QUINOA AVOCADO SALAD

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put 1 cup quinoa into a fine-mesh strainer (or put a paper towel inside your strainer if it’s not fine enough to catch the quinoa seeds.)
2. Rinse quinoa well with cold water.
3. Bring 2 cups water to boil in a small saucepan, stir in quinoa, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it, because it may take more or less than 15 minutes, depending on exactly how high you have the heat.)
4. You can also cook the quinoa in a rice cooker if you prefer.
5. Let the cooked quinoa cool for a few minutes, then place in salad bowl, fluff with a fork and cool until quinoa is room temperature, about 15 minutes.
6. While quinoa cooks and cools, peel avocado, dice into 3/4 inch pieces, place in small bowl, and toss with 1 T fresh-squeezed lime juice.
7. Peel cucumbers, leaving thin green stripes, scrape out seeds, and dice cucumbers into 1/2 inch pieces.
8. Cut off root and stem end of radishes, wash if needed, and dice into 1/2 inch pieces.
9. Thinly slice enough green onions to make 1/4 cup.
10. In a small bowl, stir together the 3 T lime juice, ground cumin, Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), Vege-Sal (affiliate link) or salt, then whisk in the olive oil.
11. When quinoa has cooled to room temperature in the salad bowl, stir in the diced radishes, diced cucumbers, and thinly-sliced green onions. (Don’t add avocado until the end.)
12. Stir in enough dressing to moisten salad to your liking (you may not need all the dressing.)
13. Gently stir in diced avocado, season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and serve immediately.
14. This was okay when I kept it in the fridge overnight, but I don’t think it would keep for longer than a day, and it was better freshly made.