Quinoa with Mangoes, Apricots and Walnuts

After a day of snacking on baked goods, cookies, candy, and cafeteria pizza at work (why do I have no self control?) my day took a turn for the healthier! I forced (after multiple back and forth conversations with myself) to go to the gym, then picked up dinner supplies at WF. I adapted dinner from a recipe I read in this month’s Food & Wine, Red
Rice and Quinoa Salad with Orange and Pistachios…I think mine was superior

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
juice from half an orange
juice from half a lemon
zest from half an orange
dried apricots, chopped
champagne mango, diced
walnuts, chopped
green onion, sliced
salt and pepper
arugula

Boil a pot of water, add quinoa. Cover and let simmer for 12 minutes. Let cool. In a skillet, heat olive oil before adding diced onion. Let cook until brown, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool then add to quinoa. Combine remaining ingredients (except arugula) in a large bowl with the quinoa and onions. Serve over a bed of arugula.

With this healthy salad, I made Dijon Panko Crusted Salmon. I got the recipe for the salmon from Annies Eats, which has the full recipe. It’s basically just salmon brushed with dijon mustard, topped with panko, lemon zest, salt, pepper (and I added cayenne) then baked at 425 for about 10 minutes. Really flavorful with a good crunch.