A BLT is a great thing. Traditionally it is served between 2 pieces of bread. The same ingredients are delish in pasta too, as Vanderbilt Wife does in her BLC Pasta Salad. *Hi* Jessie, I am your Secret Recipe Club pal this month. Surprise! Your pasta looks awesome and I have changed it up a bit. Instead of pasta I am using gluten free quinoa and instead of cucumber I am using something else green….creamy avocado.
Jessie’s blog was my treat for the ever growing and  super fun Secret Recipe Club. This is a food blogger event in which we are given the name of a blog and we create a recipe based off something in their recipe box. Participants need to keep the info secret until the reveal day. Thanks to Amanda’s Cookin’ for hosting this event. Last month I made a gluten free Peach Sour Cream Walnut Cake.
This month I opted for savory….with a few sweets on the side. Blueberry juice makes a big sweet splash.
And juicy watermelon is always a hit!
The salad I am sharing is simple and is great for backyard entertaining or for meals out of the house. Pack it up in your mason jar and off you go. The jar is also a fun way to serve guests. This is a wonderful recipe for outdoor BBQ’s and picnics.
The quinoa grain has been super popular these days. Folks around the web are serving it up hot, cold and everywhere in between. It is a complete protein and is gluten free. It also comes in a lot of pretty colors. Remember my Wild Salmon with Basil Aioli Sauce? For that recipe I used black quinoa. The white grain used in this salad has a slightly more mild flavor.
You could use any color though. Quinoa even grows in a beautiful shade of red.
I can never get over how beautiful cherry tomatoes are. They come in so many vibrant shades or yellow, orange and red. They burst with flavor in the summer months.
To satisfy vegan friends you can leave out the feta cheese and use little soy bacon bits or veggie bacon.
At the bottom of this post are the other participants in this club. You can also join us in the fun…the more the merrier! Adaptations and creativity are encouraged. This is a great way to get involved with our food blog community.
How do you like to prepare quinoa?
Quinoa Salad Recipe Links
- My Daughter’s Quinoa Salad La Table de Nana
- Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Kalamata Olives and Mint Cookin’ Canuck
- Quinoa Salad with Summer Produce and Bocconcini Running with Tweezers
- Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad Cookie and Kate
- Quinoa with Blood Orange and Basil MarlaMeridith.com
- Red White and Blueberry Quinoa Bijouxs
- Sesame Tofu with Spring Vegetables and Quinoa MarlaMeridith.com
Secret Recipe Club July 2011
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A fabulous salad! Very summery and so enjoyable.
Cheers,
Rosa
Marla, I am about to do the final edit on my secret recipe club post…and hit publish!
You beat me to it. I was scared to publish early based on all those emails we got…haha!
Your photos are gorgeous, as usual. It makes me want to have a picnic, have watermelon (I just did actually), and have some of those great delicate lovely greens laying there.
YUM!
Pretty, vibrant and colorful salad.
What a pretty quinoa salad! I love your presentation in individual jars, perfect for picnics and really, super cute 🙂
Sweet Artichoke – I am addicted to those jars. They are gonna be in many posts from here on out 😉
p.s. I am trying to figure out what code and where to paste it to get the linkup thingey.
I tried inserting the code into my wordpress compose screen and that wasn’t working and I don’t know where else to insert it in the post.
It’s the little tech details like this that will drive me batty 🙂
Averie, you need to add the code to your html editor. When you preview the post you will not see anything. After you publish you will find the link up is attached. Confusing I know. Can’t wait to see what you have added to the SRC 🙂
I have a bunch of cherry tomatoes to use…and this looks perfect!! YUM!
This sounds like my kind of quinoa salad! Delish.
This sounds fantastic Marla! Yum!
Perfect dish for summer. I love quinoa!
thanks for the link love. this quinoa looks pretty incredible – love the idea of the avocado & feta together!
Mmm, I love cherry tomatoes – especially the multi colored packages you can grab. This sounds amazing, I’m all about salads in the summer (okay, I’m all about salads year-round!). And that blueberry juice sounds SO refreshing right now.
