Salad with a Plum, Quinoa, Pomegranate Dressing

June 24, 2015:  Wadsworth, IL.  Last night I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and make myself dinner, typically I do not cook.  I love salad with fruit, some people do not (namely McKenzie).  In my opinion, mixing sweet and salty is always yummy! I got this recipe from Pinterest (Flourishing Foodie) of course, but I did a little modifying.  The recipe listed below serves two, and includes my modifications.

SALAD INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tsp oil
• dash of salt
• 2 plums, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp sugar, brown or white
• dash of cinnamon
• 2 tsp butter, salted or unsalted
• 2 cups spring mix
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds 
• feta, crumbled, to taste

DRESSING INGREDIENTS

• 3 tbsp pomegranate juice, roughly one small pomegranate (I used POM juice to save time)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• dash of salt 

The first step is to cook the quinoa. Flourishing Foodie explains the process simply, "In a small saucepan on low-med heat, add the quinoa and 1 tsp olive oil. Fry for a couple of seconds until the quinoa starts to pop. Add 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until all of the water has evaporated and the quinoa is light and fluffy. Set to the side to cool." 
The next step is to caramelize the plums. Personally I think you could just slice the plums and not even worry about this step, but it was good this way too! Mix the sugar, the cinnamon, and the plums together in a bowl. Then melt the butter in a saucepan and add the plums.  Cook for about a minute each side.
Next, make the dressing.  Simply mix all the ingredients together.
Lastly, mix the spring mix with the quinoa, plums, almonds, feta, and toss in the dressing.