Mexican Quinoa Salad with Eggplant

Ingredients

• Quinoa

  Uncooked

  ½ cup or 85g

• Cabbage

  Raw

  1 cup, shredded or 70g

• Parmesan cheese

  Shredded

  3 tbsp or 15g

• Avocados

  California, raw

  ½ fruit, without skin and seed or 68g

• Lemon juice

  Raw

  2 tbsp or 30g

• Eggplant

  Cooked, boiled, drained, without salt

  ½ cup, cubed or 50g

• Olive oil

  Salad or cooking

  1 tbsp or 14g

• Corn

  Sweet, yellow, raw

  ¼ cup or 36g

• Fresh cilantro

  Coriander leaves, raw

  1 tbsp or 1g

Directions

1. Boil 1 cup of water for 1/2 cup of quinoa. Add quinoa to boiling water and cook for 15 minutes. Add a small spoonful of chicken bouillon, 1 tablespoon for each cup of water. Note: ratio of water to quinoa is always 2:1
2. Slice eggplant into about 1/3 inch slices, coat skillet with extra virgin olive oil and grill. Add cotija cheese or parmesan cheese to give eggplant added flavor.
3. Dice cabbage, cilantro, onion and put in a salad bowl. Let the lemon marinate the other ingredients.
4. Add corn from a can or you can heat it up in a small skillet with salted butter for added flavor.
5. Once the quinoa has cooled, add about 1/2 cup of quinoa to the bottom of your storage container, mix in about 1 cup of salad mixture, add diced avocado, and more cotija/parmesan cheese as desired. Add 2 slices of eggplant to your salad.
6. (Optional) For added flavor you can add Trader Joe's cilantro dressing.