Quinoa for beginners?

Quinoa, Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella Salad. Glory in the highest.

I use vegetable broth instead of water when cooking the quinoa, and I throw some chopped spinach in this as well to make it more salady and to stretch it. This is so so so so good!

Recipe

Greek Quinoa and Avocado Salad. Tastes even better when it sits for an hour (but don't put the avocado or Feta until you are ready to eat). recipe

This is my favorite quinoa recipe - quinoa casserole

Recently, my grocery store redid the grain aisle, and there are now some boxes of quinoa that are similar in style to the boxes of noodles or rice. I think there were 4-6 flavors. I didn't stop to check the nutritional info (so it is possible they are not as nutritious as whipping something up from scratch). I would guess there might also be recipes on the box.

But I mention it in case they would go for "OMG, just eat it, it came in a box just like the rice a roni."

 I made this a few weeks ago. It was delicious! 

Quinoa Chickpea and Avocado Salad

It's served both hot and cold at my school. I love it best hot, cooked in vegetable broth, with minced bits of vegetables.

Then again, it's also very good cold, with dried cranberries in it...

My mom puts in in yogurt, like some folks put yogurt in granola. It sounded gross, but it's actually tasty that way, too!

Don't rinse it. You wash the flavor away.


We like it with chimichurri sauce and tempura veggies.

I had a spinach and quinoa salad yesterday at California Pizza Kitchen that was delicious. They added cranberries and pecans and I added gorgonzola. It was my first time having quinoa cold and I really liked the texture it added to the salad. I'll be trying it at home.

I usually make an "instant" rice that has brown rice and red quinoa that's really yummy. It's made by Seeds of Change (they have a whole grain rice mix that's good too). I get it at Walmart and my local grocery store.

I've attempted quinoa at home a couple times with very little success but I'll jump in again and try a couple of these recipes.
I did ask a professional chef about it and his advice was to cook it in a broth (vegetable or chicken) to add flavor.

I used a boxed mix the other day. Chopped a bunch of veggies into it, added a tiny bit of fat free Italian dressing and it was delicious. 

I've made this MANY times! My DD (13), DH, & I enjoy it, DS (16) not so much. 

We enjoy this Herbed Quinoa from Giada but I like to use red quinoa. It adds so much pretty color to the table.

Here is what I do. I buy red quinoa that is already washed, so no worries about that step. I mix it half and half with bulgur, add a little salt, and cook it in my rice cooker. I serve this as the base for things usually served over white rice. It's delicious and the taste is not such a huge change from actual rice. Leftovers of the mixture are easily reheated, but they also make a great substitute for bread crumbs in salmon patties, black bean patties and the like.

Anything you would put in pasta salad / rice salad / couscous salad would be fine in a quinoa salad.

Make sure to rinse it even if it is pre-rinsed. DH ate it out once and it hasn't been rinsed and he had a violent reaction. He can no long we eat quinoa as the toxins always react for him now. The more I rinse the better he is but it isn't perfect. It's like he has developed an allergy (intolerance).

My favourite way to eat quinoa:

I open a tin of lentils - rinse and drain and heat in micro for 1 minute.

I season with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, curry powder, cayenne, and dried dill (fresh if I have).

I add chopped celery, green onion, and parsley.

I sometimes add diced tomatoe or halved grape tomatoes. I sometimes add crushed garlic.

I mix in the quinoa and it is delicious.

I also like quinoa in soup. And if you search on line there are many quinoa and Parmesan cake recipes that are tasty.