Name: Carrot Slaw with Quinoa and Sesame Seeds
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 3 cups carrots (peeled and grated (about 4 medium carrots)); 1 cup cooked quinoa (1/3 cup uncooked, rinsed); 4 teaspoons gluten free soy sauce (tamari); 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil; 1 teaspoon honey; 2 teaspoon rice vinegar; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; chili flakes (optional); 2 tablespoons sesame seeds; avocado (to garnish)

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Carrot Slaw with Quinoa and Sesame Seeds is a healthy recipe for lunch or to serve with dinners. It's one of those naturally gluten free dishes that's great to make ahead. The dressing is made without mayonnaise, sweetened with a little honey, and can be spicy if you wish. Nice, sweet carrots are key to great flavour, and the quinoa gives a suggestion of nuttiness.

This is another one of those recipes that I first made years ago and have kept to make repeatedly for my family.

Who says eating gluten free needs to be expensive? There are lots - hundreds - of naturally gluten free foods! Let's not get caught up on breads, cakes, cookies, biscuits, and the like. Vegetables are delicious when prepared properly. Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables every day and see how good you'll feel!

Carrots are not expensive, at least they're certainly not where I live. Carrots grow easily and abundantly in backyard gardens, market gardens, and on farms. They keep well in cold storage, so they're available year round.

top view of avocado slices on shredded carrot salad — Carrot Slaw is a nutritious side dish that you can make ahead of time.

Health Benefits of Carrots

Carrots offer many health benefits. They are a great source of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fibre and seem to help prevent cancer, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Do carrots help you see in the dark? Well, carrots are a good source of Vitamin A, and Vitamin A helps you to see in the dark. Vitamin A deficiencies are rare in the developed world, but it doesn't hurt to eat carrots.

This versatile vegetable is also a star in :

carrot-slaw-with-avocado — Carrots make a handy lunch container salad.

Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), is a very nutritious pseudo-cereal. Not technically a grain, it's actually a seed. Since we prepare it as we would a grain, we often tend to think of it that way. Quinoa is a rare plant that is actually considered a complete protein. One cup of cooked quinoa contains 8 grams of protein. That's a pretty good source!

How to Cook Quinoa

It's easy to cook quinoa in 15 to 20 minutes. Basically, you just bring twice as much water as dry quinoa to a boil and cook it until the water is absorbed, the seeds pop open and your quinoa becomes fluffy.

Kate, of Cookies and Kate has written a great post on how to cook perfect quinoa. I followed her method as I made mine for this recipe.