Autumn Quinoa Salad with Lemon Turmeric Dressing

While I’m really glad that most quick serve restaurants have hopped on the “meal salad” bandwagon they’re still too expensive to eat on a regular basis. Giant salads can be tough to make at home because it always feels like you need a million ingredients, but this Autumn Quinoa Salad with Lemon Turmeric Dressing is pretty simple and uses ingredients that are fairly shelf stable, so you can make a couple salads here, a couple salads there, and not worry about a bunch of fresh ingredients going limp.

This salad is inspired by the Almond Butter Turmeric Salad Dressing I grabbed from Trader Joes last week. After my first taste of the creamy bright yellow dressing I was determined to recreate it at home. While my Lemon Turmeric Dressing is not exactly like the Trader Joe’s version, it’s pretty darn close. I’ve been loving this earthy creamy dressing on tart Granny Smith apples, so I built the salad around that duo, adding some rainbow quinoa for bulk (and autumn-like color) plus a few sliced almonds and cranberries for crunch and sweetness.

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/8 tsp salt

• 2 Tbsp almond butter
• 3 Tbsp hot water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• freshly cracked pepper (about 1/8 tsp)

• 4 cups baby greens
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 2 Tbsp dried cranberries
• 2 Tbsp sliced almonds