Mariachi Quinoa Salad

Tequila is a good way to piss off a liver.

If you want to be the nerdy liver advocate at your Cinco de Mayo party, set a bowl of this salad right next to the mojito bar.  It contains two liver superfoods:  kale and lime juice.  Both of these foods help detoxify your liver.  After all that tequila, your liver is really going to need a hug.  Send it some fiesta love by eating this salad at your Cinco de Mayo party.

Your friends will never notice the organic purple kale.  The mariachi flavors entertain the tongue with freshly chopped jalapeño pepper singing the hottest note.  It’s harmonized with a sour green apple and smokey cumin.

Don’t forget about your blood sugar (your liver is in charge of that too!).  I know you love those salty organic corn chips with that homemade salsa!  Eat a bunch of corn chips with all those mojitos, and your liver is really going to rage.  Balance those carbs with some protein!

[If you’re a hippie foodie, you can skip the  next paragraph since you already know all about the trendy “grain” known as quinoa.]

The base of this salad is made with quinoa (pronounced “KEEN-wah”), an ancient Incan seed that is used as a grain.  Quinoa is a complete protein source, since it contains all of the essential amino acids.  Not only that, it’s rich in magnesium.  Magnesium is good for migraine headaches, and having a little extra magnesium in your system might not be a bad idea for the morning of Seis de Mayo. Quinoa can be eaten cold or hot.  It cooks super fast and easy, and makes a delicious breakfast.

Make sure they don’t spill the tequila in your Mariachi Quinoa Salad!

Mariachi Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups dry quinoa
• 3-5 radishes
• 1.5 inches of cucumber
• 1/4 red pepper
• 3 scallions
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds optional
• 1/2 a granny smith apple
• 2 leaves of purple kale, de-stalked
• ~ 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• generous sprinkles of sea salt

Makes ~ 4 quarts of salad

1. Thoroughly rinse 1.5 cups of dry quinoa.  Add rinsed quinoa to a saucepan with 3 cups of filtered water and cover with a lid.  Bring to a boil.  Turn off heat, keep lid on, and quinoa will be done in about 20 minutes.  Chill quinoa prior to mixing salad. You may want to make the quinoa the night before you compose the salad.
2. Thoroughly wash and rinse your vegetables.  Slice and dice up the veggies.  Vary how you cut the veggies (don’t want everything to look the same!).  Slice those radishes.  Slice and dice the cuke.  Make matchsticks with the red pepper.  Slice the scallions.  Chop the jalapeño in little bits (keep the seeds if you want it extra spicy).  Make mini matchsticks out of the granny smith apple.  Roll the kale and finely slice into kale ribbons.  Trim stems on cilantro and roughly chop.
3. Mix quinoa with all of the veggies mentioned above.
4. Whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, paprika, and salt.  Pour over salad.
5. Mix and serve.

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