Quinoa, Black Bean, and Avocado Salad

I know - I'm over-doing it with the quinoa lately. I have a lot in my pantry and I'm trying to get rid of it, and I am trying really, really hard to eat healthy-ish.  With Caracas Arepas Bar and Milk Truck lurking nearby, it is pretty hard, but I've been doing okay.
I made this dish in about 35 minutes when I got home from work late one night. If you love quinoa like I do, you could just make a bunch of quinoa on Sunday night and have it ready to mix in to make prep even easier.

When I'm at the grocery store, I notice that most of the time, the avocados aren't ripe, which is really annoying. I have to wait a few days to get the perfect mushiness avocado - so plan ahead accordingly!

In other news: I could eat this salad on its own!

Quinoa, Black Bean, and Avocado Salad, recipe adapted from Trader Joe's 

Serves 3 as a main dish 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup quinoa, cooked (follow the recipe on the package)
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed
• 1 can of corn, rinsed
• 1 avocado, cut into small pieces
• 2 green onion stalks
• two handfuls of grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 3 tablespoons Cilantro salad dressing from Trader Joes
• zest of half a lime
• juice from half a lime 
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the quinoa (I used red quinoa). While it is cooking, mix the beans, corn, avocado, green onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Add the salad dressing into the bowl. This dressing has 45 calories in 2 tablespoons - so won't break your calorie counting in My Fitness Pal. You could probably swap this out with maybe just one tablespoon dressing and another tablespoon lime juice. Add the lime zest and toss to coat everything together.

Once the quinoa is cooked, let it cool slightly. In a small bowl, mix together the lime juice and olive oil. Add to the quinoa and mix to combine. Then add the quinoa to the bowl with the beans and avocado and stir to combine everything.

On that note, I am running out of healthy-ish recipes that are nutrient rich and low in calories/sodium/sugar (or something like that). Any suggestions? I am thinking next week I will try some kind of bean burger wrapped in lettuce leaves.

As I mentioned last week, last night, Mai, Paul, Gretchen and I hosted Ricotta Fest. Stay tuned for a recap  and recipes!