooked quinoa to the salad.