Whole Foods Cold Quinoa Salad

The story goes that Whole Foods has this great quinoa salad and someone reverse engineered it (ala the $250 Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe) Enjoy!

(via)

Megan has made this a bunch of times. It's fresh, light, Cambioti / Vitaliti friendly and darn good.

This recipe makes a TON of salad, plenty to last you for a few (or more) days. Perfect for busy people who enjoy quick and easy leftovers. All of these measurements were estimations, just throw in the ingredients to suit your tastes. I really don’t think you could mess this up!
 
California Quinoa Salad
 
2 cups mixed quinoa from Trader Joe’s – regular quinoa or red quinoa would work well here too
4 cups water (for cooking quinoa – I cooked mine in my rice cooker on the white rice setting)
1 package frozen mango from Trader Joe’s, thawed OR 2-3 diced fresh mangos
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 medium to large red pepper, diced
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
1-2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
3/4 – 1 cup unsalted, dry-toasted slivered almonds
½ -1 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or the like
2-3 cups edamame
Juice of 4-5 limes
3 – 4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar.
 
Instructions:
1. Rinse quinoa well, cook as directed.
2. Fluff quinoa well when done, spread out and let cool.
3. Add all other ingredients and toss.
4. Enjoy cold!!

A few personal notes about quinoa recipe:
I use fresh mango, not frozen
This recipe makes A LOT, consider doing half
unsweetened coconut can be hard to find; whole foods should have it, maybe in bulk
I use frozen edamame
if you make it ahead of time, it tastes better with a bit of time to marinade