Apple Quinoa Cranberry Salad with Feta and Pecans

We're making an apple quinoa cranberry salad with feta cheese pecans and your favorite greens. The quinoa adds plant-based protein making a fresh filling side or even a light meal and it's all tossed in a tangy apple cider dressing. Hello my name is Nicole Bonilla if you love healthier recipes to our favorite foods then you are in the right place. Now you're welcome to jot down these ingredients as we go along or you can click on the link that's in the video description below and that will take you to the full recipe with all the details including nutrition facts ingredients and substitutions and frequently asked questions. Now to make this really easy salad we're going to start by chopping up our apple and you can use any apple variety that you like. My family has really come to love the cosmic crisp apple so that's what I'm going to go with and you can decide how fine you want to dice your apple. I like to dice mine into some nice bite-sized pieces. Now if you're not going to be using your apples right away then I recommend putting them in a really quick little lemon bath and that will keep them from turning brown. So I've just added about three cups of water to a bowl and I'm just going to pour in about a tablespoon of lemon juice and then we'll just drop our apples right inside and then we'll just give these a quick soak while we make the dressing. And to make this really easy and delicious apple cider dressing we're going to start with some light olive oil but you could use regular olive oil or even avocado oil if you like. So in a small jar I'm just going to add a fourth a cup of my light olive oil and then for some delicious flavor we'll add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and for some natural sweetness we'll add two tablespoons of some honey but you can also use maple syrup if you like. And to bring in a little bit of tang we'll add two teaspoons of some Dijon mustard and half a teaspoon of garlic powder and a fourth a teaspoon of salt. Now we just screw on our lid and give it a good shake until it all emulsifies. Now we have this very naturally sweet and delicious smelling dressing. Now that our apples have had a quick soak I'll go ahead and drain them off in my sink. Now the written recipe will make a salad with six servings and for the quinoa you'll want to have two cups of cooked quinoa and you'll just want to cook it up according to the box's directions. So you will want to do this far enough ahead of time that you can cool off the quinoa because if you have warm quinoa in the salad it will wilt your lettuce. Now the additional ingredients you'll want to have is a half a cup of some dried cranberries and you can decide if you want to get them unsweetened or sweetened. A third a cup of feta cheese but you could also use goat cheese if you like. Now to add a little crunch on top I love to add some nuts and pecans are my favorite but you can also use some walnuts or some almonds or even some pumpkin seeds. And for the pecans you could certainly toast them up beforehand to give them the most flavor. And then for the salad greens you'll want to have about four cups of salad and you can use any variety that you like. I love using a mix of spring mix plus some arugula. Now to assemble a single serve salad I'm just going to add in some of these greens. I'll give that dressing a quick stir. I like to toss in the dressing before I add the other ingredients then I can make sure it's all well incorporated. Then we'll add in some quinoa and a few of our cranberries and some of our gorgeous apples and some feta cheese right on top and break up a few of our pecans. And then we have this gorgeous salad that I cannot wait to taste. Make sure we get a bite with everything on it. That is delicious. All those flavors come together in the most delicious combination of sweet and tangy flavors. I love the earthy texture of the quinoa and then getting those sweet apples that are really crunchy and crispy. And I love getting the crunchy nuts on top and then the softness of that feta cheese and then those cranberries just give it a burst of flavor. And I love that it's made with clean natural ingredients. Now if you could use more healthy inspiration on a regular basis I invite you to join my email list. All you have to do is click on the link in the video description below and that is the best way for us to stay connected. And I want to thank you for joining me today in my kitchen. I have included a link to this recipe and it's in the video description below and that will take you to my website generaltummy.com. And I also invite you to like and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. And I invite you to join me again in my kitchen.