How To Make Grapefruit Quinoa Salad

Both grapefruit and quinoa are known for being wonder foods. Chock full of essential vitamins and minerals, a grapefruit quinoa salad is an excellent choice for the health conscious eater. This vegetarian friendly dish is inexpensive, nutritious and simple to prepare; an excellent recipe to have in your repertoire. This basic quinoa grapefruit salad recipe can easily be adapted to include your other favorite veggies and fruits such as avocado, kale or cranberries. This dish can be served up warm or cold and stores easily.

This recipe requires about 40 minutes to prepare and cook. The current recipe makes approximately four to six servings of grapefruit quinoa salad, however, the amounts can easily be altered to change the number of servings. It is low in calories and full of protein. It can easily be served in smaller portions as an appetizer or a side dish to another meal, however, it also stands alone nicely as a main dish. This recipe includes a simple grapefruit vinaigrette to be sprinkled on top, however, any dressing can be used.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1/2 cup of quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups of chopped spinach (or any other leafy green of your choice)
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 3 pink or white grapefruits
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (or 1/8 cup of sliced almonds)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 3 ounces feta cheese

Cookware Needed:

• One medium sized saucepan
• One large mixing bowl
• Small paring knife
• One small mixing bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• One large skillet or frying pan
• Sieve

Instructions:

Begin by lightly rinsing the uncooked quinoa under water. You can do this using either a sieve or by placing it in a bowl and then using your hand to block to the grains as you pour the water out. Rinsing the grains before cooking them prevent them from tasting bitter. Next, toast the uncooked quinoa. Toasting the quinoa before cooking it is optional, however, it will help prevent the end product from coming out mushy, and instead flavorful and fluffy. Place the wet quinoa in a frying pan over medium heat and allow to toast for about two to three minutes.

In a medium sized saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add in a pinch of salt and the quinoa grain. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover the saucepan. Let the quinoa cook for 20 minutes and then remove it from the heat. Once you have removed the saucepan from the burner, let the quinoa continue to sit, still covered, for another 10 minutes. This will allow the quinoa to finish absorbing any water residue and to settle.

Finely slice 1/2 of a red onion. You can either finely chop the onion, or cut it into long slices. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chopped spinach, or other leafy green of your choice and the red onion. Kale and arugula are both excellent substitues in this dish for the spinach, or try a combination of all three. You can add more or less spinach and onion depending on your personal taste. If you would like to include feta cheese with this meal, crumble the feta and mix it in with the spinach and onion.

Using a small paring knife, peel and slice two of the grapefruits. To properly slice a grapefruit, begin by cutting of the top and bottom of the fruit. Then proceed to peel the rest of the fruit. Cut following the natural slices of the grapefruit, however, you don’t want to have any of the white membranes in your dish. Add the grapefruit slices in with the spinach and onion. Cut the third grapefruit in half. In a small bowl, squeeze out the juice from the grapefruit and add in the oil and vinegar. Stir vigorously. This makes an easy, and basic grapefruit vinaigrette dressing. Salt and pepper the dressing to taste.

Combine the cooked quinoa with the chopped spinach and onion mix and mix it all together. Pour the dressing over the dish and stir it in. Your grapefruit quinoa salad is now ready to serve.