SUMMER QUINOA SALAD ‣‣ with strawberries & avocado

Welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Alyssa. Today we are sharing a delicious summer salad that is great for picnics, potlucks, beach days, lunch, can be served at dinner and it's just so fresh, bright, delicious and easy to make. So we are partnering up with California Strawberries in today's video and we are going to show you how to make the most delicious quinoa salad with strawberries and avocado. It's got a lime dressing which is super tangy and bright and it's just a really perfect summer salad. And one of the things I absolutely love about strawberries aside from their juiciness and their sweetness and when they're perfectly ripe is their nutrition as well. They are an incredible snack to have on hand. They are fairly low calorie, they're full of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals including potassium, folate and fiber. They also have less sugar than one apple. So one serving of strawberries has less sugar than one apple and half the calories of a banana. So they are just such a great option for incorporating into your recipes. They're also just great as a delicious snack. So if you do want to try this quinoa salad, you can find that recipe up on the California Strawberries website. And without further ado, let's go ahead and learn how to make it. All right, so let's start with our beautiful California strawberries. Look how red and gorgeous the color is. So the first thing we're going to do is chop them. I like to just chop off the top. I try to get as close to the top as possible so I don't waste any of the beautiful strawberry. Cut it down the middle and then cut it into little bite-sized pieces. And you'll just repeat that with about 10 strawberries until you have about a cup of the chopped up strawberries. From there, we will set them aside and move on to our avocado. Here is half of an avocado and this is how I dice my avocados. I cut them down the kind of lengthwise of the avocado and then I cross hatch them the other way so that I have beautiful nice little chunks of avocado. And then we'll set that aside. Next, we'll make our dressing which is olive oil, a little bit of honey. If you are fully vegan, you can swap this with maple syrup. Some lime juice as well as a little bit of salt and pepper. And that's it for the dressing. Just whisk it together in your little bowl, set it aside, and then we will go on to prepare our salad. So in our large mixing bowl, we have our cooked quinoa. We're also going to add in our chopped strawberries as well as that diced avocado. And then the final touch for the salad is some freshly chopped mint. This really adds a nice punch of flavor and just gives a little bit more complexity. It tastes really good. And then we'll pour the dressing over the salad and toss it together with a spoon. You might just need to like use your spoon to kind of cube up or break up the cubes of the avocado a little bit. But once you just stir it together, everything should be evenly combined and ready to enjoy. This is the type of salad that definitely gets better with age. So if it sits in the fridge for about an hour or so, it will have even more flavor. But one thing to keep in mind is that it also has avocado, so those will oxidize if you let them sit too long. So this isn't a salad that you would make ahead. Probably you'd maybe make it for a party, make it an hour before, and then serve it cold. But otherwise, that is pretty much how to make this delicious summer salad. You guys are absolutely going to love it. It is so flavorful and as you can see, crazy simple to make. So we hope you love it and can't wait to hear what you think. And there you have it, my friends. That is how to make a summer quinoa salad with strawberries and avocado. I hope you try the salad. It is so delicious and as you can see, it's really easy to make. It also can be absolutely jazzed up with other ingredients if you want. If you wanted to make it more of a meal, you could add grilled tofu or grilled chicken. You could throw in some chickpeas or you could also just serve it with some greens to give it even more fiber. So it is a super simple recipe and I can't wait to hear what you think. If you do want to make it, it is up on the California Strawberries website. And one of the things I didn't mention yet is that California Strawberries is also running a summer challenge. So if you want to enter that, all you have to do is create a recipe, share it on social media, and tag at CA Strawberries and CA Strawberry Challenge. And then you'll be entered to win a $200 gift card. So make sure to do that because it's the perfect time of year to make all things strawberry. So I hope you enjoyed today's video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Don't forget to subscribe by clicking the red button that is right below this video. And otherwise, I will see you in the next video. Bye guys!