Last week my mom posted a salad on Facebook that reminded me of a salad that I hadn’t made in a while. This salad is so colorful and flavorful.  The quinoa and kaniwa give the salad a nutty taste and the cabbage gives it an awesome crunch. The colors of “rainbow” come naturally in this salad. Red: red peppers. red onion. Orange: Orange peppers and carrots. Yellow: Yellow peppers. Green: green peppers, green onions and edame. Blue: only color missing in this salad. Purple; red cabbage.  This salad is great alone, but is also fantastic in a wrap.  My my family ate it in a soft shell taco with grilled tikka chicken.

Ingredients:

 For the Salad:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup uncooked kaniwa
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• ½ red bell pepper, diced
• ½ yellow pepper diced
• ½ green pepper diced
• ½ red onion, diced
• ½ orange pepper diced
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• ½ cup diced green onions
• 1 cup honey-roasted peanuts
• 1 cup chickpeas
• Juice of 2 fresh limes

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 4 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 6 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon honey (use agave for a vegan version)
• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Water if needed

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa and kaniwa as directed on package and set aside to cool.
2. Once cool add all other salad ingredients and mix well
3. For the salad dressing: In microwave safe bowl microwave honey and peanut butter for about 20 seconds until melted.  Stir.  If not melted return to microwave for a few more seconds.  Poor honey peanut butter mixture in a blender with remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Add water as necessary to thin.