Colorful Quinoa Brown Rice Salad

*This is a sponsored post. I recieved products to use in the creation of my #CookoutWeek recipes. All opinions are my own.*

#CookoutWeek 2018 is here! During the next week, I am joining over 50 of my blogger friends to celebrate summer by posting delicious cookout-themed recipes. If you love grilling, frozen treats, picnics, berries, s'mores, campfire meals, and other summer goodies... you are in the right place!

To kick things off, I've sharing Colorful Quinoa Brown Rice Salad, a recipe that I've adapted slightly from Taste of Home. Back in October, I changed my eating habits, and part of that change was trying new things. Quinoa was on the list to try, and I've found a brown rice/quinoa blend that I love.

When I saw the recipe for this salad, I used that as the jumping off point, and then followed the rest of the recipe as it was written. While the quinoa and brown rice cooked, I chopped all the veggies. So many beautiful colors and textures. I keep my gingerroot in the freezer, and used a microplane to grate it. That really helped it get distributed evenly throughout the dish.

This comes together so quickly, and it gets better as it sits. I just gave the lidded bowl a shake when I passed by the fridge. It was the perfect side to some burgers, and it was awesome with some leftover diced grilled chicken rolled into a multi grain tortilla. Next time I might even add some diced jalapeno. Thank you to Catherine T. for sharing her recipe!

This week, we are also hosting a HUGE giveaway thanks to our generous #CookoutWeek sponsors. Enter below to win. Thank you so much to Allison at The PinterTest Kitchen for hosting this awesome event. Really looking forward to all of the amazing recipes!

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Colorful Quinoa Brown Rice Salad

Reviewed by Jolene's Recipe Journal June 25, 2018

Ingredients
1 3/4c water
1 pkg quinoa (I used Near East Quinoa and Brown Rice, omitting the spice packet)
2 cups fresh baby spinach, thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 medium sweet orange pepper, chopped
1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
DRESSING:
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and brown rice. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat; fluff with a fork. Transfer to a large bowl; cool completely.

Stir spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and green onions into quinoa. In a small bowl, whisk dressing ingredients until blended. Drizzle over quinoa mixture; toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving.

Slightly adapted from : https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/colorful-quinoa-salad

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