Quinoa Salad with Egg, Zucchini, and Avocado-Cilantro dressing

This is a delicious and summery quinoa salad, adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Ingredients

• 1 large avocado, ripe
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 c lightly packed cilantro
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 c plain yogurt
• 1/2 c water
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T mayonaisse
• 4 large eggs
• 1 large zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch thick coins
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• couple pinches of fine grain sea salt
• 1 cups quinoa, cooked according to package instructions
• handful pine nuts, toasted
• 1/4 c feta, crumbled
• 1-2 c fresh spinach, chopped finely
• 2 T chopped cilantro
• 1/4 c cooked corn (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare the avocado-cilantro dressing by blending the avocado, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, yogurt, water, salt, and mayonaise with a hand blender, and set aside.
2. Hard boil three eggs and set aside.  (Try this technique: place eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water by 1/2 inch.  Bring to a gentle boil, turn off heat and cover.  Let sit for 7 minutes, then dunk eggs in ice water to stop cooking.)
3. Use a grill pan (or a normal pan if you don’t have one) to cook zucchini: heat olive oil over medium heat and cook zucchini for ~5 minutes on each side.
4. Crack and peel each egg, then cut into quarters.
5. Toss quinoa with zucchini, spinach, feta, cilantro, and corn (if using).
6. To assemble salad, top quinoa mix with avocado sauce and slices of egg.