Warm Quinoa Salad + Garbanzo Bean Garlic Croutons

Warm quinoa salad with healthy garbanzo bean garlic croutons and honey mustard dressing. Simple, healthy and very well rounded with all the macro nutrients bases covered. 

I just got back from a few nights in Portland, Oregon to celebrate my sisters big four oh. Wow, what a special day. We had a nice time at the Enso urban winery / tasting room. It was a lovely venue if you're looking for throwing a party in the area. The wine was really good.

And then I flew back on Sunday, missing my sister and her family. It's so nice to be able to getaway from my own kids and family sometimes. It's a definite recharge. And I got to spend time with my nieces and sister without having a baby screaming at me or my boys needing something. That connection is important if even only every few years.

While I was up in Oregon I made dinner for six adults. And there wasn't much in the fridge, but I made do with potatoes, lentils, broccoli and brussel sprouts. To make the meal more exciting I whipped up a honey mustard dressing to pour over it. The dressing was great! And I've made it 4 times since then (and it's only been 3 days, ha, it's that good).

Have you tried my roasted root salad yet? It uses a similar dressing.

For this blog post I paired the honey mustard dressing with quinoa and cabbage. The garbanzo bean croutons were an after thought and made the salad that much better. My kids even loved it. It's a really simple, clean but festive salad. Bring it to your New Years eve pot luck or even Christmas day celebration. It's a guilt-free dish that everybody will rave about. See my YouTube video tutorial at the bottom of this post for more details.

Honey Mustard Dressing

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 ½ tablespoon honey
• 2 ½ tablespoon stone ground mustard
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 cloves garlic

DIRECTIONS

1. Put everything in a high speed blender.
2. Blend until super cream. (or you can also just whisk it together, but I love using my blender)

Garbanzo Bean Croutons

INGREDIENTS

• 1 can garbanzo or cooked garbanzo beans. Drained/strained/dried
• Spice mix (1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon chili powder)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 2 clove raw garlic, minced (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees F
2. Line baking/cookie sheet with parchment paper
3. Bake for 20 minutes

Quinoa + Cabbage Salad

yields 3 side dishes or 2 dinner meals

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 1 Cup baby kale or spinach
• 2 tablespoon chopped shallots
• ½ cup thinly sliced purple cabbage
• ¼ cup dried apricots, chopped or raisins
• toasted almonds
• ½ of the Mustard Dressing above (add more to taste)
• Garbanzo Bean croutons

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook quinoa in a rice cooker with equal parts water. OR cook according to package.
2. In a large serving bowl add warm quinoa, greens and cabbage. Toss everything with salad tongs. Add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Toss again so the dressing coats the salad.
4. Serve. Top with fresh herbs and more toasted almonds.

Happy Holidays! Hope you all have a safe, cozy and family-filled holiday.

Hugs xoxo

Juli