Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Toasted Pecan

Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Toasted Pecans

I have been pondering on happiness lately and realizing I know outside influences can have a big effect on our happiness, yet I feel like we can create happiness inside ourselves no matter what is going on around us.

 I am fascinated by Denmark they are the 2nd happiest country in the world and yet they have winter days with 14 hours of darkness. That really intrigued me.  They have "Hygge"  Danish word, pronounced "hoo-ga", is usually translated into English as "cosiness". Here is more about it. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34345791. I love that word "cosiness" I love how this country creates that in their homes regardless of what is going on around them. 

It has been fun working on creating more of that in my home. I have also thought about how I can create more of that inside of me. I know often I may be guilty of thinking someone else is responsible for my happiness, and yet when I stop and think about it I realize that I am the one that is responsible for it. I know other things can add to our happiness but we can create it within us.  What are your thoughts? 

I really enjoy eating for dinner is a yummy salad. In fact often my husband and I will enjoy a salad as our main entree for our dinner. Yum! I LOVE how I can eat so many great vegetables in one serving. This salad is loaded with healthy goodness. I love the pecans in it. I used to think I didn't like pecans and now I really do our tastes can change. 

Recipe

1/2 C pecans chopped up
2 T honey
4 C kale or other favorite greens washed
1 C snow peas broken in thirds
1/2 Cucumber thinly sliced
4 radishes thinly sliced
1 C dried
crasins
1 C cooked quinoa
3/4 C feta cheese

Dressings

1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1 T mustard
1 T honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 C olive oil

Directions

1. In a small saucepan heat to medium low and pour in honey. Stir in the nuts and cook for a couple minutes until all thickened and nice golden color. Pour out to cool on parchment paper or a non stick surface to cool. Make sure the nuts are spread out so they don't stick together in one clump.

2. Pour all the ingredients in the blender for the dressing and blend 1 to 2 min until all combined set aside.

3. Toss all the ingredients for the salad together. Pour on the dressing right before serving or leave dressing off and pour on after serving on to plates. Enjoy!