Roasted Sweet Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad
February is Heart-Healthy Month.
Celebrate with this tasty Roasted Sweet Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad!
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My backyard currently looks like some sort of combination between a giant maze and a luge course. I’m fairly certain our dogs feel like they are training for the Winter Olympics when they go out. Here in upstate New York, we’ve been hit with wave after wave of snowstorms lately. That snow doesn’t have anywhere to go but up. Higher…and higher…and higher. (I heard that we’ve had more snow here in recent weeks than any time since the early 1980’s.)
Now that the snow is as high as the back deck, my goal is to build an ice sled off the corner of the porch. You know, pack the snow in, flatten out the top, build some ice rails on the sides…the whole 9 yards. Heck, maybe I can even pour some water on top of the ramp to get it nice and icy. Doesn’t that sound so Calvin & Hobbes? Of course, with my luck, I’d probably end up flying straight through the back shed. Oh well, the risk might actually be worth it!
When we’re snowed in like this, my wife and I both crave fresh fruit like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t know if it’s our bodies asking for Vitamin C or our minds asking for warmer temperatures, but bring on the fruit! We’ve been known to make massive fruit salads to snack on for lunch. There is always a big bowl of fruit sitting on our counter, and we each grab a piece of fruit for lunch everyday.
Roasted Sweet Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad
So let’s have a little heart-to-heart conversation. How are those New Year’s Resolutions holding up? Do you have a pile of leftover Valentine’s Day chocolate sitting on your counter? Well, it’s time to balance those sweets with this tasty Roasted Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad! With February being Heart-Health month, I decided to whip up a fun and healthy salad using Dole fruits and veggies. (Yup, fruits and veggies in the same dish!) Not only is this salad tasty (like really tasty), but apples are also loaded with heart healthy benefits. That’s a win-win in my book!
A couple of weeks ago, my wife went on a girls’ skiing trip for the day. (That’s ok, she left me home by the fire with the first Game of Thrones book.) When she came home, she told me that one of the other girls had made a big quinoa salad for everyone to share at lunch. But this wasn’t any ordinary quinoa salad. It included roasted sweet potatoes, green apples and red onion. Of course, I was intrigued.
I’ve been thinking about that salad for days now, and I decided to recreate a similar version. I added in some diced pineapple…mainly because I love pineapple. I also whipped up an Apple Cider Vinaigrette to toss in there, too. The result is straight magic, folks! I would never have thought about combining roasted sweet potatoes with chopped fresh fruit. But this salad could very well become a staple side dish in our house…it’s that good!
Eating healthy isn’t hard at all when the dish is loaded with flavor. Speaking of healthy, a moderate amount of daily exercise can be super helpful for your heart, too. I’m not saying you need to hit the weights every morning. Just a 30-minute power walk each day will do it. Or perhaps play a game of basketball or hit the ski slopes with your friends. It all counts. As for me, I think I’ll get today’s exercise in by building that ice sled in my backyard!
Did you make this Roasted Sweet Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). Enjoy!
Roasted Sweet Potato and Citrus Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1½ cups quinoa I used red quinoa, but any color quinoa works!
- 3 cups vegetable or low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 green apple thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh pineapple cubed into ½” pieces
- ¼ cup red onion diced
For the Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp honey
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Wash and scrub the sweet potato. Cut into 1” cubes.
- In a medium bowl, toss the cubed sweet potato with the canola oil until evenly coated.
- Spread potatoes onto a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Bake potatoes at 400°F for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly golden and tender.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saute or frying pan, toast the quinoa over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. (The quinoa will begin to make a popping noise near the end.)
- Once quinoa has been toasted, add stock and bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes, or until all the stock has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 2-3 more minutes before fluffing with a fork.
- To make the Apple Cider Vinaigrette, whisk together all ingredients (apple cider vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper) until well combined.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cooked quinoa and roasted sweet potatoes with the apples, pineapple and onion. Add the vinaigrette to the bowl and toss until well coated. (Note: I typically like to serve this salad at room temperature.)
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dole.
The opinions and recipe are all my own.
