Toasted Almond Quinoa Salad

As I've mentioned on prior occasion, I'm a big fan of Nature's Bin, a natural-food store just a hop-skip-and-jump from my house, particularly because of their freakishly good (and freakishly vegan-friendly) deli selections. (You can witness the glory of their deli-food HERE.) And one of my all-time favorite things to get there is their quinoa salad--it is tasty, light, healthy, clean, and crisp. It is good good stuff. (Another favorite of mine is their delectable vegan spinach pie--I don't think I've ever been in that store without nabbing one.)

Anyways, as I've also mentioned before, one of the reasons I love Nature's Bin so much is that on the labels of most of their deli-dishes, they list out the ingredients. This is a vegan cooking-nerd's wet dream.

So this week, I finally decided to try duplicating their quinoa salad for myself. That way I could make it in bulk, I could make it whenever I wanted, and I could cow down on it for way cheaper.

And duplicate it I did. I will probably end up tweaking the soy sauce/lemon juice ratio the tiniest bit, but nonetheless, I was proud of myself for getting so close to the original. I *did* mix it up just a little by using both black quinoa and regular, and I recommend it. But it's not a necessity.

Either which way, this makes for the perfect lunch or the perfect picnic dish. And (almonds aside) it's fat-free.

NATURE'S BIN VERSION


MY VERSION


INGREDIENTS:

• 3 or 4 c. cooked quinoa--I used half regular, half black quinoa


• 1 c. slivered carrots (or shaved would work too)


• 1/2 c. thinly-sliced scallions


• 1/3 c. slivered or shaved almonds, toasted


• 1 handful parsley, finely cut


• 3 T. soy sauce


• 1 T. apple cider vinegar


• Juice from one lemon

DIRECTIONS

Mix the quinoa, carrots, scallions, almonds, and parsley in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Drizzle over the quinoa mixture.

Let sit for an hour or so to absorb the flavors. Serve.

Makes 4-6 servings