Liz, I too am a year round fan of fresh & light salads 🙂
Love quinoa salads and this one look amazing!
i’m in love with all the mini Ball jars! soooo adorable 🙂
Wow..how fresh an healthy all the ingredients look, Marla. I love the way you have presented and styled each click. Lovely to be in SRC with you.
Beautiful! WIsh I could sit down at that table. Delicious!
What a tasty salad, Marla! You know how much I love quinoa, so this is right up my alley. Your styling and photos are simply stunning – I want to sit down at that picnic table.
Dara, you are more than welcome to join us anytime at all 🙂
Stunning! Loving the colors, the quinoa and healthfulness! Really beautiful 🙂
Marla, this salad is fantastic. Fresh, healthy and, I’m sure, crazy delicious! Love the ingredients and avocado and quinoa makes everything a little bit better.
Mike, I agree. Avocado makes everything a whole lot better 🙂 This would pair well with your Grilled Watermelon Salad.
That looks so beautiful served in the mason jars like that. A perfect, festive summer treat!
This looks amazing! I’ve been wanting to make something with quinoa and I think this is what I’m going to try first. Yum! Your pictures are beautiful!
I love all of your picnic photos! This quinoa salad sounds amazing, what a fun way to use it- so different from the typical recipes!
Lauren, I had tons of fun coming up with this recipe. Glad you like it too!
Marla, your photos are so gorgeous with the sunlight dappling through! And this salad looks fantastic…quinoa really makes a delicious salad, especially paired with all those veggies!
Faith, these days I have moved all my photography outdoors. I always use natural light but I am in love with the deeper shadows and bright sunlight that peek in. Really sets the mood for the summer BBQ’s and picnics. glad you like this quinoa!
I wish I could get my husband to eat quinoa because this looks fantastic! So fresh and delicious!
Amanda, even if he won’t….you must 😉
Love the colors! Just beautiful. I have never prepared quinoa but intend to do it. Your salad looks wonderful. Great SRC entry.
Thanks Kate! I had lots of fun with this one. The SRC is so fun. I love meeting new bloggers & browsing through their blogs and recipes.
Wow, Marla. That is the best looking quinoa I’ve seen in a long time! We love the versatility of quinoa and use it often. The micro greens make this dish pop!
Sommer, we love those micro greens. They taste great & add so much to the presentation of a dish. Glad to hear you are also a fan of quinoa!
Gorgeous salad
Oh dear goodness I LOVE quinoa! Like, a lot.
This is what I did with black quinoa most recently. It’s so good you’ll lose your vision.
http://bevcooks.com/2011/07/indian-spiced-yellow-wax-beans-with-black-quinoa/
The Secret Recipe Club looks like such a fun idea–I love your pictures and your twists on the original recipe; both look delicious!
That’s the HAPPIEST Quinoa Salad I ever did see!
Everything YOU make is HAPPY!
I have never heard of toasting the quinoa before cooking! GENIUS!
Love that blackberry juice too!
Blackberries are getting ready to POP on Bainbridge Island!
Printing this recipe…and PINNING of course!
I’m obsessed with PINNING your FOOD! ;o)
Sometimes I cook my quinoa in low~sodium chicken broth…or veggie broth.
Gives it a good kick of flavor.
We LOVE quinoa around here!
Makes my hub very happy!
You make me HAPPY!
ENJOY the day!
xo
What a gorgeous salad! I think I have some quinoa in my pantry just waiting for this recipe! Excellent selection for the SRC!
What an honor to be the inspiraton behind this dish. It looks amazing. Avocado DOES make everything better … even chocolate cake (my secret recipe club post)!
Great photos!! I’ve never tried quinoa, but I’m definitely going to! Your dish looks like it turned out great! Wish I could grab a fork and dig in 🙂
What an awesome salad. This is a definite try. I am always looking for new recipes with quinoa.
Marla, what a perfect summer quinoa salad to make for this month’s event. Love your change-ups and your gorgeous photos! Hope you are well.
Oh wow – this looks amazing! Your photos are just stunning – I’ve only tried the red variety of quinoa, but I’m definitely open to trying the others!
I’m with you, I loooove quinoa. I love red quinoa especially, with scallions, cucumbers, tomatoes, cured olives and whatever other veggies I can find.
