Thursday, January 19, 2012

Recipe of the Week: Quinoa and Veggies

{I want to welcome all the new awesome people The Five of Mine Pus Two! I am glad I was able to contribute to her blog, today}

This could possibly be the easiest recipe you have ever seen for a food in which you may never have heard. I’m excited to share a little bit of the history, a few pictures and the recipe.

Quinoa is pronounced keen-wah. I point this out as I pronounced it wrong for quite sometime, and I looked a little stupid for saying it wrong once.

Quinoa is a little, round, grain-like crop with edible seeds. It is actually the seed you are eating when you eat quinoa. In size, quinoa is smaller than a sesame seed. It is native to South America, primarily Ecuador and Peru. It was second only to the potato, in nutritional importance, to such peoples as the Inca. In the past year or so, it has become better known as gluten and wheat sensitivities have increased. Quinoa is considered an ancient grain (with many other grains such as spelt, amaranth, millet, etc.) as they have not been bred to the point that they are unlike their ancient counterparts, such as corn and wheat. Quinoa is gluten free, is high in protein content, and is considered to be a complete protein. It is also high in fiber, magnesium, iron, and easy to digest.

I get quinoa in the organic bulk section of my local grocery store, and it was $3.99 per lb. when I bought it on Monday. There are also prepackaged containers of quinoa, but I think you are paying for the packaging as you get less and pay more for the ones I saw.

In the last 2 months, I have learned how to bake cookies chocolate chip cookies with Quinoa and learned how to make one side dish with Quinoa. I’m pretty excited about it and plan to do more with it in the future.

Quinoa with Veggies

1 ½ cup whole grain quinoa

3 cups water

(same ratio as water 2:1)

10 oz pkg frozen all natural veggies

Wildtree Garlic Grapeseed Oil to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa (which takes about 45 minutes in my rice cooker). Cook the veggies for about 15 minutes in water and put them together. From there, add Wildtree Garlic Grapeseed Oil and salt and pepper to taste.

On the other hand, if you do not have frozen veggies or garlic grapeseed oil, here is what I would suggest. Heat a skillet with some olive oil (or oil of choice), add minced garlic and chopped onion and cook until onions are translucent. Add veggies of choice such as chopped carrots and celery and cook until carrots are cooked through. From there add any canned veggies such as peas, green beans, corn, etc. You can have a few different varieties of veggies. Add in the quinoa after it’s cooked and you have a delish side dish for any meal!

Enjoy!

1 comment:

Kasey @ Walking Redeemed said...

We're going to try this over the weekend! Thank you!

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