Vegan Quinoa Taco Salad with Cumin Lime Dressing

Taco Salad

This taco salad is so good and so simple. I couldn't decide one night between a salad with black beans & corn chips or black beans and quinoa, so I ended up using both. This salad is bright, flavourful, and hands down better for you than most taco salads I'm familiar with.... but I promise you won't notice. 

Ingredients for salad (for about 4 servings): 

•  1 cup quinoa, cooked
•  a large package of greens (couple handfuls per person)
•  1 can black beans, equal part corn niblets
•  3 tomatoes, chopped + bit of minced red onion
•  2 avoacados
•  1 big bag of corn chips (I used black bean garlic multigrain chips, they were great)
•  a handful of chopped mint
•  a handful fresh cilantro
•  2 limes
•  1 x recipe for cumin lime dressing (below)

Method: 
I chose to mix the ingredients with the vinaigrette separately and layer them onto my plate, but it's not neccessary. 

1. Toss with the vinaigrette: greens & chopped mint, black beans & corn, tomato and red onion. Season with S & P. Divide onto plates.
2. Toss quinoa with a bit of vinaigrette, S & P and a few sprinkles of smoked paprika, spoon onto salad mixture.
3. To the salad add slices of avocado, a couple of lime wedges, corn chips, a drizzle of coconut yogurt, fresh cilantro and an extra sprinkle of smoked paprika.
4.  Dig in.

Cumin Lime Vinny

Whisk all ingredients together, store unused vinny in the fridge
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• 1 cup good quality olive oil ( I use an affordable Presidents Choice brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil, you just dont want something that tastes bitter.)
• 3/4 cup lime juice (i like it punchy, a traditional vinaigrette ratio would call for 1/2 cup of lime juice to 1 cup of oil, you could start with that ratio and add more lime to taste)
• 1 tbsp dijon
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin