Whole Foods Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

well... I'll be the first to agree it's been a LOOOONNNGG time since I've blogged. The summer was crazy and after all of that blogging and crafting for the wedding, I've been taking the last 5 months off - just enjoying married life and traveling all over the country w/ my fresh new husband!!

 

here's us on our honeymoon in Costa Rica

 

With my wedding finally over and my marriage beginning, I've returned to my first love on Pinterest, cooking!  In the last year I have become obsessed with Whole Foods Black Bean and Quinoa Salad available at their deli counter. It is absolutely AMAZING, but the problem is (1) it's kinda expensive and (2) they don't always have it since they rotate different things through their selection all the time.  SO, I took it upon myself to finally get my act together and try to make some myself this afternoon and... it turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!! 

 

I googled recipes for imitation Whole Foods Black Bean and Quinoa Salad first (cuz I'm lazy) but I couldn't find anything that really looked like it would be exactly what I was looking for, so instead, I stole from two pretty close recipes, mixed them together and voila, I think I nailed it!

 

My two sources were Turn It On Cook on Tumblr: http://turnitoncook.tumblr.com/post/515743921/whole-foods-black-bean-quinoa-salad-i-love-the and Epicurious.com  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quinoa-and-Black-Bean-Salad-12245

 

 And now I present to you my version of Whole Foods Black Bean and Quinoa Salad - I think it's really the best of both worlds!

 

3 cups water
1 1/2 cup quinoa
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1/2 large red bell pepper
3 sprigs of green onions
1 can of corn (rinsed)
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
several sprigs of cilantro (I didn't keep track)
Salt and Pepper to taste

For dressing

• 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil

** I only ended up using about 3/4 of the dressing

Directions:

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Rinse the quinoa and add to boiling water, lower heat to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes. (in the future though, I think I'm going to try the Epicurous style of cooking quinoa which is  supposed to make it lighter and fluffier, here's how to do it:
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In a saucepan of salted boiling water cook quinoa 10 minutes. Drain quinoa in sieve and rinse under cold water. Set sieve over a saucepan of boiling water (quinoa should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes (check water level in kettle occasionally, adding water if necessary).
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While the quinoa was cooking, I made the dressing by mixing all of those ingredients together. Then I cut up the pepper, onion, and cilantro. I also drained and rinsed the corn and drained and rinsed the black beans. Then I tossed the beans w/ the red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper to taste.

Once the quinoa was done, I drained the excess water (I think there was excess because I used a little more than was necessary) and rinsed it with cold water.  After that I tossed the quinoa with all of the ingredients and then poured in about 1/2 of the dressing I had made. I didn't want the salad to get too oily and I also thought the dressing would over power the salad so, as I said,  I only used about 3/4 of it, so I might make a little less next time.

And that was it. It made a huge bowl of the stuff and it is absolutely delicious and pretty darn close to what you can buy at Whole Foods.  With just me and Nick eating it, this recipe made enough to last an entire week too!

SOoooooooo excited to snack on it all week long! YUM!!!