I’m going to pretend that anytime I make Meatless Monday recipes it is done with purely charitable intentions. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support the idea behind Meatless Monday…cutting out the meat once per week to improve both our health and the health of the planet. However, if I start to pull out the quinoa and chickpeas for dinner, it likely means that I forgot to defrost some chicken or replenish our tilapia supply. Honorable, huh?

With an abundance of crisp, ripe apples at the markets and leftover Gorgonzola cheese in the fridge (from my Gorgonzola Cheese Cups with Pear & Hazelnut Salad), this salad came together with little effort.
The sweet and salty flavors are punctuated by a light vinaigrette made of apple cider, a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar & a pinch of salt. Toss everything together in a bowl, along with some toasted slivered almonds and chopped green onions. Dinner is served. A meatless one, at that.
The recipe:
The salad:
In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the quinoa well and drain.
In a medium pot, combine the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, fluff the quinoa and transfer to a cookie sheet, spreading the quinoa in a thin layer, to cool.
In a large bowl, mix together the cooled quinoa, almonds, chickpeas, apple, Gorgonzola cheese and green onions.
The vinaigrette:
Whisk together white apple cider, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, agave nectar and salt.
Pour the dressing over the quinoa salad and toss to coat. Serve over a bed of spinach or arugula, if desired.
Other quinoa recipes:

Cookin’ Canuck’s Salad Cups with Quinoa, Shrimp, Avocado & Lemon Dressing
Cookin’ Canuck’s Vegetarian Stew with Quinoa, Butternut Squash & Coconut Milk
Bev Cooks’ Kidney Bean & Quinoa Soft Tacos
Ambitious Kitchen’s Kale, Edamame & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
From the kitchen of Cookin Canuck. www.cookincanuck.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1 can (14 oz.) chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) - (I prefer Bush's Beans)
- 1 large Gala apple, cored and chopped
- 3 tbsp Gorgzonzola cheese
- 2 green onion, thinly sliced (green & white parts)
- 1/3 cup apple cider or apple juice
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp agave nectar or honey
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse quinoa well and drain.
- In a medium pot, combine quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, fluff the quinoa and transfer to a cookie sheet, spreading the quinoa in a thin layer, to cool.
- In a large bowl, mix together cooled quinoa, almonds, chickpeas, apple, Gorgonzola cheese and green onions.
- Whisk together white apple cider, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, agave nectar and salt.
- Pour the dressing over the quinoa salad and toss to coat. Serve.





















{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
So excited to try this for lunch today. This will be perfect for after my run.
oh i am so making this!
Dara, this quinoa looks great! The cider dressing is an extra special touch
dude, no offense to every other blogger, but I swear you are the quinoa queen. I adore all of your quinoa recipes and they are always soooo flavorful. Not all are that way. lovely, lovely recipe!
Dara, just pint it on my Pinterest account, so I would remember to try this salad soon. Great combo!
This looks fabulous, Dara!! I love the healthy mix of the quinoa and the apples!
What an awesome salad! Yum!
Love this!!! I bed it would be great w/ bacon too
Dara, that salad and dressing looks absolutely fantastic! I don’t care why you were inspired to make it … thank you!
Off to share,
Shirley
Nice salad! The freshness is just oozing from it
Oh, I wish this is what I was having for dinner!
I love the gorgonzola in this…sounds and looks amazing!
Who needs meat with a salad like this? I am so enjoying all the apple recipes right now and this is no exception!
Love quinoa and this sounds perfect for Fall!
We do go meat free at least once a week, but I have to say that it doesn’t usually fall on a Monday!! I love this salad – perfect for this time of year!
A way to make salads like this even easier: cook a large batch of quinoa in the rice cooker, and refrigerate in small batches for salads throughout the week. I love the combination of Fall flavors here: apples and cheese are classic New England!
I didn’t see where the almonds were mentioned in the recipe, but I hope to enjoy this tonight!
Ack, I hate it when I do that! I edited the recipe to include the almonds. I hope you enjoy it, Sonya!
What a great ingredient list – I love the sound of the cider vinaigrette. I’m looking forward to meeting you, Dara – see you soon!
Do you know how many quinoa recipes I have pinned? A lot. This one rose to the top of the list when deciding on what to make to lunch today. The ingredient list does sound fantastic. I used walnuts instead of almonds and left out the cheese to keep it vegan and though it was good, I didn’t find it anything special. Seemed like it needed some zing or something.
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