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Quinoa Salad with Edamame, Black Beans & Cilantro Lime Dressing

It all started with a broken garbage disposal. I called the plumber this morning and he came over to fix it. I have a tendency to start asking questions about other appliances whenever I get something fixed because I am so excited to have a handyman in my house. I don’t know about you, but nobody in my family is handy around the house.

At any rate, after he fixed the garbage disposal I asked him if he could look at the dishwasher because my dishes aren’t coming out clean. He said I needed to call an appliance person because plumbers don’t fix dishwashers but….he would take a look. He looks carefully inside the dishwasher and says “this just needs some CLR and a good cleaning”. What is CLR I ask? He kindly says “I have some in my truck – you can use it.” He brings the CLR (calcium,lime,rust remover) back in the house and begins to clean out my dishwasher. Very nice of him. It took awhile.

He said ” the dishwasher needs to run, without dishes to wash it out and it should be fine after that.” So I start running the dishwasher. He is about to leave and I said “would there be a reason that the water from the hose in the backyard comes out hot?” He says “well that might have something to do with your water heater and you would probably need a water heater guy come out for that but….let me take a look.”

He climbs up the water heater in the wall and doesn’t find a hose problem but finds another problem and fixes it. So nice of him – I didn’t even know I had a problem. Now we walk outside so he can test the hose and the water comes out cold. I say “weird because yesterday afternoon when I watered my flowers the water from the hose was hot.” He says ” well that’s because your hose is outside and it was 95 degrees yesterday and the hose gets hot and thats why the water is hot.” “Oh” I say.

At any rate, so nice of him to fix all that stuff. He finally leaves. I’m sure I could have found many more things for him to fix while I had him trapped in the house but I let him go.

Thirty minutes later there is a knock on the door. It’s the plumber. He says “I thought I would come back and make sure your dishwasher is working properly”. I said “well it’s still running so I can’t open it up” so he says “well I can come back later.” I say “no worries – you don’t have to come back and thanks for everything” and he left. I thought to myself – that was strange and suddenly….. I realized… I think he thought I was hitting on him. Is this my new vegan allure??????

Well on to lunch. Keeping it simple this week. Went grocery shopping and bought tons of heirloom tomatoes, mangos, lettuce, cucumbers, all kinds of fruit etc. It is a great time of year to be vegan. Lunch was a simple whole wheat pasta with sauteed heirloom tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil. Yummy, easy and delicious.

I am making this quinoa salad for dinner tonight – lots of protein & more deliciousness.  Being a vegan today wasn’t very hard. I think I am getting used to this. Day 87 – wish me luck.

Edamame & Black Bean Quinoa Salad

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Mango Edamame Quinoa Salad

Author: Ordinary Vegan

Recipe type: Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water
• 1 carton black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup frozen cooked edamame
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 2-3 radishes, sliced thin
• ¼ cup chopped almonds (optional)
• Fresh chopped cilantro for garnish

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

• ¾ cup fresh, chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon of water (add more if too tart)
• 1 garlic clove chopped
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin oive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

Instructions

1. Bring two cups of water to a boil. Add quinoa, cover and lower heat to simmering. Cook until all the water is absorbed, keeping a close eye so it doesn’t stick. Approximately 13-18 minutes. Leave covered and set aside.
2. In a food processor, add the cilantro, lime juice, vinegar, water, garlic clove, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Process until somewhat smooth. Taste for seasonings. If too tart, add a little more water instead of more oil.
3. Combine the quinoa with the chopped red onion, black beans and edamame. Add some dressing. Mix gently. Taste for seasonings. Add more dressing if needed. Top with some chopped cilantro and / or slivered almonds.

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