July 16, 2014 By Taylor Kiser 71 Comments

Quinoa Salad with Pistachios, Cherries, and Honey Balsamic Kefir Dressing

Name: Quinoa Salad with Pistachios, Cherries, and Honey Balsamic Kefir Dressing
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 -8
Ingredients: For the salad:; 2 Cups Water; 1 Cup Quinoa (uncooked); 1/3 Pistachios (shelled); 1/2 tsp Salt; 3/4 Cup Reduced-sugar dried cherries (roughly chopped); 1 Cup Reduced-fat feta cheese (crumbled); 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Fresh basil (minced); For the dressing:; 1/2 Cup Plain Lifeway Kefir; 4 tsp Honey; 4 tsp Balsamic vinegar

Gluten Free

Vegetarian

Make dinner a breeze with my 30 min weeknight dinner e-cookbooks. Something for all diets!

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #KefirCreations #CollectiveBias This quinoa salad is sweet, crunchy and has a little Kefir tang! It’s super healthy, gluten free and makes a quick and easy weeknight dinner!

‘Tis is the season. The season for Kefir.

At least that’s what the word on the street is. And by “word on the street” I mean the word in my house. And by that I mean, Mr. FFF already drinks Kefir all the time…so it’s ALWAYS the season for Kefir.

I don’t know where this is going. As usual. You understand.

Moving on.

Kefir, do you know it? It’s the smooth, cousin of yogurt and it has ALL the probiotic cultures. You know what that means?

Drink it and you will have one :), balanced digestive system. Like I mentioned above, the huberskerdoo has a very 🙁 digestive system about 89.97% of the time, so he drinks this stuff on the reg’.

How-ev-er, he always buys fruity flavored ones so that he can add them into his daily orange smoothie making escapades. And, yes, they are escapades.

Every time the hub-o-rama is in the kitchen making something, it’s a BIG DEAL.

The other day, while we were perusing the refrigerated aisle at Winn Dixie, I noticed that among the strawberry banana and raspberry flavors, there was a bottle of plain Lifeway Kefir.

AHA! I had a moment. A “kefir-it’s-not-just-for-smoothies-anymore” kind of moment.

So, I made it into the easiest, 3 ingredient dressing that you will ever make in your life.

And then I threw it (read: poured. Do not THROW your dressing unless you enjoy cleaning the ceiling) onto the EASIEST of the eas quinoa salad.

You guys. I am in <3 with this for the rest of time. As in, I would marry it if I could.

And, yes, I told Mr. FFF that.

He understood. Actually he didn’t. But that is neither here nor there.

Do they make wedding rings the size of grains of quinoa anyway? Things to ponder.

Just like in the Moroccan chicken skillet, You’ve got a little crunch action with some pistachios. And then there’s the mega creamy feta cheese to make sure it isn’t TOO crunchy. Crunchy like whoa.

Gotta keep those ‘stachios in line. Sidenote: My bag of pistachios has a mustache on the front, and it says “mustachio.” I die.

Back to quinoa salad.

The dried cherries and the Kefir pair up, do a little quinoa mambo and a little bit of sweet and tangy magic happens.

The CRUNCHY. The CREAMY. The SWEET. The TANGY. Oh delicious quinoa salad, you make my belly and my taste buds smile.

Pistachio Cherry And Feta Quinoa Salad - Crunchy, sweet and tangy this is SO easy and delicious! |www.foodfaithfitness.com| #Recipe #Quinoa #Salad

5 from 4 votes