Quinoa questions..

[crazycanuck]

Just wondering if you have a favourite & healthy Quinoa recipe? Is it something you can eat at each meal or is it mainly a breakfast thing? Should it replace rice? Does it go ok with meat/chicken?

I think it was Oakleaf that posted a link to the LA times Quinoa salad recipe & am now drooling for more.

Any info is lovely :) Healthy cooking is so much fun!

[Eden]

I've never eaten it for breakfast, though I suppose it could sub in for cream of wheat.....

I like to treat it mostly like pasta or couscous. It's got a slightly different texture and a bit of a nutty flavor. It makes great salads and is nice in soups. Quinoa tabouleh is very good. Yeah - it goes fine with meat as a side dish.

[papaver]

http://culinography.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/quinoa-the-mother-of-all-grains/

here you go. It's great for breakfast!

[crazycanuck]

Thanks!

I didn't know if it was an every meal type thing or not & had to ask. I have seen a few posts here about it for breakfast with cut oats?? (what exactly are those anyways..not that i am an oats fan..)

Papaver-that site looks cool!

[hipmama]

I vote every meal. Best way is to make a big pot of it early in the week and dip into it for meals throughout the week.
It can make a nice hot cereal- Warm the cooked quinoa in a pot with your choice of what type of milk you like, and stir in some dried or fresh fruit, a little maple syrup or agave nectar, some cinnamon, vanilla, and you've got a nice hot healthy breakfast! Oh, nuts on top of that rule too.
Later for lunch, throw some steamed veggies and dressing over it, later for dinner put it in a soup or wrap!

My favorite quinoa recipe- and I won a healthy iron chef competition with this one ;)

• 3c cooked quinoa or brown rice
• 2c Tahini dressing (p 29)
• 1 head kale, ripped in small pieces and steamed
• 2 beets, raw, peeled and grated
• 3 carrots, grated
• 1 butternut squash, sliced and steamed
And any other veggies that you or your family enjoy.
Set it out so that you go down an assembly line to make up
your plate. Start with the quinoa, make your way through the
veggies, and top with Tahini dressing.
Serve hot
Dressing
• 3tbsp Tahini (sesame paste)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 handful fresh Cilantro
• 1tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp tamari, or soy sauce
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1/3-1/2 c water
Put all ingredients, (just put ½ of the water) into food processor or blender for now. Puree until creamy. Add more water slowly to obtain desired
consistency. (Thickens in the fridge)

[Trek420]

KG posts a good recipe here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=24665

Knott's salad here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=21024

Tabouli with Quinoa

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=14611

[endurancerider]

Just wondering if you have a favourite & healthy Quinoa recipe? Is it something you can eat at each meal or is it mainly a breakfast thing? Should it replace rice? Does it go ok with meat/chicken?



I'm vegetarian, so can't answer the meat/chicken question, but I have never eaten quinoa for breakfast--I cook it with garlic (or not if I don't feel like it) and eat it as if it were rice or whatever my starch for my meal would be. Often I eat it as an accompaniment to an omelet...

[Over50Newbie]

I love quinoa!

Here is my favorite recipe -

Lynette

Quinoa with Chick Peas

2 cups of quinoa
2 cans of chick peas (also called garbanzo beans)
olive oil
2 big cloves of garlic - chopped
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 small bag of slivered almonds
hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh rosemary to taste
juice of a lime or lemon (optional)

Cook quinoa according to directions on the box. Put into a casserole dish.

Preheat Oven to 450°
Rinse chick peas and spread them out onto a baking sheet. Don’t pile them onto each other; make sure that your pan is big enough so that they are in one layer on the pan. Drizzle them with olive oil. Roast them until light brown and starting to crack. Add them to the quinoa.

In a frying pan, drizzle some olive oil and add onions. Cook on medium-high heat until caramelized. Add garlic and cook until tender. If the mixture becomes too dry, add a little more olive oil. Add almonds and cook until toasted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add stewed tomatoes. Lower heat and cook for 5 minutes until the stewed tomatoes are incorporated into the rest of the ingredients. Add hot sauce (either Tabasco or a Louisiana Hot Sauce) to your liking. My family likes it spicy.

Add the onion mixture to the casserole.

