Confetti Quinoa Salad

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope everyone has been busy decorating for the holidays! I know we have. As first time homeowners it is really exciting to buy decorations for the house! Our tree is up and ready. I am even almost done with my Christmas shopping! My husband and I started buying presents all year round so we don't go crazy at Christmas time. I highly recommend it! I had to share this photo of Meatball because it was just too precious. 

Holy antioxidants! This salad is full of them. Not to mention protein. Quinoa is my go to grain. In fact, I really don't eat rice anymore. I pretty much stick to this super grain. In addition to quinoa this salad is full of yummy and healthy ingredients. What is not to like? 

This salad has one of my favorite winter snacks pomegranate seeds! If you haven't tried them yet pomegranates are full of body loving antioxidants. Yum!They also give the salad awesome texture.  To give the salad a kick I added a chopped jalapeno. If you are not on board with heat you can omit them. To offset the heat I added some frozen corn. Frozen corn is perfect if you want delicious veggies not in their peak season. You can really add whatever veggies you have on hand for this salad. I added some chopped red onion and peppers for some color. You can even add beans to amp up the protein factor. Chickpeas would be perfect! This would also be a perfect side to grilled shrimp or chicken. 

Confetti Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup of quinoa

1 medium sized red bell pepper

1 small red onion

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 seeded jalapeno ( chopped)

1 lemon ( juice and zest)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

seeds of 1 pomegranate ( about 3/4 cup)

1 handful of cilantro chopped

Directions:

1. Boil quinoa to packaged instructions. 

2. While quinoa is cooking chop bell pepper,onion, & jalapeno and add to a large bowl.Seed pomegranate and add to bowl. 

3. When quinoa is done cooking throw in corn to defrost it. Add quinoa and corn to bowl. 

4. Zest lemon and juice over bowl and add olive oil. 

5. Mix well and refrigerate.