This Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad with grilled eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper is a quick, easy  and super tasty meal. It will take you no longer than 15 minutes to have a bowl of this salad ready. I love making salads with quinoa. It’s a quick and easy ingredient to use. When cooked for only a short amount of time (around ten minutes), it still has a bit of crunch to it. When the quinoa still has a bite to it, it makes a great salad ingredient. Quinoa is very healthy too. It contains essential amino-acids such as lysine and isoleucine making it a complete protein source in its own right. Quinoa is also a perfect food to include on a gluten-free diet. It’s technically not a grain but a pseudo-grain as it does not belong the same plant family as wheat, oats and barley. A bowl of this Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad is just what you need after a day at work. It also makes a great side-dish. I love eating left-overs as lunch the next day.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup of quinoa
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper,  deseeded and sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 eggplant, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• ½ lemon, juice
• 2 tbsp of parsley
• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper and sea salt

Instructions

• Rinse quinoa well using a fine sieve. Cook for 8-10 minutes and allow to cool. You want to the quinoa to still have a bite (al dente). When cooled down add lemon juice and olive oil and season with pepper and salt.
• For the grilled vegetables heat a grill pan to high heat. Brush the zucchini, bell pepper and eggplant on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for about 1 minute per side (until slightly charred).
• In a large salad bowl mix all ingredients together and enjoy your Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad!