Woo-hoo! My first official recipe post here!

Things feel like they’ve been delayed as I’ve been trying to clean up the dining room area so I can set up the photo area so I can start focusing on some recipe development and cooking for my blog. I had hopes that this weekend I’d get the house re-organized and tidy, but a migraine yesterday put me out ALL day. My Fitbit says I did 783 steps… all day.

Feeling much better today, but today was about grocery shopping, meal prep for the week, and completing my Vegan Nutritionist Certification – COMPLETING the course – not working on it! It is finito! So now I can start everything else I want to work on!

So, for this, I’m cheating a little. I’ve had this photo for this recipe for a while – the days just get busy, but I want to start posting a new recipe every week – and I wanted to start this weekend as it’s the start of the month – my birth month! I liked the symbolism of it.

Anyhow, onto the salad!

I love this salad and how versatile it is! If the vegetable can be eaten raw, it can be added to this salad! You can spice it how you like or leave it with the oil and lime. Initially I was unconvinced about the pomegranate seeds, but it works really nice!

Don’t believe me? Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

• 2 bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate
• 3 peaches or nectarines, diced
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 Cup quinoa, cooked and chilled
• handful cilantro, finely chopped
• 3 Tbsp oil
• Juice and zest of 1 lime
• Spices of choice – try cumin and paprika

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients up to and including the cilantro and mix well.
2. In a mixer bottle (I just use a protein shaker cup) add the oil, lime juice, zest and spices. Shake to mix.
3. Pour over the salad, stir well and enjoy!

Servings: 5 healthy servings

Nutritional information:

• Calories: 400
• Fat: 13 g
• Carbs: 62 g
• Sugar: 22 g
• Fiber: 10 g
• Protein: 14 g
• Iron: 4.2 mg
• Calcium: 79 mg

Note: The reason the recipe calls for chilled quinoa is because putting warm quinoa will soften the vegetables. Cool or room-temp quinoa will ensure the veggies remain nice and crisp.