Being vegan comes with the false assumption that you can’t enjoy anything flavorful or good anymore. Many people like to say, “there’s nothing good that’s vegan!” or “you’re missing out!” Trust me, we’re not missing out by any means. We know what dairy products and meat tastes like, and we’re still doing great without them! Because there is so much stigma around vegan foods not being tasteful or filling, I’ve decided to start a vegan recipe series where I test out new recipes I find online and give my review! Being vegan doesn’t have to be bland or boring. My hopes for this series are that it will lessen the stigma surrounding vegan foods and, possibly, inspire some to try these recipes out for themselves!
The first recipe that I tried recently was a quinoa salad with asparagus, sundried tomatoes, olives & pine nuts (the original recipe includes olives and red onions, but since I’m not a fan of those I excluded them from my salad). This salad is packed with essential vitamins and lots of protein!
Ingredients
Salad
1 ½ cups uncooked quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth
1 bunch asparagus with stalks cut off and cut into ½” pieces
½ cup chopped sundried tomatoes packed in oil
¾ cup red onion, finely chopped
½ cup pitted Kalamata olives
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
Dressing
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp reserved oil from sundried tomatoes
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Instructions:
Boil the vegetable broth and quinoa in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Then, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Steam the asparagus until tender-crisp. Then, transfer the asparagus to a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain thoroughly.
In a large bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together. When everything is cooled down, add the quinoa, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and onions to the bowl and toss to combine. Lastly, top with toasted pine nuts.
The results were amazing. This is personally one of my favorite things to make because it’s so quick, easy, and tastes so good! Have fun trying this recipe out for yourself! Just like any other recipe, you can always change up or add ingredients if you want to experiment! Enjoy!