Roasted Sweet Potato and Wild Rice Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette

Well, it was that time of the week again. Time to boldly take our tastebuds where none had dared go before. In case you've missed any of my other blog posts, let me catch you up:

Our family is three people: my husband, my 23-year-old sister, and myself. My sister is gluten-free and rather picky, especially when it comes to vegetables or anything even remotely spicy. My husband and I are pescetarian (mostly vegetarian due to seafood prices steadily rising) but try to eat gluten-free as much as possible; however, my husband is extremely picky with certain flavors/foods/combinations. He's not a huge fan of tofu, hates tomatoes, cilantro, and anything too "out there." Add to that a strict food budget, ridiculous schedules that get at least two of us home by 8 o'clock every night, and desperation to show creativity in the kitchen, and you've got a pretty crazy-looking menu plan for us every week.

This week, I decided to take my life in my hands and try a Pinterest-inspired recipe of a roasted sweet potato and wild rice salad in a homemade vinaigrette dressing. Daring? Absolutely. But it sounded amazing if I could pull it off.

Ingredients

*2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

*2 T olive oil (I always use extra virgin, first cold press)

*1/4 t ground cumin

*1/4 t chili powder

*3/4 cup uncooked wild rice

*1 carrot, peeled and grated

*Roughly 6-8 mini bell peppers, red, orange, and yellow, thinly sliced

*1/4 cup red onion, diced

*1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (I left these out for obvious reasons)

Dressing

*1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

*2 T white wine vinegar

*2 t lime juice (about 1 fresh lime)

*1 t chili powder

*2 t honey (maple syrup will work too, if you're trying to make this vegan)

*1 clove garlic, minced

*1/4 t salt

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss sweet potato in olive oil, ground cumin, and chili powder. Arrange on a cookie sheet. 

2.) Bake for 15 minutes, flip (or just stir), and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes until a fork inserted into sweet potatoes comes out easily. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. 

3.)  Cook rice according to package directions. You should end up with roughly 2 cups of cooked rice. Allow to cool completely before assembling salad. (This is actually optional. The original recipe called for allowing it to cool, but we constructed it warm, and it was delicious!) 

4.) Combine sweet potato, wild rice, and remaining salad ingredients. 

5.) Whisk vinaigrette ingredients and toss salad thoroughly. (We served our dressing on the side to avoid it soaking in to the leftovers). 

Serves 6-8. Vegetarian, gluten-free, and perfect for picky family members! Let me know what you think! 

Spicy Kale & Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Not gonna lie: I had my doubts about this one. First off, it has kale in it. That veggie can bit a hit or miss in this household - usually a miss because I end up overcooking it and bringing out some horribly bitter side never experienced by taste buds known to man. Secondly, the dressing calls for cilantro, which my husband detests more than anything. But we all know what happens when you take an ingredient out of a recipe you've never tried before: to paraphrase "Goonies": "Bad things, Mikey, bad things!" I decided to take my life even further in my hands by cooking the kale and onion instead of adding it raw to the salad bowl as suggested in the original recipe. Lastly, my hubby is usually a little wary of recipes that are warm salads. Add to that a vegan, gluten free, oil free meal, it's gotta either be amazing or really bad. Lucky for us, this is one of our new favorites!

Spicy Kale and Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

*1 cup quinoa, uncooked

*6 cups kale, de-stemmed

*1/2 red onion, chopped

*1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

*1 cup corn

Dressing Ingredients

*1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I left this out, and it was perfectly fine if you also can't stand it)

*2 cloves garlic, minced

*1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)

*1/4 cup hot sauce of your choice (I used the chili garlic sauce from the Asian foods aisle)

*1/4 cup water

*1 t. maple syrup (I know! I did a double-take too! But it's the perfect amount of sweetness to cut the acidity of the limes)

*1/2 t. cumin

*Sea salt and pepper, to taste

In a medium sized pot, combine 2 cups of water with 1 cup of quinoa and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy. 

In a large salad bowl, combine kale and onion. (If you'd like it cooked like I did, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 1 T. of olive oil. Add kale and onion. Cook down. Add 1 clove of garlic - it won't be "oil free" any more, but we thought cooking the kale absolutely made this dish!) 

Once the quinoa is done cooking, add in the black beans and corn. Mix. 

Prepare the dressing. Serve in a bowl alongside salad so everyone can drizzle the perfect amount over their portion. Enjoy! 

Stores well in the fridge for up to 2 days. Sorry my photos aren't the best today - I'm having some photo editing software issues. Let me know what you think!