Honey-Soaked Quinoa Salad

I have been dying to make something with quinoa!  I have been hearing and reading about it for some time and just bought some at Wegmans (they sell organic quinoa in bulk and it is much better value than buying prepackaged).  I saw this recipe, Honey-Saoked Quinoa Salad with Cherries and Cashews, next to the honey mustard pork in April's Better Homes and Gardens and knew it was meant to be. 

I LOVED the quinoa in the salad!!

Well, maybe not meant to be exactly.  I had some of the ingredients so I figured I'd use the recipe as a guideline.  Well, I made the vinaigrette as directed, using ginger powder instead of fresh.  The spice jar I have gives a conversion of fresh to powdered, something like 1/4 t powdered equals 1 t fresh.  I thought that the ginger flavor was a bit over powering at first but then I really liked it.  I added my cooked quinoa to the lettuce and that's where I stopped following the recipe. Instead of cherries, I used blueberries; instead of red onion, I used scallions; instead of cashews, I used walnuts; and instead of apricots, I used avocado.  


I loved this salad and even my husband who was "unwillingly eating salad" liked it a lot.  I saw him have seconds!  This is a great guideline for a salad recipe.  I can't wait for my next quinoa recipe!