Quinoa, Black Bean, and Mango Salad with Dressing (Recipe #30)

        Everyone can admit that without the right ingredients a salad can be tasteless and boring. This quinoa salad has proved to be the opposite of boring. I enjoyed everything about this salad! When the weather gets really warm, I like to have salads or cold dishes to eat. This was the perfect cold salad for a hot night.

Every ingredient that went into the salad had a purpose. The quinoa was the base. The black beans added some texture and flavor. The mango brought beautiful sweetness to the salad. The scallions had great flavor, the red bell pepper added some color, and the avocado brought some creaminess to every bite. The salad was thrown together with a simple dressing that packed a lot of flavor. The dressing consisted of lime juice, jalapeno (it called for half of one, but I used a whole one), cumin, salt, oil, and cilantro. Each flavor came through to add some depth to the dressing. The jalapeno had a nice pepper taste without it being overpowering or too spicy.

This was a colorful dish that was fun to eat. I liked having little pieces of everything in each bite to keep the flavor throughout the salad. There is nothing worse than a boring salad!

Taste: 9/10

Level of difficulty: 1/5

Notes for next time: I wonder what other things could be put into this or switched out of it--maybe use a different bean? Maybe add corn?