Quinoa Avocado Salad

Alright so if it’s no boring salads allowed, we’re doing alright with this quinoa avocado salad bowl. On top of mixed greens you’ll find baked acorn squash, roasted beets, roasted chickpeas and a sweet and tangy maple dijon vinaigrette to finish it all off.

There’s a bit of prep work to this one but it can all be done ahead of time as part of your weekly food prep. To make the ingredients ahead of time, baked the squash, roast the beets and chickpeas (they can all go in the oven at the same time if needed) and make the salad dressing.

Then all you need to do at game time is assemble the salad and dig in. I used mixed field greens for the base of the salad but you could also do kale, spinach or arugula.

To recap, you’ll be needing:

1. Greens for the base. I used mixed field greens but any greens, kale, spinach, aruglua or any mixture of those works.
2. Quinoa. To give this salad a little more substance and make it a meal with staying power, it has quinoa for added protein and complex carbohydrates. Read more about quinoa in my guide to whole grains.
3. Roasted squash. I used acorn squash but butternut, kabocha or any other squash also works.
4. Roasted beets. Who doesn’t love roasted beets? They’re so good they taste like candy! I sliced my beets for roasting but you could also do whole roasted beets like I did in this salad.
5. Roasted chickpeas. I used homemade, which I explain how to make in the recipe below, but you can go with store-bought in a pinch.
6. Avocado. You’ll need 1/4-1/2 ripe avocado per serving. I used half a small avocado, or 50 grams, in each salad. Look for an avocado that has just a slightly give when you squeeze it. You want it to be ripe but firm.
7. Maple dijon vinaigrette. For the dressing, you’ll need water, red or white wine or balsamic vinegar, pure maple syrup (or stevia), garlic powder, dijon mustard, lemon, salt and pepper. Just whisk all that together in a bowl and that’s the dressing. You can also make it creamy by blending in 1/2 a container of soft tofu.

Cooking Fluffy Quinoa

Here’s the method I use to cook perfect, fluffy quinoa, every time.

1. Rinse the quinoa well.
2. Bring the water to a boil, using a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa.
3. Add the quinoa, cover and reduce to a light simmer.
4. Cook for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes without removing the lid.
6. Fluff with a fork and serve.