Mexican Quinoa Salad w/Lime Cumin Dressing

I thrMexQuinoaSalad1ew this together recently for dinner when it was over 100 degrees outside.  Didn’t feel like a hot meal, and definitely didn’t feel like turning on the oven or spending a lot of time at the stove.  The only cooking required is for the quinoa and that’s super quick, especially if you have a pressure cooker in which it quinoa takes 5 minutes at high pressure.

This is a great dish to share at a potluck, picnic, or for this coming weekend, a Labor Day BBQ.  It holds up well in the fridge for a few days; the sauce/dressing soaks in quite a bit but the flavor is still there.  Delicious on its own or on a bed of lettuce.

Maple-Dijon Green Bean and Sweet Potato Salad (vegan, low-fat, gluten-free)

It was lunch time.  I opened the fridge and saw fresh green beans I’d gotten from the farmer’s market, and a Japanese sweet potato.  Those are the kind with purple/burgundy skin but are white inside.  Delicious.  Anyway, I thought to myself “what can I do with both those items to make an entree?”  This salad, which I ate warm, is what I came up with.  Very tasty.

I used my amazing pressure cooker for the sweet potato (cooked 2 mins), and the green beans (cooked 1 minute), but however you want to cook them is fine.   This dish is really quick and easy.