During the summer months, I love having big salads prepared for an easy weeknight side dish, or in this case, even a complete meal. This Summer Quinoa Salad is packed full of plant based protein and keeps me feeling full for hours. It’s great on it’s own, as a side, or you could even throw it in a wrap and grill it in a panini press. The recipe makes about 4-6 servings, depending on how many full-meals you want to get out of it, and since it makes so much it would be great to take to a summer BBQ or potluck. You can easily play around with the spices, and the dressing for this recipe and experiment with some of your favourites or whatever you have on hand. Lately I’ve been obsessed with Simply Organic’s Smoked Paprika, so I made sure to get some of that in there, as well as, cumin, Italian seasoning, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I’m not a fan of cilantro, but I know some people can’t get enough of the stuff, so swap the parsley out for cilantro if that’s more your style. I’ve used black beans and corn in this recipe, both of which can be hard on a weak digestive system. If you already know that you have weak digestive fire, and things like beans, corn and raw vegetables give you digestive discomfort, you could consider finding a digestive enzyme at your local health food store to help. Also taking a probiotic regularly and eating fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, etc.) can help increase the good bacteria in your gut, and help relieve some of your digestive discomfort after eating. Every digestive system in different, so if certain foods aren’t working for you, try eliminating them for a period of time or working to increase your digestive fire.