Mango Avocado Quinoa Salad

It's recipe swap time, hosted by A Taste of Home Cooking!

If you've noticed a decrease in swap posts, it's because our swaps have dropped to once a month instead of once every two weeks. Our swap theme for August was Summer Salads.

I was intrigued when I received my assigned recipe. I had never had quinoa before (though it's been on my radar to try, and I had a bag of it in my pantry). Most people call quinoa an "ancient grain," but it's actually a seed, though it resembles cous cous and often takes the place of a grain in a meal.

The inclusion of other ingredients — mango, avocado, red onion — almost sounded like ingredients for a fruit salsa. Combined with lime juice and honey, I really wasn't sure I was going to like the way it tasted.

I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be a good dish. It's probably not a recipe I would have ever picked out for myself. My quinoa was still slightly warm when I added the avocado, mango and red onion, and the avocado softened almost into a creamy coating on the quinoa.

The recipe is vegetarian as-written, and you could easily substitute agave syrup for the honey to make it vegan.

To see other recipes from the swap, click on any of the images below!