Mandarin Orange Almond Quinoa

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I've been a little obsessed with quinoa every since I tried it for French Fridays with Dorie recently. I've played around with a couple of recipes and came up with this one a couple of weeks ago that I really like.

I loved the mandarin chicken salad that Wendy's used to sell and this sort of mimics those flavors with the almonds, oranges, and sesame dressing. I will probably still tweak the ingredients a bit (honey instead of sugar? a smidge of cayenne pepper? the addition of some scallions?) but am pretty smitten with it as is.

Let me know - do you like quinoa?

Mandarin Orange Almond Quinoa

1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1 cup quinoa

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon juice from mandarin oranges

drop of sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

ground pepper

1/3 cup mandarin oranges, drained

Preheat oven to 350 F and toast almonds, about 10 minutes. Cook quinoa in salted water until done, drain. Make the dressing by mixing olive oil, mandarin orange juice, sesame oil, sugar, salt, salt, and pepper with whisk or shake in jar until well combined. Place quinoa in bowl and coat with dressing. Mix in almonds and mandarin oranges.