Vegan Dinner Party: Mango, Avocado, and Black Bean Quinoa Salad

We all know by now how much I love mango, so I will refrain from going on about it yet again. But needless to say, when I saw Kathy Patalsky's recipe for mango quinoa salad, it was pinned in seconds. We recently had a bunch of friends over for dinner, and since I didn't have much time, I whipped up this yummy dish (along with some new cookies) in no time. Uncomplicated, delicious dinner parties can be done! And yes, carnivores, vegans, and vegetarians alike were satistified (and went back for seconds).

Kathy's recipe for "Superfood Quinoa" can be found here. My alterations as follows:

• I omitted the goji berries (my husband doesn't like nuts & seeds in his salads, and I was doing a quick shopping trip so it was easier not to track them down), as well as the hemp seeds (didn't have 'em).
• I also omitted the parsley (again, simplifying- and I thought the cilantro alone would work well). 
• Finally, I cut the nutritional yeast and ground flax seeds to only about a Tbsp each (since there were carnivores in the room and I didn't want to scare people off with new flavors.... the result still had great flavor, but was not overwhelmingly nutty or "nutritional yeasty" as sometimes can happen if too much of these are added- especially if you aren't used to them).
• I added asparagus (I seem to always do that to my grain salads! But it's an easy way to get in more veggies and have a "side" mixed into your "main.") 
• I added a can of black beans (for more protein, as I wasn't serving this with other dishes and wanted it to be really filling). 
• I added a little more mango..... because.... well, you know why. 

This dish is a keeper. I loved it, and I love that it's packed with healthy ingredients like kale, quinoa, flax, nutritional yeast, and more. Delicious and easy!

As for dessert, I whipped up these vegan chewy almond cookies. My alterations:

• Instead of a 1/2 cup almond butter, I used 1/4 cup of T.Joe's Better'N Butter plus 1 small mashed banana.

They were ok, but I didn't love 'em. The flax seed taste really came through, which usually I like, but the consistency of the cookie wasn't just right. I think I didn't grind the flax seeds enough- something to watch out for when you're using ground flax seeds as an egg replacer in vegan baking. Luckily, the hungry guys scarfing down the cookies didn't seem to care ;-)

In any case, another great vegan meal overall. I definitely recommend Kathy's quinoa dish, with or without my variations!