Warm quinoa and avocado salad with chili-lime shrimp


Warm quinoa and avocado salad with chili-lime shrimp

This dish is as easy and delicious as it is colorful. The quinoa-avocado mix serves as a delicious base (certainly more interesting than rice!), the roasted sweet corn and cherry tomatoes serve as refreshing pops of flavor to cut through the creaminess, and chili-lime shrimp gives it a dimension of heat and tang.

It’s also highly adjustable; you could easily add more veggies if you’d like — bell peppers would work great. Also, if you’re not a fan of spice, feel free to skip the chili powder.

This dish is also good with just about any protein, but there's something delicious about the bounce of a perfectly-cooked shrimp to contrast the creaminess of the quinoa-avocado mix.

One piece of advice: try to eat this warm, if possible — it's just tastier that way. Enjoy!

Servings: 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 24 uncooked medium shrimp
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • Juice of one lime
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 ripened avocados
  • 1/2 cup of frozen sweet corn, or kernels from two ears of corn
  • 1/2 onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
  • Lime wedges for garnish

Directions

  1. Peel and devein shrimp and place in a large resealable plastic bag. Add marinade ingredients (listed above), seal bag, and massage ingredients into shrimp. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
  2. Cook shrimp: In a large skillet, cook shrimp (with marinade) over medium-high, turning once, until pink, about 4 minutes. 
  3. See how to cook fluffy quinoa
  4. Add avocado and mix into quinoa until chunky, like guacamole.
  5. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. 
  6. Spread the corn kernels evenly on the sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then add salt and pepper to taste. Roast for about 10 minutes. 
  7. Add to quinoa mix. (Note: You can also do this on your stovetop: simply cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, or until slightly browned.)
  8. Add onion, cherry tomatoes and cilantro to quinoa mix.
  9. Arrange quinoa in bowls
  10. Top with shrimp and drizzle any remaining sauce over shrimp. 
  11. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedge. Enjoy!

Nutrition information (per serving)

  • Calories: 270
  • Total fat: 14 g
  • Saturated fat: 2 g
  • Trans fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 37 mg
  • Sodium: 10 mg
  • Total carbohydrate: 32 g
  • Dietary fiber: 7 g
  • Sodium: 1 g
  • Protein: 12 g