Colorful Quinoa Salad with Purple Cabbage, Edamame, Avocado & Easy Pickled Radishes

"Midwinter spring is its own season

Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown

Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.

When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,

The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches

In windless cold that is the heart's heat,

Reflecting in a watery mirror

A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon. 

And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier

Stirs the dumb spirit; no wind, but pentecostal fire

In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing

The soul's sap quivers. There is no earth smell

Or smell of living thing. This is the spring time

But not in time's covenant. Now the hedgerow

Is blanched for an hour with transitory blossom. 

Of snow, a bloom more sudden

Than that of summer, neither budding nor fading,

Not in the scheme of generation. 

Where is the summer, the unimaginable Zero summer?" 

From "Little Gidding" by T.S. Elliot

I don't want to be that person. 

That person who complains about the weather for the upteenth time this week. 

But to be truthful, this "midwinter spring" has got me down. A day of sunny 70 degree weather followed by a week of ice, freezing rain sub-zero rain, and what feels like too many personal setbacks. (It turns out my lavender earl grey tea lattes from last week were a bit prophetic) 

I'm hungering for sunshine and freedom and change and color. 

What I'm hungering for usually ends up on my plate --> this crazy colorful salad full of ingredients I don't normally like. 

As soon as I saw the picture of this salad in Plenty I knew I had to have it--even though I've never really liked radishes and had never seen purple radish cress in a store. 

I'm not even a fan of purple cabbage usually (It's the part I used to pick out of salads at restaurants) but I had to have something purple in this salad. I just had to. 

Also, it turns out that when you pickle radishes for 30 minutes with some vinegar and sugar they turn into delectable sweet crunchy components of your salad, and purple cabbage, when combined with quinoa, avocado, and smoky lemon cumin vinaigrette, morphs into something you can't get enough of. 

Salad magic. 

It even looks sort of magical, doesn't it? 

I feel like this is when I should tell you (don't hate me!) that I am going to feel the sun on my face this week.  I'm flying to Panama tomorrow. I'll be sleeping in a bunk bed in a room with 20 other people, taking cold showers, eating rice and beans every day, and sweating my life away in the 90 degree weather with no air conditioning.

  

I can't wait. 

I'll also be loving on some Panamanian children, helping sweet families with their legal needs, and generally experiencing life without cracking open a text book. I'm in dire need of a change of perspective and some more lightness in my heart. If all goes well, I'll be back next week, maybe with some photos. 

Thanks for your support, friends. 

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time. 

Through the unknown, unremembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

is that which was the beginning." 

Colorful Quinoa Salad with Purple Cabbage, Edamame, Avocado & Easy Pickled Radishes

Easy Pickled Radishes
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
10-12 radishes, thinly sliced

Directions: 
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, vinegar, and salt.

Add radishes. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.


Colorful Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 8oz bag frozen shelled edamame
1/2 head purple cabbage
2 ripe avocados
juice from 2 lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tablespoon cumin
salt and peper
easy picked radishes

Directions:
Cook quinoa in vegetable broth according to package directions. Set aside to cool.  (If you're in a rush, you can stick it in the fridge.)

Cook edamame in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until just thawed.

Meanwhile, whisk together freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, and cumin. Set aside.

Chop cabbage and avocado into bite sized pieces. Add to a large bowl, along with the quinoa and edamame. Add in easy picked radishes and cumin lemon dressing and toss until evenly mixed. Serve immediately.


*A few notes

• To make prep easier, cook quinoa and edamame a day ahead and refrigerate.
• This salad is best eaten the day it's made. If you want it to last a few days, keep the picked radishes separate and just add to salad right before eating. 
• The recipe makes a lot! Invite a few friends over for a midwinter spring lunch!

Easy Picked Radishes adapted from Marsha Stewart.
Salad inspired by Ottolenghi's Plenty.