WildSnow Weekend — Keen on Quinoa

Sculpting the steps to his throne at WildSnow HQ.

Indian summer is full-on beautiful here in Colorado. Blue sky, crisp air and a hint of snow bring thoughts of cold smoke powder and crackling wood stoves at the cabins. We’re thinking Lou probably brought some of the snow karma up from Chile, where he’s been backcountry skiing and adventure traveling for the past few weeks. Home now, he’s planning on finishing up our Field HQ improvements for winter as well as doing a few more blog posts about skiing down south. Following, a recipe for one of our favorite picnic and cabin meals. We like quinoa!

Main ingredients for our favorite picnic salad.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
2 limes juiced or 4 tablespoons of lime juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups fresh diced tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
1 chopped avocado, optional

Put 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups water in pot. Bring to boil, turn heat on low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Whether I prewash quinoa or not, I’ve often bit down into sand or grit after it’s been cooked. The best solution I’ve found is to wash the quinoa in cold water after it’s been cooked. This eliminates all the grit and has the added bonus of cooling the quinoa quickly.

The best method I’ve found is to use a salad spinner. After cooking, put the quinoa in the spinner and fill with cold water. Swish the quinoa around to allow the grit to flow out of the strainer. Refill the spinner a few times to ensure all the grit gets washed away. Spin quinoa thoroughly to remove excess water. This method also seems to make the quinoa light and fluffy, perfect for the salad.

In a blender, combine olive oil, lime juice, cumin, salt, and red pepper flakes. Pour over cooled quinoa. Add tomatoes, onion, cilantro and avocado. Toss and enjoy.

Recap of last week’s posts:

Binding Hype Hits — Herr Barthel Speaks

Chile Continuation — Cultural Rain & Ski

DIN Wars Commence — Dynafit Beast 16 In Pipe

Skiing’s Original Hard Man — Fridtjof Nansen

10 Commandments of Avalanche Safety – Bruce Tremper

Lago De Los Tres — Ski Touring Beneath Fabulous Fitz Roy

7 Responses to “WildSnow Weekend — Keen on Quinoa”

1. Scott Nelson September 14th, 2014 5:11 pm

   That quinoa salad is good stuff. Thanks for the recipe.

2. Gregg Cronn September 14th, 2014 10:08 pm

   Up here in the Northwest our ladders to the privy go down–about 20 ft.

3. Terry September 14th, 2014 11:39 pm

   Thanks for the recipe Lisa! Sounds delicious – am going to try it.

   I’ve never found sand or grit in quinoa (buying it from Costco).

   Btw. quinoa is easy to dehydrate for the backcountry – we do this mostly to save time and fuel – plus its a good source of protein and nutrition.

4. Jonathan L September 16th, 2014 11:17 am

   I can attest that this quinoa salad recipe is the bomb!

5. Lisa Dawson September 16th, 2014 11:51 am

   Jonathan, now you have to come back to HQ to test out our strudel!

6. Travis N September 29th, 2014 11:24 am

   Thank you for the Recipe Lisa. This was a perfect idea for a meal pulled from our garden during our own mini remodel project this summer. The salad was a hit with everyone!

7. Lisa Dawson September 29th, 2014 12:20 pm

   Travis, so glad you liked it! I bet your homegrown veggies made it extra good.