Asparagus and Pea Spinach Pesto Quinoa Salad

Here is a nice, bright, fresh and green summer salad with asparagus, fava or broad beans, peas and spinach in a bed of quinoa all mixed up with a nice big dollop of spinach pesto (or regular pesto)! This salad is as easy as it sounds to make where you just need to cook the quinoa and asparagus (any way you like, grilled is nice), blanch the fava beans, mix everything and you are done. I really enjoy this salad because it is so light and green and summery and the fresh basil pesto really makes it shine! It’s great with all of the cooked ingredients still warm or cooled and it’s also perfect straight from the fridge.

Asparagus and Pea Spinach Pesto Quinoa Salad

Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:15 minutes Total Time:20 minutes Servings: 4

A fresh vibrant green summer quinoa salad with asparagus, fava beans, peas and spinach tossed in pesto!

ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 3/4 cups water or broth
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup fava/broad beans
1 cup peas, fresh or thawed
2 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup spinach pesto or pesto
2 tablespoons lemon juice

directions

Bring the water and quinoa to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the quinoa is tender and has absorbed the water, about 15 minutes, adding the asparagus and fava beans after 10 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, covered.
Mix everything, toss with the pesto and lemon juice and enjoy!

Option: Replace the fava beans with chickpeas or edamame or omit.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 438, Fat 9g (Saturated 0.8g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 0, Sodium 32mg, Carbs 69g (Fiber 15g, Sugars 5g), Protein 23g

Nutrition by:

Comments

Heather Christo says
June 5, 2015 at 1:33 pm
this is so up my alley Kevin- just the kind of thing I love to eat in the summer! gorgeous!
marla {Family Fresh Cooking} says
June 5, 2015 at 2:29 pm
Love how many green veggies you packed into this salad!!!
Maria says
June 5, 2015 at 5:10 pm
I love all of the green!
Rosemary says
June 6, 2015 at 11:51 am
Like everybody is saying… love all the green! It is nice are fresh and uses my oh so favorite asparagus.
Joanne says
June 10, 2015 at 11:18 am
All this green! i feel happier and healthier just from looking at it.