Power Vegetarian Cobb Salad

Vegetarian Cobb Salad with Quinoa and Power Greens is one of our favorite quinoa power bowls! Inspiration from a classic cobb salad but amped up with herby quinoa and a delicious roasted garlic vinaigrette. I love this for meal prep; store all the ingredients separately and cut the avocado right before serving.

Here's your recovery from that 3-day awful food and drink bender you just finished up last weekend.  

You're welcome for that.  

I know a lot of people for whom every Monday kind of turns into a New Year's resolution fest - are you like that?  MONDAY is when I start to get my act together and be nicer and less dramatic and eat more quinoa.  

Why Monday?  I have no clue.  Anyone who watched all the football on Sunday knows that Monday is just another recovery day that might involving laziness and fried foods, amirite?  

Although, to be fair, I actually ate this on Saturday in an attempt to be slightly well behaved.  And then washed it down with 948 light beers BUT THAT'S HEALTHY.  

This power greens salad, though.  We know the standard classic cobb salad flavors, and I'm especially a sucker for a fried chicken cobb, but when bacon AND creamy dressing AND blue cheese are involved the healthy part of a salad is kind of negated, heavenly as it may taste.

So we amped it up with some extra flavor and protein from quinoa and took away most of the bad stuff.  Blue cheese is still included because otherwise what would even be the point?  AND there is roasted garlic vinaigrette.  Flavor, and wayyyyy better for your arteries than creamy ranch or blue cheese dressing.  

Let's make vegetarian cobb salad!

You need greens, tomatoes, blue cheese, avocado, cooked quinoa, basil, and dill for the salad.  Then for the dressing you'll need a head of roasted garlic, a lemon, some honey, and olive oil. Easy stuff!

If you don't know how to roast garlic:  whole head of garlic, wrapped in tin foil, 450F, 30 minutes.  Done!  You could do this step while you cook the quinoa.  

Let's start with the quinoa mixture.  In a large bowl, grate the zest of the lemon that you'll use for the dressing directly over the quinoa.  

Then, mince the herbs and add them to the bowl.  Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, taste, mix, and we're done!  Herbed quinoa.  

For the dressing, add the honey, olive oil, and the juice of the lemon you zested to a little food processor or blender.  

Then squish in the roasted garlic!  It's messy, but totes worth it.  

Whir that around, then taste, and add some salt and pepper if you'd like.  LOVE this dressing.  

Now, let's build!  Prep any of the veggies that you need to.  

Then, we just layer the greens with the pretty toppings and go to town!  

I love quinoa power bowls like this - lots of yummy things with a few extras like cheese and sexy dressing, but MAINLY we're eating a big old pile of vitamins and great stuff that we need.  

And look, if there happens to be toasty buttery bread to accompany it...it just balances the whole thing out, right?  

Enjoy!  

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