A healthy, colorful, and delicious salad that’s perfect for serving at your holiday dinner.

Holy quinoa! I’m stuffed, and it’s only noon.

I’m going to serve this salad that can double as an entrée for Thanksgiving. It has all of the bells and whistles that you’d expect in a Turkey (whaaa….that makes me so sad to say) day salad; roasted Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, toasty shallots, and apples for a sweet, fresh crunch. The quinoa adds a little chewiness and a lot of protein to the mix. It’s also the part that makes it meal worthy.

The beautiful thing about being vegan (there are many things, but right now let’s just focus on this thing) is that we can eat as much of this as we want without feeling the slightest bit guilty. Think about it, on Thanksgiving Day – when everyone else is rolling around, moaning and groaning, because they feel sick from eating meat, butter, and dairy – we can eat all of the potatoes, gravy, salads, cranberries, and vegetables that we want, and feel awesome! We can even eat an extra slice of pie or a piece of cake if we feel like it, because our caloric and fat intake will be low, low, low, low, low, low low!

About this salad. Eat just one serving. I dare you. I triple dog dare you. Do it! Haha, you can’t. It’s too good. And that’s all right, because I encourage eating two servings if you feel like it. There isn’t anything in it that should stop you. Besides, it’s too good to let it go into the refrigerator for leftovers.

First of all, who can say no to roasted Brussels sprouts? Not me. I was nibbling them straight off of the baking sheet while I was waiting for the quinoa to cook. The buttery olive oil, and the salt and pepper that coated the sprouts were taunting me. What’s a girl to do when a Brussel sprout taunts her? Eat it, of course.

Then there’s the gorgeous purple cabbage. It’s slightly bitter, but in a good, fresh way. It is a great contrast to the sweet, crunchy apples, and the fluffy quinoa. You have to make sure that each forkful has a little bit of everything so you can experience all of the textures and flavors at once.

Oh yes, I can’t forget to mention the savory, amazing, crispy toasted shallots. They add body to the salad, and are dangerous around me, because I almost ate all of them before sprinkling them on top of this dish. Roasted Brussels sprouts and crispy shallots don’t have much of a chance around me. But, since I made this for you, I forced myself to have some willpower.

Every salad needs to get dressed. The dressing can make or break your recipe, it really has to coordinate with the flavors of the ingredients in the salad or it just won’t taste good. It’s like wearing an ugly pair of shoes with a great outfit. The shoes ruined the look, and now nobody cares how great that outfit is. Don’t do that to your salad, you want to match the flavors.

Because there are sweet apples, and savory Brussels sprouts and shallots, and, because this is a fall dish, I chose to use Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Organic Raw — 32 fl oz, sage, and olive oil for my dressing. The apple cider vinegar brightens the flavor of the apples, and the sage compliments the flavor of all of the ingredients. It’s light, a little citrusy, and delicious. I know a salad dressing is good when I can’t stop dipping my finger in to take a taste.

Since it’s Monday, and you probably don’t feel like making a big elaborate dinner tonight, make this instead. It will give you the opportunity to perfect it before serving it for Thanksgiving. Although, it’s so easy, you can’t mess it up. So….. just make it because it’s quick, healthy, delicious, and requires very little effort on your part.

You can purchase Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar at Amazon.com. Click this link to order.

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