Quinoa, kale, and corn mexi salad

A lime juice dressing brightens things up in this cold grain salad. Make the full recipe to serve a crowd, or halve it for a family dinner. 

I ate this salad with nine amazing women last week. Standing around with paper plates and maybe wiping a few tears from our eyes.

My colleague Janet Ott and I just finished leading a six-month leadership course for executive women, and we had lunch together after our last session. Some things I was reminded of as we learned together:

• The world will always need good leaders. And specifically, good managers make an incalculable difference in the lives of their employees. 
• All the little daily things we do or don't do, say or don't say, have an even greater impact when we're in decision-making roles. We can either embrace that influence and be intentional about it or not. 
• When we're not leading from a deep place of "okayness" with ourselves, we can do damage. We focused together on the spirituality of leadership – leading from love instead of fear, choosing awe and wonder over urgency and people-pleasing. I can't help but smile when I think about these 9 women and how much more effective and aware they've become in our time together. And how that will translate to their relationships with employees.
• How gifted all of us are and how listening to one another unearths those gifts.

As usual, I happily took on the challenge of bringing something simple, filling, portable, and gluten-free for lunch. And I promised the recipe.

Here's to you, leaders, and all the good you're unleashing in the world.

Quinoa, kale, and corn mexi salad
This makes a huge bowl – enough for 10-12 people to have big portions. It will keep all week in the fridge, but you can also halve it. With cold grain salads like this, they are best served room temperature.

If you put it in the fridge, you'll probably want to add a little more salt, lime juice, or olive oil when you pull it out as the grain will soak up everything up as it sits. If you want to add cheese to this, feta or queso fresco would be my choice. You could also serve it with diced avocado on top.

For dressing

Juice of two limes
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Lots of salt and pepper
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

For salad

 8 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (1 lb. uncooked). I cook mine in the rice cooker.
2-3 large bunches black kale, washed and coarsely chopped
2 cups frozen or fresh corn kernels, briefly sauteed in olive oil (I use the frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe's)
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow bell pepper, diced
1 bunch cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped
Pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Handful of fresh herbs (oregano, mint, basil, or more cilantro)

1. For dressing, combine everything but onions in a large measuring cup or bowl. Whisk to combine, adding more of anything to taste. Add onions and let marinate while you make the rest of the salad.

2. With your hands, gently combine all salad ingredients (except for sunflower seeds and herbs) in your biggest bowl. Pour dressing over, reserving a few of the marinated onions for the top. Scatter sunflower seeds and chopped fresh herbs over the top with onions. Taste again for salt.

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