Looking for more tasty salad recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Grilled Steak Salad with Strawberries and Blue Cheese
I think building that ice sled will totally be worth the risk! That added frozen water would have all the neighborhood kids paying to give it a go! Heck, I would! Of course, be warned – I am a Calvin & Hobbes fan and hence not the best at safety management! Yesterday I met a lady from NYC who told me her kids actually missed the sn– … I cannot even bring myself to say THAT “S” word! YUCK!
But, Dude – this salad is the King of all salads – love what you did here with the pineapple and roasted sweet potato and quinoa – that wife of yours sure does give you some GREAT ideas! 🙂
Haha! The ice sled is entirely my idea, but I guess I have to give my wife some credit for this salad. (But sshhh…don’t tell her that, or she might get a big head. She already loves calling herself the “Creative Director of Spicedblog.com.”) So come up on up and have the best of both worlds. My ice sled creation and my wife’s salad creation…but you might have to deal with that s**w. Just sayin’.
Look at that scruffy little thing. He’s like “Why on earth am I here?” “Why am I surrounded by all this snow!”
Probably I’m the only one not complaining about the snow because the ski is awesome this year. Heaps of powder snow, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Loving this quinoa salad David, it could make for a great after-ski lunch!
Imagine if the snow was twice as tall as you are, Mike! That’s what little Ethel has to deal with every time she goes outside. And it’s also why I have to snow-blow paths in our backyard! So where do you go skiing? If you come upstate, then you’ll have to swing by the Grilling Troll house for a bowl of quinoa salad after you hit the slopes! I’ll even take you curling. This winter is perfect skiing weather…but not perfect shoveling your driveway weather.
Nice touch adding in the pineapple, looks great. Quinoa for everyone! The pic of your little guy is great. My dogs try to eat the snow balls we were throwing a few weeks back when we were up on Mt Laguna. Good fun.
So the one in the photo there is little Ethel. She *hates* going out in the snow, and we pretty much have to force her to go out. The other one, Maximus (not pictured), *loves* the snow. He walks along taking bites out of the snow banks. Of course, he stays out there roaming around so long that his paws start to freeze, so we have to watch him and make sure he comes back in. The things we do for our kids! But yes, this quinoa salad is a keeper for sure, Kevin. It’s delicious!
Love those names for your guys! Stay warm – eat soup!
Great idea for a sweet potato salad!
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Thanks! I would never have thought about combining pineapple and sweet potato…but it totally works! Have a great weekend!
Oh wow, that’s a lot of snow David! It has been quite bright and sunny in Seattle for last 1 week and it almost feels like summer and of course there’s snow! But I’m feeling cold looking at your pictures, I don’t think my mind can handle so much snow! haha.. The salad looks great, I love sweet potato and it’s even better when roasted and then you added my favorite pineapple. It can’t get better than that!
I’m so jealous that you live in Seattle, Manali! I’ve always wanted to head out there. (P.S. There’s a Social Fabric conference coming up out there in April…you should check it out. I was even toying with the idea of going out for that one since it’s an excuse to visit Seattle.) But yes, I don’t think my mind can even handle this amount of snow…and I’m living in it! I grew up in the Southeast, and snow meant snow days and vacation. Here snow just means waking up early to shovel your driveway before heading out. That’s where this quinoa salad comes in…it makes for a great post-shoveling snack. Trust me, I know!
I know DOLE very well….When I studied in Oswego, we made these things called Dole Downers which was the dole pineapples from a can and vodka. Don’t ask for the ratios…
That is an insane amount of snow there- I think I read somewhere that 50 minutes of clearing snow is the same as running for….x amount of minutes. Anyway, that salad looks delicious and the combination of sweet, savoury, sour…party.
50 minutes of clearing snow feels like running a marathon. Of course, I’ve never actually run a marathon…but I do know that I come in after an hour of shoveling, and all I want to do is lay down in front of the fireplace!
Hahaha, that’s a great pic of your dog! I wish this snow would melt already… my grill is currently surrounded by mounds of that white crap. It’s time to get outdoors and get our grill game on! Until then, this salad will definitely brighten things up! Love it. #wolfpackeatshealthy
Tell me about, Chris! I was looking at my grill longingly the other day, but then I got cold and went inside. -12° will do that to a guy… #NoMoreSnow