How excited am I that blood oranges are back? That excited ^.

Also? This excited:

Last spring, we planted a tiny blood orange tree in the backyard. And somehow it survived. We won’t let any blooms go to fruit this year but next year, man. Next year.

Besides margaritas, one of my other favorite things to have for lunch is this salad. You might recognize it. It’s spinach & quinoa tossed with a quick vinaigrette of blood orange juice, white wine vinegar, and shallot and then topped with blood orange segments and crumbled goat cheese.

I can make it on the weekend and then eat it cold, straight from the fridge, for the next several days. It sort of balances out those weekend margaritas. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself.

Looking for more blood orange recipes? Check out our winter citrus favorites here!

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Blood Orange, Spinach, and Quinoa Salad

An easy winter salad with fresh spinach, quinoa, goat cheese, and blood oranges in a simple blood orange vinaigrette.

Ingredients

• 3 blood oranges
• 1 cup quick-cooking quinoa, cooked according to package directions and chilled*
• 3 oz fresh baby spinach (half a large clamshell or bag)
• 4 oz crumbled goat cheese
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped shallot
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil (I use light-tasting oil)
• *If you're not working with cold, leftover quinoa, spread the hot quinoa on a plate and put it in the fridge to chill, stirring a few times to help speed up cooling.

Instructions

1. Segment the oranges over a bowl topped with a strainer set - let any seeds and segments fall into the strainer while the juice goes into the bowl below.
2. After segmenting, squeeze all the remaining juice from the "membranes" left in your hand into the strainer.
3. In a large bowl, toss the spinach, cold quinoa, goat cheese, and blood orange segments together.
4. In the bowl with the blood orange juice, whisk the vinegar, shallot, mustard, a pinch of salt and pepper together.
5. Slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking.
6. Pour over the salad, tossing to mix.
7. Serve cold. Leftovers will keep a few days in the fridge.

Notes

Yields: 4-6 servings

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 45 minutes