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    Home » Recipes

    Blueberry Lemon Salad

    Published: Oct 16, 2019 · Modified: Sep 7, 2020 by Emily

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Blueberries, Swiss cheese, quinoa, dried cranberries, and green onions come together over a bed of spinach. Top it off with some lemon olive oil and you have a easy, delicious and healthy blueberry lemon salad.

    A close up photo of Blueberry Lemon Salad featuring quinoa, spinach, swiss cheese, green onions and dried cranberries.  theIncredibleBulks.com

    Bulk item used: Quinoa

    Fact: I hate lunch. Well, it's not so much the idea of lunch, it's just having to take time out the middle of the day to prepare a meal, and even worse, clean up a meal. I used to eat dinner leftovers, but as a family of 5, leftovers don't happen as much anymore.

    For a long time, it wasn't uncommon for me to just snack through lunch. The result was that I was never really satisfied and I was making unhealthy choices. So I started to make an effort in actually preparing myself lunch.

    One of my favorite food blogs is Averie Cooks. She has a great recipe for Spinach Blueberry Superfoods Salad. I used her recipe as a starting off spot to create one of my favorite lunches: Blueberry Lemon Salad.

    Why it's great!

    1. This salad comes together quick! One of the things that holds me back from making a lot of salads for lunch is the time factor. I don't want to have to chop a lot of stuff up. For this one you only need to chop ONE thing!

    2. It's vegetarian, but filling! Thanks to the quinoa and the Swiss cheese, this salad has a lot of protein in it.

    3. It's healthy! I know that most salads are usually on the healthy side, but this one is comprised of mostly superfoods: dark leafy greens, berries, quinoa and olive oil.

      New to quinoa? Read all about "What is Quinoa?"
    spinach on a plate, quinao and blueberries in bowls, green onions, cheese and craisins.  theincrediblebulks.com

    Pro Tips for Blueberry Lemon Salad

    Here are some things to do to make this salad especially easy and delicious.

    1. Use kitchen shears to cut your green onions. I hold my green onions above my salad and with a few snips of the scissors, my green onions are chopped and in the salad. It's so much faster and easier than slicing with a knife.

    2. I love the mild taste of the dressing on this salad. It highlights the other flavors and doesn't overpower. For this you have two options. A) whisk together lemon juice and olive oil to prepare a nice light dressing. B) Use Lemon Infused Olive Oil. This stuff is AMAZING and I highly recommend this option! If you can't find it at your local grocery store, try looking at a fancy grocery store or market. Or you can always order it online. Hey, you can even make you're own (I'm trying this next time I run out). Seriously, this stuff is the best. You need to try it.

    3. In the recipe card, I will provide exact amounts for ingredients. However, when I make this for myself, I'm not measuring anything. I just throw in the amount of things I want. For example, I have a (probably unhealthy) love for onions, so I add in double the amount of green onions. Also, ingredients can be easily substituted for other things you have on hand. One time I used dried cherries instead of Craisins. It was amazing. Or you could use wheatberries, instead of quinoa. Kale instead of Spinach. Get creative!

    4. The thing that makes this salad's prep time long is waiting for the quinoa to cook. But guess what, quinoa freezes up great! Make a big batch and freeze it in serving sizes. That way, next time you want to make this salad you just have to microwave the frozen cooked quinoa (about 1 min 30 secs) and it will be ready to go. You'll cut 20 mins off prep time. Need some tips on how to cook Quinoa? Check out How to Cook Quinoa in the Instant Pot, or How to Cook Quinoa on the Stove. Wondering what the heck Quinoa even is? You can read all about it at What is Quinoa?

    5. In general, I usually prefer fresh berries to frozen berries. However, in this recipe, I highly recommend using defrosted frozen blueberries. The reason for this is because as they defrost, they make a lot of juice. This can also be poured onto the salad to act as another dressing. It's so good!
    Frozen blueberries in juice.  theincrediblebulks.com

    Well, as I finish this post up, lunch is about an hour away. I've officially inspired myself to make Blueberry Lemon Salad today. I hope I've done the same for you! ENJOY!

    Blueberry Lemon Salad with spinach, craisins, Swiss cheese on a plate.  theincrediblebulks.com

    Can't get quinoa at the store? Buy it online!

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases with no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Incredible Bulks.

    Blueberry Lemon Salad with spinach, craisins, Swiss cheese on a plate. theincrediblebulks.com

    Blueberry Lemon Salad

    Blueberries, quinoa, green onions, Swiss cheese, and dried cranberries come together over a bed of spinach. Drizzled with lemon olive oil and you have an easy, filling and delicious salad.
    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Servings: 2 salads
    Calories: 526kcal
    Print

    Ingredients

    • ½ cup quinoa (also need 1 cup of water to cook the quinoa)
    • 2 cups frozen blueberries
    • ½ cup shredded Swiss Cheese
    • ¼ cup green onions
    • ¼ cup dried cranberries
    • 3 cups spinach leaves
    • 4 tablespoon lemon infused olive oil *see notes

    Instructions

    • 1. Using a fine mesh sieve, rinse ½ cup of quinoa under cold water. Boil the rinsed quinoa in 1 cup of water on high on the stove. When the water starts to boil, cover and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for 15 mins, or until the water has absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit, still covered for 5 mins. **see notes
    • 2. Place the frozen blueberries in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for about 2 mins, or until the berries are soft and there is juice in the bowl. Berries should still be whole and not mushy.
    • 3. Divide the spinach between two plates. Add cooked quinoa, dried cranberries and green onions on top of each. Then add the defrosted blueberries on top. Make sure to drizzle the blueberry juice on top of the salad.
      Then sprinkle the Swiss cheese on top and drizzle with 2 tbsps of lemon olive oil on each salad.
    Please give this recipe a rating!Or leave me a comment to let me know what you think

    Notes

    *I highly recommend using Lemon Infused Olive Oil, which you should be able to find at the grocery store. If not, you can get it online.  
    However, if you don't want to purchase it, you can make something similar, by whisking ¼ cup of lemon juice with ½ cup of olive oil.  
    ** Quinoa can also be made in the instant pot.  Check out how here.  Also, it's a great idea to make a large batch of quinoa and freeze it in individual portions.  That way, when making this recipe, you could just pull it out of the freezer and microwave for about 1 min, 30 seconds.  This significantly cuts down on prep time for this salad.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 526kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.9g | Protein: 12.9g | Fat: 37.5g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 92mg | Potassium: 561mg | Fiber: 6.8g | Sugar: 15.7g | Calcium: 280mg | Iron: 5mg
    A close up photo of Blueberry Lemon Salad featuring quinoa, spinach, swiss cheese, green onions and dried cranberries.  theIncredibleBulks.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jeremy Park says

      February 06, 2020 at 1:12 am

      5 stars
      This salad actually looks delicious! I’m bookmarking to refer to when I cook. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Emily says

        February 06, 2020 at 10:37 am

        Thank you! I hope you like it!

        Reply
    2. Leeandra says

      May 08, 2020 at 12:19 pm

      This salad looks great! I will be trying this out.

      Reply

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    Hi! I'm Emily!

    I'm a mother of 4, trying to expand my kids' taste palate beyond buttered noodles. Shopping in the bulk section of the grocery store has helped us try new and healthy ingredients, and I hope to spread the bulk shopping love to you! Enjoy! 

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