I’m so glad it’s Springtime, a bit rainy springtime but warmer and sprinkled with sunshine here and there makes the rain just add to the freshness.  Besides don’t tell anyone but I like the rain.

With springtime comes salads, seems like I’m making those more than anything else, good clean eating salads.  That’s what it’s all about eating clean.

A salad with mango’s was on the menu plan, because with spring comes mango’s and as much as green smoothies are great with mangos, tasting them in a salad or salsa is better.

Let’s talk about quinoa and blueberries first though.

Quinoa, one of my favorites in salads and soups,  is a super food, known for its nutritional content, and  it’s so super, it’s a complete protein.

It is a great source of dietary fiber, magnesium and iron. Wow, could you ask for anything more in such a tiny little grain like crop? Yes, you can ask for more, because there is more, it is also gluten-free and a source of calcium, so for those of you who don’t eat gluten or dairy that is another added bonus.

Blueberries,  are one of the easiest berries to grow and pick, we enlarged our blueberry patch to 16 plants this year. .  When we saw some more at a nursery just the other day that looked better than the ones we had just bought, I had to stop my husband from buying more.  Our garden is only so big.   My goal is to pick and freeze enough to get us through the winter.  Maybe I should have let him buy more bushes. We enlarged the garden last year, who know’s what next year will bring.  Hopefully more fruit trees too.

Blueberries, those tiny little sweet (most of the time)  morsels of goodness.  Pretty and vibrant, this fruit is packed with healthy perks. We all can use some perks, right?  Antioxidant’s and anti-inflammatory properties make this blue gem a great choice for helping with inflammation. Eating them straight out of the freezer, just frozen blueberries all by themselves is a cool snack. My dear little 2-year-old friend Emma, come’s over and that is the first thing she asks to do is pick blueberries and my cherry tomatoes.  Of course they go straight into her mouth and not the bucket.

Eating mango’s makes me feel like I’m enjoying just a tiny bit of the tropics.  I buy a good supply of these while they are in season and do the hedgehog (google it) cut on them to remove the inner fruit and put them away in my freezer for those cold gray days in winter when my smoothies need a little spring or summer pick me up.  Mango’s are a  popular nutrient rich fruit that gives us vitamins A, B6, C, E and potassium.

The mango blueberry quinoa salad blends these three powerhouses of nutrients into a dish full of flavors that will tease your taste buds. Add to that the basil lemon dressing, it finishes off the savoriness of this salad.

Although this was inspired by the ingredients of my frig this recipe is adapted from Veggiebelly

 

Tags:  blueberries gluten free Mangos quinoa vegan