quinoa salad in a jar

Looking for a healthy lunch that you can prep and take with you on a busy day? Stop searching, I have the right recipe for you! This quinoa salad in a jar guarantees that you will be eating good and nutritious food, even though you might only have a 10 minute lunch break.

What I like a lot is that I can buy quinoa grown in The Netherlands, so healthy local quinoa. Lola quinoa is a Dutch quinoa producer which buy the way also has a great packaging and branding. You should really look at their website and taste their quinoa!

Today is a great day, it is April 19th, and yes it is 29 degrees Celcius in The Hague. Can you belief it? Well, I do, as I am sitting outside in my garden writing this blog post. One of the effects of warm weather on me is that I have a very strong urge for salad. Yes, all kinds of fresh and healthy salads. Today I wanted it to have a bit more protein and fiber than an plan vegetable salad, so I decided  to go for this salad in a jar concept and make it look like a beautiful quinoa rainbow. I can tell you, it does not only look pretty, it tastes very pretty as well. The combination of different flavours and textures also comes back in this salad. The stronger taste of the green onion, with the crunch of the roasted almonds, the freshness of the bell pepper and carrot, the softness of the avocado and the sweetness of the pomegranate seeds. And I must not forget to mention the tahini-lemon dressing! I am sure you will like it as much as I do.

Quinoa is a very healthy pseudo-grain. Which means that it is actually a seed and not a grain, but we prepare it in the same way as we would prepare and eat grains. There are many nutritional benefits for quinoa. On top of the fact that it is gluten-free, quinoa is very rich in protein and dietary fiber. It is one of the few plant foods that contain all 9 essential amino acids. Other nutritional benefits are that quinoa is high in magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, vitamines B and E and contains various antioxidant. All in all more than enough reasons to eat quinoa more often!