Southwest Quinoa Salad

Tonight I made a great side dish with my new favorite grain quinoa.  This is an incredibly easy dish to toss together on a week night and it's healthy and flavorful too.  I served mine with a southwest tilapia fillet from Costco (wish I could say that I had something to do with how great the fish tasted, but I can't take the credit, it was all Costco!) 

Southwest Quinoa Salad
** adapted from Fresh Clean Start
(printable recipe)

Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Southwest Quinoa Salad

1 cup cooked quinoa (or brown rice)
1 cup or so chickpeas (any bean will do)
1 cup corn kernels (fresh, frozen or canned)
1 avocado, diced
1 roma tomato, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
small handful of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1-2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cumin, chile powder, paprika (optional)

Prepare quinoa according to directions.  Meanwhile prepare all other ingredients.  Once quinoa is finished cooking, toss everything together and serve. 

** I refrigerated mine for about 30 minutes and served it as a cold salad.