Healthy Mexican Recipe: Pico De Gallo Quinoa Salad with Nopales (Cactus)

I've played with the thought of putting "lose weight" on my new year's resolution list, but decided against it because that's not really what I want.  What I really want is to eat healthier, and drink more water because I suck at that. Then I ran into the dilemma that what I make, or what my family makes is Mexican food on a day to day basis which usually consists of tortillas, rice & some kind of meat. I also have really low self-control when it comes to food, and I know that's not going to change overnight. I decided to introduce my family to healthier alternatives to things that I know they like. This quinoa with pico de gallo & nopales was actually introduced to us by my dad's mom, and to my surprise, everyone fell in love with it. My family isn't the most adventurous when it comes to eating so I decided this was one thing I was going to start incorporating into our dinner routine. 


Ingredients:

1 cup of Quinoa
2 cups of diced nopales (cactus) 
1 diced tomato
2 Limes (juiced) 
1/3 cup chopped cilantro 
2 Jalapeños diced (optional)

Recipe:

1. Cook the Quinoa per the directions on their package
2.  Combine all the ingredients in the bowl, mix & serve with chips






I love this dish because it's so different than what I'm used to and I don't feel bad when I eat the whole plate on my own! This is the perfect way to start making small changes in the things that I eat. I was always scared of Quinoa because I thought it was hard to make, but it's the easiest thing ever. If you didn't know Quinoa is actually a seed that is consumed like a grain and is super rich in fiber & iron!








Are you excited to try new things this year?