Heather's Quinoa Spinach Salad

My friend Heather taught a healthy eating class for one of our Relief Society activity cooking segments a couple months ago. She made this salad but in the craziness of the evening (Chris was working so I had the kids and I was of course helping Heather with the demonstrations on how to make everything) I didn't have a chance to try it. I made it last week and I am in love. It is seriously so darn yummy that I had it as a side at three different dinners last week.

Heather's Quinoa Spinach Salad

big bunch / bag of spinach
1 cup uncooked quinoa (with 2 cups water to cook it)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup almonds, chopped, slivered or sliced
2 green onions, finely chopped

Dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp real maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Cook the quinoa and let it cool.
Once the quinoa is cooled combine it with the rest of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Combine dressing ingredients and pour on top.

*Note: As I knew we weren't going to be eating a big salad I just threw some spinach, quinoa, cranberries, almonds and onions in to a bowl (I just went with what looked good as far as the amounts of each) and then poured some of the dressing on top. Then the next day I did the same thing. The dressing recipe ended up being enough for me to make salads for 3 different meals, and it was perfect because the salad was nice and fresh each day instead of being soggy if I'd tried to eat it as left overs.

Enjoy!