From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Quinoa and Fruit Salad

With fresh fruits coming into season, now is the time to enjoy a savory salad with some fruit. This is great as a side dish with any grilled meat or fish. You can even prepare the quinoa with dressing the day before, but be sure to only add the fruit a short while before serving.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup raw quinoa
• 1 cup water or gluten-free chicken or vegetable stock
• 6 large strawberries, rinsed and sliced
• 2 slices of fresh pineapple, cut into small pieces
• 1 Gala, Fuji or Braeburn apple, rinsed and cut into small pieces. No need to peel.
• Substitute other fruit, nectarines, grapes, celery instead of apple for crunch
• 1 batch of Poppy Seed Dressing (see recipe below)

Directions:

1. Put raw quinoa and cold water/stock in small saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

2. After 10 minutes, turn heat off but leave pan sitting on hot burner for 5 minutes. After these 5 minutes, remove lid and allow quinoa to cool.

3. Stir about half of the dressing into quinoa.

4. Add fruit to quinoa and dressing once quinoa is cold. Add more dressing to taste.

Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds (If you’d prefer to skip the sesame seeds, double the amount of poppy seeds.)
• ½ Tbsp. poppy seeds
• ¾ tsp. minced onion
• 1/8 tsp. gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients together. This also goes well over mixed greens with strawberries, goat cheese or feta cheese and some nuts.