BNI® Quinoa Herb Salad

Whenever my Tower Garden has lots of greens and herbs, I like to whip up a salad for my professional friends. I guess you could say that they are kind of lucky that they are in the same group as I am because that happens quite often.
Last Tuesday I created a special salad with fresh greens that I grew at home for my BNI® chapter. I used Basil infused grape seed oil that I had made the day before with the herbs from my Tower Garden. Many people asked for the recipe and one member exclaimed, “Winnona, this is your best one, yet!”

You’ll need:
1 Cup quinoa, rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz. can of low salt black olives, drained
1 large Swiss Chard leaf, washed
2 almost red jalapeños, seeded and sliced
2 Cup chives, chopped
1 Cup cooked corn kernels
1 Cup basil, chopped
Dressing ingredients:
1 LARGE avocado
¼ Cup Basil infused grape seed oil
1 Tablespoon light balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon tamari sauce (wheat-free soy sauce)

Put your rinsed quinoa, cumin, and 2 cups water in a saucepan. Heat on a stove burner at medium until the water bubbles. Reduce to simmer. Cook about 20 minutes. DON’T stir. OR, put those same ingredients in your rice cooker and cook in there.
Dance around the kitchen, sing with your kids or pets, call a friend. Do something fun during that time.
Fluff the quinoa with a fork and transfer to a large bowl or baking dish to cool. Should be about 4.5 cups quinoa.

Take the chard leaf and roll it like a cigar so that it’s really long. Take your knife and ribbon-cut the leaf part and then slice the stalk so that part looks like celery bits. No one will ever know.
Place the chard in a BIG mixing bowl, like obnoxiously big. Add: beans, olives, jalapeño, chives, corn, and basil.

Make the dressing in a medium bowl. Scoop out the avocado meat. It should be a LARGE avocado, like as big as a softball. Smash up the meat like you are getting ready to make the smoothest guacamole ever.
Add ¼ cup Basil infused oil (note: If you use Shutterbean’s recipe, just know that I am lazy and I do not pulse the leaves. I just let them steep for as long as possible.)
Mix in 1 Tablespoon each: vinegar and tamari, and 1 teaspoon pepper.
It should look like a greenish slurry.

Toss the quinoa with the veggie mixture. THEN add the dressing and thoroughly mix it all up.

Let rest at least 1 hour before serving.
Makes 15-20 servings.