Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

This shop has been compensated by Minute Rice®. All opinions are mine alone.

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad is a quick recipe made with fresh kale, tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, red onion, Cotija cheese and Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa with a cilantro lime dressing drizzle. 

May is Women’s Health Month! This has me thinking about ways I can live a healthier lifestyle and food obviously plays a huge role in this. As a busy mom, I am guilty of just tossing together meals that I think are easy or affordable and it spirals into some unhealthy habits. This Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad proves that healthy eating doesn’t take more time or more money and tastes amazing! This beautiful salad can be on the table in less time it takes to heat up those frozen chicken nuggets in your freezer. So, put the frozen food down and rethink what convenient food means! Fresh produce in an assortment of colors, go-to tummy fillers like Minute® Ready to Serve cups, simple flavors like the cilantro lime dressing featured in this salad to add real flavor!  

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad has a fresh kale base with loads of goodies on top. Tomatoes, red onion and avocado add lots of flavor to the meal and take only minutes to prep. Black beans, corn and Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa provide those satisfying components that will keep you full and satisfied for hours. An easy cilantro lime dressing gets mixed in for that wonderful zing that makes your taste buds dance.  

Cilantro Lime Dressing

Kale can have a slight bitter taste so I paired it with a cilantro lime dressing that wakes up the taste buds with the extra zing of tart and sweet that is a really nice balance of flavors when the salad is all put together. Yes, of course this dressing is also super easy to make. In a food processor, add in some olive oil, freshly squeezed lime juice, zest from the lime, cilantro, whole garlic cloves, salt, pepper and honey. Puree for one minute and done. The dressing will stay good in your refrigerator for one week. Shake before use. 

Process

Start by heating up the Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa. One minute in the microwave is all it takes! Then, set it to the side to cool off while you prepare the other ingredients.

Wash and dry fresh produce. Chop up the kale, slice the tomatoes and onion, peel and slice the avocado.

To keep the ingredients simple, I used canned black beans and canned corn. Drain and rinse the black beans. If you happen to have some leftover grilled corn, that would be amazing in this recipe to swap for the canned.

Place all your ingredients in a bowl, sprinkle some Cotija cheese on top and finish the cilantro lime dressing. When you are ready to eat, pour in desired amount of cilantro lime dressing and mix all the ingredients together.

Minute Rice® 

Minute Rice® has a whole line of rice products that can all be prepared in 10 minutes or less. I especially love the perfectly portioned Minute® Ready to Serve cups that come in a variety of grains and flavors that help me stay on track without overeating or overthinking. Bonus that these cups cook in 90 seconds or less for a quick grab and eat while chasing after the kids or to create family friendly meals with endless possibilities on busy nights.

The Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa in todays recipe is made with a blend of two 100% whole grains. Not only does the brown rice and quinoa mixture give a nice texture when chewing but it is also supplying 55 grams of whole grains per serving! The fiber in the whole grains is what helps you feel full for longer so you can stick to a better eating plan and make better food choices throughout the day. 

Meal Prepping

 This meal is perfect for meal prepping lunch or dinners! If you are meal prepping this salad, save the dressing on the side until you are ready to eat so ingredients stay crisp and taste fresh. The Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa can be consumed warm or cold so you can add it to the salad in advance to eat cold or heat it up for one minute right before meal to have some warm bites. 

Tip

Avocados brown easily. When meal prepping and slicing avocados for later, try a little lime juice bath before adding to salad to help the avocados stay green longer. Plus, the extra lime tastes great in this recipe. 

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