What a beautiful salad! We love quinoa here, I think I found another dish on the blog hop to make for dinner this week!
This salad looks super healthy. I love the idea of changing pasta to quinoa.
How yummy! That new take on blt sounds delicious!
That looks so yummy. Actually everything on your table looks great, it makes me want to go outside and have a picnic 😀 Beautiful pictures as always. I love all the flavors in your salad, plus those cherry tomatoes are so beautiful! I love them so much too, can’t wait to get some from our farmers market, they come in all kinds of beautiful colors and shapes 😀
Love the jar idea, these are fantastic.
Wow, your quinoa salad looks terrific, and perfect for summer! I’m a vegetarian, so I’d probably just skip the bacon altogether. I’m crazy for quinoa.
P.s. Thank you very much for including my quinoa tabbouleh recipe in your recipe links!
Marla those photos are freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!
What a beautiful salad. Your pictures are fabulous!
Your photos are gorgeous and the quinoa looks wonderful too.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC recipe this month: Holy Guacamole.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Absolutely stellar photos. The sun streaming through the cherry tomatoes in the 1/2 pint jar made me stop in my tracks. (Or browser…) Great recipe, great ideas, great fun!
I love love love BLT’s…I can only imagine how delicious this salad is with avocado!!
What great looking picnic fare!
Oh my gosh, what a great dish to make with quinoa! I am still a quinoa noob so I am always looking for more things to do with it.
Thanks for stopping by BFB! It’s great being in SRC and learning about so many new blogs every month!
I love that you switched out quinoa for the pasta – I’m trying to get more vegetarian protein into my 5yo and I’m hoping she’ll go for quinoa. As always your photos are stunning! I would love to peer over your shoulder as you style your sessions 😉 Stopping by from SRC.
This salad looks absolutely delicious! Definitely need to give it a try – much healthier version of a BLT! 🙂
Ooohhh… I’ve been craving BLT’s lately, and this looks great! I am absolutely saving this one!
A very colourful and healthy salad!
this looks like a wonderful picnic meal. This is exactly the kind of food I love to eat. Your photos are always vibrant and pay reverence to the fresh produce. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
It is all about that fresh produce & vibrancy. Those do need to take center stage in every meal. Thanks for your sweet compliments 🙂
I love that you turned this super traditional sandwich into a salad! Makes it that much better, in my opinion!
I can almost taste the combo. So pretty too!
Oh Marla- now that is a salad even my husband would eat. Beautiful!
FABULOUS! Love the pictures and so healthy too. Very nice work!
This was my first month doing the Secret Recipe Club and I can’t wait till next month! It was really fun!
Love the addition of avocado to this recipe, and the quinoa, too. Great idea!
Ooooh, that sounds so good! I just got some cherry Sungold tomatoes in my CSA that would be delicious in this recipe- I must make it!
Marla, this looks amazingly fresh and delicious! I love the micro greens
I always drool over your pictures. And now I’m really dying to try micro greens (never tried *sad face*)
Ooo, love your changes to Jessie’s recipe for the SRC. This is perfect and I think even my kids might eat quinoa with these ingredients!
I absolutely love what you did with this one! What an excellent SRC post… and in addition your photos are positively stunning. This one is now on our short list!! Nicely done!
Thanks Kim!! You gotta try this quinoa. I did have so much fun with this post, appreciate your sweet compliments.
I am LOVING quinoa salads this summer, and I can’t wait to add this one to my repertoire! Thanks for the yumminess 🙂
What a great idea! And the quinoa salad sounds just divine!
The jars are a fun way to serve and transport this, I’ll have to remember that for my next picnic.
Love quinoa, and LOVE BLTs! I definitely have to try this one! Gorgeous photos, btw. Fun being in the SRC with you!
What a wonderful twist on BLTs! Have quinoa in my cupboard so this will go on my next meal rotation!
Beautiful salad and I so need great recipes for quinoa. The package I bought from Costco seems it’s destined to last me for years if I don’t start using it more often!
if i said i wanted a blat-q salad, i’d probably get some weird looks, but quinoa is a perfect addition! 🙂
Grace *chuckle* you always crack me up girl! Yeah, no one would probably know what the heck you were talking about if you asked for that. Except for me 😉
What a fun way to change up the recipe. Both the pasta version and your salad version sound great. Love the pictures. You really captured the summer sunshine.
