Chipotle Quinoa Salad with Green Apples

The other day we realized we had no meals planned and had not gone grocery shopping. As a vegan, quinoa is a staple of the house, we usually have a couple of green apples hanging around and since we just got out of jalapeno growing season we had some of those. I dug around in the kitchen until I pulled together what we had and this is the result!

1 c. red quinoa
1 large green apple, chopped into small pieces
1/2 c. finely chopped red onion (1/2 of a large red onion or 1 medium small red onion should be enough)
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

Dressing
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lime juice
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground chipotle
1 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper

In a small pan, bring the quinoa to a boil in 2 cups of water. Once it is boiling, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 more minutes.  Once the quinoa is done cooking place in a salad bowl and let it cool while you chop and prepare the dressing.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together.

Once the quinoa is cooled, add in the apples, red onion and jalapeno and drizzle with the dressing!


Ta Da! Simple, quick and delicious :)
Serve room temp. or chilled

Side Note: I didn't do this when I made it, but it would be even more tasty if instead of ground chipotle you used canned chipotles in adobo sauce! I would use half a chipotle and finely chop it up and mix it in with the dressing! If you think half a chipotle would be too spicy, go with less! The canned adobo chipotles will give you more fire and flavor, where as the ground chipotle tends to give less fire, but more smokey flavor!