Quinoa Salad with Shrimp & Lemon Vinaigrette

I found this recipe and it looked amazing. It called for quinoa but I had on hand some "Harvest Grains" from Trader Joes that had Israeli couscous, quinoa and some other stuff and that was really good! So I say, make it with quinoa or Israeli couscous.

I ate some leftover for lunch on a bed of spinach and it was really great, so good that next time I'll serve it as a tossed salad on spinach or arugula. A few things I'll do differently next time: leave out the pomegranate arils (turns out I'm not a fan), add the corn (that I defrosted and left in the microwave), and serve on greens.

I must admit, that as much as I liked this, my family wasn't a huge fan of this salad....kids especially and they pretty much eat everything so maybe not super kid-friendly!


Quinoa Salad with Shrimp and Lemon Vinaigrette
recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Lemon Vinaigrette:
1/2 c. plus 2 Tb. fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
5 garlic cloves, pressed
dash of sugar
1 Tb. honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
lots of fresh black pepper
1 c. olive oil
dash (or two) of cayenne pepper

Mix everything together in a jar and shake well.

Quinoa Salad:
1 1/4 c. dry quinoa or Israeli couscous, prepared & cooled
2 oranges, peeled, segmented and chopped
1 c. frozen or fresh corn
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2-3/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 c. pomegranate arils (optional)
4 green onions, chopped
1 lb shrimp, peeled and rinsed

Toss the shrimp with a few tablespoons of the dressing and refrigerate while you prepare the salad. To make the salad mix cooked quinoa or couscous, oranges, corn, cucumber, black beans, cilantro, pomegranate and onions together in a bowl. Then heat a skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat, add in the shrimp and coook until just pink. Try not to overcook the shrimp. Serve the salad at room temperature or cold, with shrimp on top and drizzle with dressing.