If you knew me you would know that I love mexican food.  Love it.  Throw me a burrito, taco, enchilada, or taquito any time of the day.  This is mostly because mexican food involves tortillas and avocados.  Although in my quest to find delicious and nutritous replacements for those amazing carbs in my life, I have found that mexican cuisine is a tough one to crack.

Recently I have discovered the wonderful “grain” called Quinoa (pronounced keenwa).  It isn’t quite a grain, but not a vegetable, and it is closely related to beets and spinach.  Whatever it is, I know that it has protein and lots of other good nutrients.  The great thing about it is that you can mix it with anything!  It can be a breakfast food if made with milk, some brown sugar and berries, or dinner with things like pesto and chicken.  Last night I was craving tacos because it was Tuesday afterall, and thought it would be a perfect time to try another quinoa recipe.

I found this recipe on a site called Cooking Quinoa and thought I would try it out.  At first glance the list of ingredients seemed extensive, but it ended up being a very simple recipe.  I just made a few changes and omitted the tortilla strips and the chipotle chile in adobe sauce.  Once I cooked the quinoa (which you make just like rice 1 part quinoa to 1.5 parts water), I just threw most of the ingredients in a food proccessor and tossed the rest with the quinoa.  Then mixed everything together and was amazed with how tasty it was!  We also cooked up some pre-marinted carne asada from Trader Joes to top it off.  Delicious, nutritous, and easy!  The TRIFECTA!!

 Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups black beans
1 cup corn, thawed
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 red onion, slivered
4 corn tortillas
1/4 cup lime juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 avocado, diced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, black beans, corn, tomato, and red onion.
In a blender or food processor, combine lime juice, garlic, cilantro, olive oil, honey or agave nectar, cumin and sea salt. Process until mixture is smooth.
Toss with quinoa mixture. Top with avocado.
Enjoy!!