Quinoa Salad w/ Black Beans, Avocado, Goat Cheese & Hummus

I have recently come up with a new meal creation that I thought I'd share here real quick tonight. The new doctor I am seeing took me off of all forms of sugar for about 6 weeks as a part of a treatment program for an intestinal parasite and a bacterial overgrowth called Candida. This new restriction includes fruit, all refined carbohydrates and a couple of starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn and carrots.

Now that I've been at it for a few weeks, this change doesn't actually seem that dramatic. Initially though, dietary changes are always hard. This dish below was my first attempt to come up with something new and tasty, staying within the confines of veggies, beans, eggs, meat and whole grains (like brown rice or quinoa). To my surprise, I loved it! I made an extra portion today for the sweet lady who does my taxes and she loved it. So I figured I would put it here on my blog. Here you go:

Quinoa Salad w/ Black Beans, Avocado, Goat Cheese and Hummus
(The title is pretty self explanatory...)

For one lunch portion:
1/2 cup cooked Quinoa, warmed (I am into the "red" variety at the moment, but regular brown would be fine too)
1/4 cup black beans (approximately)
1/2 diced avocado
1/2 diced tomato
5-6 diced Kalamata olives
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Sprinkling of goat cheese (or any other cheese you like - Feta would be pretty tasty too)
Dollop of Hummus

-Mix all ingredients through olives.
- Squeeze about a 1/4 of lemon's worth of fresh juice over the top and drizzle with a little olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste and then toss together.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top.
- Finish with a dollop (I LOVE that word!) of hummus.

I like mixing again at the end so that the hummus becomes a sort of sauce. I have varied this a tiny bit and added raw, shredded spinach and also a diced hard boiled egg. Feel free to omit ingredients you don't like or add others. The lady I fed this too today thought it would be yummy with some Salmon and capers (in place of the olives).

I resolved to do my utmost to eat well and not complain while on this journey with my unruly digestive tract and I feel like the Lord is giving me grace to that end! A lot of that "grace" has come in the form of encouragement and love from many of you. Thank you! I hope you enjoy the new recipe :)