Quinoa Experiment!
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 😉
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 😉 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!
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
Awesome recipe! I love quinoa, but rice is my go-to grain. Usually I just cook up quinoa and mix in vegetables. 🙂
quinoa is still too intimidating for me 🙁
haha awww it’s not too scary!! I honestly think it’s easier to cook than rice!
I love that this quinoa recipe mixes savory with sweet–I never would have thought to add vanilla to a quinoa n’ veggie recipe! My favorite grain is definitely a toss up between quinoa and bulgur. Here’s a link to one of my favorite quinoa salads (curry + mango makes for a tasty combo!):http://ahungryspoon.blogspot.com/2010/08/curried-quinoaand-running-feet.html
I am a quinoa-holic! I recently overhauled my food staples and quinoa took the front row seat; replacing anything with gluten. I love it. I just had a quinoa porridge for breaky; quinoa, hemp-pro70, flax, chia, gojis, almond butter, maple syrup, topped with almond milk. Delicious! Your recipe sounds really yummy! I will try it. Thanks!
Wow that looks great! I’ve always loved oatmeal and brown rice but recently I am very into barley!
My favorite grain is definitely quinoa! I’m not a fan of rice or pasta that much. I like them, but I never make them at home.
Wow, this looks great girl! I like the combo of sweet and savory! I love quinoa since it cooks so quickly. I rarely if ever do any meal planning so it comes in handy when you are so hungry you could gnaw your own arm off! Favorite grain would still have to be my lovely oats though! I couldn’t live without them!
I always think of recipes when I am running. It clears my head and allows me to get creative! Like you did with the quinoa. Beauty!
I almost never eat grains! It’s not that I’m a carb-o-phobe, but I know that carbs are naturally in a lot of the things I eat so I don’t want to over do it on one group. Also, it’s another thing to cook and half the time I’m too lazy to set up my rice cooker (which means I’m really really lazy). But I should eat more grains.
So quinoa will happen soon!
Brown rice is my favorite, but I love substituting quinoa, especially cheezy quinoa with nooch, veggie broth, and coconut milk, so good! I made a mushroom and walnut quinoa risotto a while back that was fannnnnntastic! 🙂