First of all, congratulations to Carrie @ Moves n Munchies!

She is the winner of My PB2 Giveaway! I fought with the random number generator to try to get the results embedded in here… but I’m apparently inept, so I apologize, and you’ll just have to trust me on this. Carrie, e-mail me your address, and I shall ship your PB2 as soon as possible! Thank you for all your comments/entries. I’m glad I can share the magic of PB2 with at least one of you ๐Ÿ˜‰

The weather here yesterday was unbelievable! It was 69 degrees and sunny! I was able to squeeze in a quick run at work yesterday. Although everything is still brown, it was nice to get some fresh air and sunshine.

While I ran, I let my mind drift into recipe mode. I was in a cooking mood, but I didn’t have anything specific in mind. I had some zucchini in the fridge that needed to be used up, and I was craving quinoa. So that’s where I began… I also wanted to use up the last apple and the few carrots I had left. (This was totally a “I need to use up what’s in the fridge before I go out of town” creation.) In the end, here’s what I used:

Quinoa- The Remix

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 small zucchini chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped carrots (I used like 8 baby carrots)
  • 1/4 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • 2 cups not-chicken broth (I use the veg-friendly chicken flavor, but I’m pretty sure any flavor would work)
  • splash of vanilla
  • 1 apple, chopped
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries

I started by cooking my zucchini, onion and garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil until the onion was translucent. Note, if you’re using carrots, add these in. I forgot them at first, and had to cook them in later, oops ๐Ÿ˜‰ Once that’s nice and cooked, throw it into a pot, add the 2 cups of broth, and 1 cup of dry, rinsed quinoa. Make sure you rinse it, or it can have kind of a bitter taste. Add the salt + cinnamon. Bring it to a boil, then let simmer for ~20min. While that’s cooking, I toasted my walnuts in the oven, but they’re probably fine just thrown in as is. It’s up to you. Next, I cooked the chopped apple in a tiny bit of olive oil, and added a splash of vanilla. I cooked it until it was soft, but not mushy. Then I just let it hang out until the quinoa was cooked. Once the quinoa had absorbed most of the broth, I stirred in the apple, walnuts and cranberries.

Viola!

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I think what I like best about this recipe, is I’m pretty sure you could substitute a TON of different veggies, making it a great recipe to get rid of near-expiring ingredients. You can also eat it hot or cold. (We ate it hot.)

I LOVE quinoa, but for some reason, it’s not my go-to grain. I usually go for rice or couscous first. (Actually, I really don’t eat that many grains in general. I usually just pile up veggies & beans.) I think I’m going to try to eat more of it because it was delicious AND it’s a nutritional powerhouse. I’m thinking next time I’ll try some sort of quinoa + nooch combo.

 

What is your favorite grain? Quinoa? Couscous? Bulgar? Pasta? Rice?

Anyone have a quinoa recipe out there that you want to share?

<3 Liz

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