How on Earth have I not found your fantastic site until now?!!! I love it. This recipe is just perfect and I can not wait to make it. Very gorgeous photos btw. wow. Oh, vegan bacon? ick. :}
Hmmm…. toasting the quinoa. I have never tried (or thought) of that. I will have to give it a try.
This recipe looks fab.
I love your blog; it’s amazing and your photography is beautiful. These pictures are incredible and I love your cherry tomatoes…they’re my favorite. What a wonderful recipe and loving the gluten-free goodness in each bite!
I made a deconstructed version of this over the weekend, without mixing the dressing, quinoa, etc. It was delicious! My fiance and I LOVED it! Thanks, Marla 🙂
Melissa, yay I am so happy you guys loved this recipe. I am thinking I need to make some more for lunch today. Thanks for spreading the happiness 🙂
I’m thinking this would make a very pretty/tasty layer salad as well. I’ll let you know if I try it!
Love love the watermelon! Goes with everything!
Marla, I just want to say that it really makes me smile that a blog with a reputation as amazing as yours, and a readership that many of us only strive for, is a part of this very quickly growing Secret Recipe Club. It just makes me so happy. And your photos are just gorgeous.
I’ll stop gushing now. 🙂
Thanks so much Amy, you are soooo sweet 🙂 I love the whole idea of the Secret Recipe Club. Such a fun way to meet so many new blogger pals and get some great new recipes along the way. Glad we are in it together! xo
This is so beautiful! Marla your photos are such a work of art girl! I love quinoa. I’ve only made two things with it so far, but both were delicious. And it’s so easy to prepare, not finicky like rice can be 😛 Thanks for your kind words about the SRC!
That looks like a great salad!
Loving the combo! And I love how fresh your salad looks – can’t wait to try it out come summer.
I made a version of this for dinner – so good! Love the idea of making a BLT into a healthier salad…delicious!
Oh great! Sara I am so happy you had this salad for dinner. I am curious to hear your adaptations…….
I used a slightly different dressing (just my regular basic vinaigrette recipe – oil, vinegar, and Dijon mustard) and then tossed it with the quinoa, pepper bacon, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, thinly sliced cukes, and baby greens. So good!!!!! Thanks again for the recipe, it was awesome!
Sara, love your adaptations! The crunchy cucumber is something I need to do next time I make this & the pepper bacon sounds yummy. Also your homemade vinaigrette. Can you bring some here for lunch please 😉
Hey Marla –
So, it took me forever but I finally ended up posting this recipe to my blog! 🙂 If you’d like to check it out, here it is!
http://cupcakemuffin.blogspot.com/2011/09/blt-salad.html
After seeing this mentioned on bonappetit.com, I made this for dinner last night and it received rave reviews. I used sauteed leeks because I couldn’t get green onions, and skipped the feta, and my two-person household loved it! Great recipe — thank you, Marla.
Marla, this recipe looks and sounds amazing! What a delicious combination! I love how you toss the avocado in the lemon juice first. Great idea! Isn’t it funny that everything we make has a very likely potential of becoming a lunchbox idea? 😉
Also, where’d you get those 8oz. rounded Ball jars? They’re adorable! 😉
Hi Becka! Think I found those a while back at Smart + Final. I believe these are the same 1/2 pint jars at my Amazon Store 🙂
wow these photos make me want to take a bite of that watermelon! love the salad in a jar too!
Just made this for dinner last night–so fantastic!! I didn’t have garlic salt so I used garlic powder and salt; probably will omit the salt next time since there’s plenty of that from the bacon and feta. I also added some garlic scapes from the CSA share I picked up that night. This is definitely going in my regular rotation–easy, and so, so flavorful. Thanks!!
I’ve made this recipe a couple times and it is like a sympathy of flavors in my mouth. Thanks for this awesome recipe! 😀
Hi Jennifer “a symphony of flavors” I LOVE that description! Thank you 🙂 So glad you enjoyed this quinoa!