Tilapia with Quinoa Mango Cucumber Salad

This was a fun meal to make – my daughter helped me make the salad and the whole time she kept commenting on how beautiful the produce was, how delicious the cucumbers and mangoes were, and how I had to be sure to post this on my blog because it’s such a yummy salad.

It’s always so gratifying when anyone likes what you cook, isn’t it? Especially when it’s your child, who has emerged from the picky preschooler years into a much better eater. Of course my son is right in the midst of not eating anything that doesn’t  have a face (he’s a total carnivore) so he turned his nose up at the salad. Someday he’ll eat it though, I’m sure.

This was a total throw-together salad, so there aren’t hard and fast measurements for it – here’s how I made it. Cook 1/2 cup quinoa according to the package directions while you chop the other ingredients. Cut up a mango (I like to use a slightly underripe one so it’s a bit firmer and not quite so sweet), an avocado and an english cucumber into cubes, and dice half a red onion. Juice two limes into a salad bowl, add some olive oil (a few glugs), a generous pinch of kosher salt and some grinds of black pepper and beat it all with a fork to combine it into a dressing. Add the veggies to the bowl, stir them around and let them marinate while the quinoa cooks. When the quinoa’s done, add it to the veggies in the bowl, mix everything up and then chill it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.

I served the salad with a sauteed filet of tilapia, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and cumin – of course the kiddos eat that like candy so all in all a successful meal.