Parenting Tips 365 » 5-Bean Quinoa Salad: The Perfect Light Summer Meal for Everyone!

Here is another great recipe find from a Whole Foods flier. This meal is a great summer option; it is light, cool, and easy to make. It is also high fiber, sugar conscious, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and vegetarian – truly a meal for just about anybody!

You can also use whatever beans you have available; use what’s on sale, what’s in your garden, what you need to use up, or what your neighbor gave you.

Why I Like This Meal

We love that this is another vegetarian meal (it’s vegan, too). Quinoa is a complete protein so this is a full meal for us, or I should say a complete meal for us. It is on the light side. It could also be used as a side dish; it is my current favorite dish to bring to potluck meals.

Pros: This meal is super easy to prepare and it only takes about 15-20 minutes. It is a cool, refreshing meal to have in the summer. It’s a great vegetarian option.
Cons: None that I can think of. (Unless you want to count the fact that my newly-picky 3 year old won’t eat this meal, or any meal with beans. He used to eat this meal before he started this picky phase, though.)

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed, cut into 2″ pieces, cooked and rinsed in cold water
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1 (15-oz) can salad beans, drained
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1 tsp dried tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

I use all organic ingredients

Directions:

Rinse quinoa in water and drain.
Bring two cups of water to boil in small pot. Stir in quinoa, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed (10-15 minutes). When finished cooking, uncover and let cool.
Cook green beans in small pot to desired tenderness. When finished cooking, let cool.
In large bowl, combine quinoa, green beans, edamame, red peppers, salad beans, dressing, tarragon, salt, and pepper and toss well.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Note: To save time, I make this in the afternoon. I combine all ingredients while they are still warm and then refrigerate the entire salad for a few hours until dinner time. It works well!