Balsamic Quinoa Salad

I have been looking and looking for a good quinoa salad recipe-there are tons out there, but I never quite like the looks of any of the recipes I find.  This weekend, I experimented and came up with this for a family bbq.  It is vegetarian and gluten free!  If feta is omitted, the salad is vegan and dairy free as well. 
People ate it on tortilla chips as a dip, (which I did not intend, but it worked!) with crackers, or as a side salad.  If anyone has any good quinoa salad recipes, I'd love to hear from you!

Balsamic Quinoa Salad

(Excuse the lovely droid photography-not a photographer, but you get the picture;-)

Ingredients:

1 Red Onion, chopped into thin slices

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

½ c. toasted slivered almonds

½ c craisins

1 apple, diced into small pieces

½ c carrots, chopped

2 bunches green scallions, chopped into small rounds

4 cups veggie stock

1.5 cups quinoa

½ c black rice

½ cup reduced fat feta cheese (optional)

¾-1cup balsamic vinegar

½ cup olive oil

1 tsp parsley

Garlic Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions: 

In a large saucepan, sauté onion and garlic in the 2 tsp oil and vinegar.  Remove and set aside.  Next, toast almonds in pan until just browned.  Remove and set aside. 

Bring Veggie stock to a boil and then add quinoa and rice.  Simmer on med-low heat, covered, for ~20 minutes or until all water is soaked up. (Do not stir while cooking-cook like rice)

Next, add craisins, apple, carrots,  and scallions.  Stir well and add onion/garlic mixture. 

Lastly, add balsamic, olive oil, parsley, garlic salt and pepper.  Gently stir.  Can add more balsamic for a richer flavor as needed.

Gently stir in feta and almonds immediately before serving.  Enjoy!