This is my staple for picnics, potlucks and entertaining larger groups of guests. I think of this as a summer salad. I always get rave reveiws and I'm begged for the recipe. Here it is. You'll notice that the recipe is not exact as the salad has never been the same twice. I use what I have in the house and I use the amounts that make sense to me at the time. So this is more of a general guideline.

Quinoa is an ancient, high-protein seed that is used much like grains. It has a crunchy texture and a buttery taste. I cook it in the rice cooker because, as I always say, "The rice cooker knows." Because the rice cooker knows, I do not. I can't tell you how long to cook the quinoa. Put it in the rice cooker--it knows.

Ingredients:

quinoa

olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and other oils (sesame, flax, etc), enough to make the salad wet

beans: definitely garbanzo. I also like butter beans, kidney beans, navy or white beans.

vegetables: definitely cucumber (I like the combination of the garbanzo beans with the cucumber for a summer salad.) and onions (green & purple), sometimes summer squash, zucchini, green or red peppers, red or green cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, water cress, parsley, cilantro

seeds: black or white sesame, sunflower (really nice for the crunch)

nuts: walnuts, almonds

dried fruit: craberries, apricots

seasoning: sea salt, pepper, rosemary

Mix and go. When you get there, squeeze fresh lemon juice over it. Yum. Enjoy!