Don’t you love a dinner recipe that doesn’t involve cooking? I sure do! This quinoa salad is so delicious you will get full credit for making dinner! This is a great salad to take to a party or to send in lunch boxes! The time-saving secret is buying pre-made pesto. I used to make my own pesto. Now I just buy Sprout’s vegan pesto. It is amazing, vegan and cheaper than making it myself. Not to mention, it is a huge time saver! The only thing you have to cook for this recipe is quinoa, which is super easy. If you are close to a Trader Joe’s, they even sell frozen pre-made quinoa in their freezer section.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup pesto (store-bought or home-made)
• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. I like to cook mine in the rice cooker so I don’t have to keep an eye on it.
2. When the quinoa is done cooking, mix it together with the pesto and chickpeas and tomatoes.

*You can feel free to get creative at this point. You can steam some spinach or other veggies to add to the side to make this a complete meal. I like to also top mine with avocado and hemp seeds!