I realllly wanted to call this salad The Best Summer Quinoa Salad Ever, but that was too ambiguous. Or even Quinoa, Kale, Black Bean, Avocado, Tomato, Onion, Hot Pepper, Corn Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette but that just seemed like too long of a name and you would probably would have stopped reading then. So just go with it.

Anyway, I love a good summery salad. Something with a good light vinaigrette, add in corn and avocado and I’m sold. So when I realized we had pretty much all of my favorite ingredients for a salad thanks to our Fresh Fork CSA and some farmer’s market finds, I knew I had to just put it all together and make the best summer salad ever. Add in some quinoa and a can of black beans and it was perfect for a vegetarian main meal. Oh yeah – even B ate it as a main dish without meat. That’s how I know it’s a success.

Don’t be fooled by the name, I may just be making this salad this fall and winter too. Because we all need some summer meals all year round, don’t we?

Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Here’s what you need:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/3 olive oil (divided)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 hungarian hot peppers or jalapenos, diced
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cup water
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp cumin
• 3 c. thinly chopped raw kale leaves
• 1 c corn (approximately one giant cob)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 avocado, chopped into cubes

Here’s what you do:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and hot pepper, and saute for about 3-4 minutes. I also added a few slices of kale, but feel free to use all the kale in step #4 and keep it raw.
2. Add quinoa and two cups water.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
3. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients for the salad. First prepare the dressing. Mix 1/4 c lemon juice (about one whole lemon) with 1/3 cup olive oil and cumin.
4. Finely chop the kale (remove the large thick middle stems from the leaves and then roll up kale into rods before finely chopping) and add to the salad dressing. Coat kale thoroughly in dressing. Add in corn and black beans.
5. By now the quinoa should be nearly done cooking. After letting cool for a minute, add cooked quinoa, onion and pepper to kale, corn and tomato. Mix well.  Gently add in chopped tomato. Just before serving, add in avocado.
6. Enjoy! Mine made 3-4 vegetarian main dishes.