Salad With Quinoa, Spinach and Eggs

This salad is very tasty, easy to make and healthy. To prepare it you can experiment and substitute the spinach with kale or arugula. You can also add fresh herbs. There are so many possibilities with this salad if you want to enjoy different tastes.

TIME: 25 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
½ cup quinoa
1 cup water
2 cups baby spinach
2 eggs, hard-cooked
6–8 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper, grounded

Preparation:
Combine ½ cup quinoa with 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Than reduce heat to low and simmer around 15 minutes until quinoa is tender and the water is absorbed. For 5 minutes set aside, covered. With a fork, transfer the quinoa to a bowl. Refrigerate until cold but if you don’t want to wait a warm salad is also very tasty.

Slowly whisk the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Then to the quinoa add the halved cherry tomatoes and spinach. Pull the dressing over the salad and toss. Cut the eggs into quarters and top the salad with the eggs. Divide the salad in two plates and serve.

Green Asparagus and White Bean Salad

This is one simple and healthy salad with white beans, green asparagus and red grape tomatoes.

Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
12–16 spears of green asparagus, trimmed
5 grape tomatoes (halved)
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 chopped scallions
1 tsp. mustard
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. sea salt

Preparation:
Using a vegetable peeler remove the tough ends from the asparagus and cut into thirds. Place water in the bottom half of a steamer pan. Than put the asparagus in the top half of the steamer pan set. Steam for 5 to 10 minutes, or until asparagus is tender. Be careful not to overcook, because it will become mushy and will lose its bright flavor. Cool the spears under cold running water.
In a bowl mix together the asparagus, white beans, halved tomatoes, parsley and scallions.
To prepare the dressing, in a small bowl add mustard, white balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and stir well.