Add fresh rosemary to taste.

Add the juice of a lime or lemon (optional)

Mix well.

Serve immediately or you can refrigerate it and heat it back up the next day.

We like it better the next day!

[channlluv]

Here's my favorite quinoa recipe:

1 package quinoa, cooked according to directions on the box
1 large can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 head kale, chopped
1 medium sweet Vidalia onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
olive oil
1 can of black beans (not refried)
a little salt and pepper, to taste
Shrimp, chicken, or turkey, if you need meat; ground beef works well, too.

In a large pot, sautée the kale, onion, and garlic in the olive oil, then mix in the tomatoes, black beans, and quinoa.

This makes a really good burrito filling, too. Also, I use as many organic and locally grown things as I can get.

Roxy

[msincredible]

I'll eat quinoa in place of any other whole grain; I've also been known to eat random types of grain for breakfast (oatmeal is still my favorite though).

Just make sure you thoroughly rinse the quinoa before cooking it to prevent a bitter flavor. :)

[limewave]

I like to make a veggie-quinoa pilaf as a side-dish. Toss some veggies in the food processor to get them finely chopped--like carrots, celery, zucchini, or whatever you want. Then cook the quinoa in vegetable broth, toss in chopped veggies and a dash of sea salt. Sometimes I add fresh herbs like parsley. It's really good with chicken and cooked veggies. My 3-yo always eats several helpings of this, which is surprising because she won't touch rice.

I almost always use quinoa as a rice replacement. My husband even prefers the quinoa over basmati when I make Indian dishes.

I'll also throw some quinoa in the pot when I make vegetable soup.

[shootingstar]

Qunoa seems alot more expensive..maybe someone can explain why? What do you pay per lb./kg.?

[crazycanuck]

Ok, i tried quinoa & am unsure of how it's supposed to taste/look.

I think i just experienced my first cooking disaster...:(

[badger]

I used to make salad out of it - much like you would with macaroni. I basically threw everything into it, like celery, carrots, and a healthy dose of trail mix with raw cashews, almonds, sunflower/pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.

I'd make a dressing out of extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and some honey to sweeten and voila, healthy salad.

I haven't made it in a while as I got sick the last two times I ate it and am afraid of eating it again. I'm thinking the grains were probably contaminated with mold or something but am still hesitant in trying it again.

[malkin]

I saw it at the store for $10 a pound.

For that price it better be really tasty!

[hipmama]

$10 a pound?! That's crazy! It's usually about $3 a pound for me. I think the price is that it's not an easily local grown grain, and it's not a super common grain, and as with many things- once people discover that it's really good for you they jack up the price. I think the price has gone up at least a dollar a pound in the 2 years.

[OakLeaf]

I get it pre-packaged for $5 a pound, and cheaper in bulk. That's not pre-washed though - pre-washed probably jacks up the price.

It's a small seed and not commonly grown, so the harvesting machines probably cost way more than grain or soybean combines. I don't actually know, but I'm going to guess that with such small seeds and a broadleaf plant, you might not be able to combine it at all, but you might have to harvest and thresh separately.

Then there's the whole economies of scale thing. AFAIK it's not used as a livestock feed at all, so the quantities are very, very small in comparison to things like grains and beans.

A fairer comparison might be with wild rice or amaranth.

[msincredible]

Ok, i tried quinoa & am unsure of how it's supposed to taste/look.

I think i just experienced my first cooking disaster...:(

The key is thoroughly rinsing the quinoa with water before cooking. Find a fine-mesh strainer, and wash it until you don't see any foam coming off the grains.

If it is not rinsed thoroughly, the naturally-occurring saponins on the quinoa will make it taste bitter and also may upset your stomach.

Once you have rinsed it, then just cook it like you would white rice (add twice the volume of water, bring to a boil uncovered, then cover and simmer until the water is all absorbed). It's actually very easy to make.

[alacarte]

Last summer I found "quinoa flakes" at a health food store. When cooked it was the consistency of grits and very tasty. I need to find some more of that.

[cylegoddess]

I made scones with quinoa flour mixed with potato flour ( more quinoa than potato, which is starchy).Also cookies, using honey.
I cant eat grain, at all or rice or corn, so its a nice flour to bake with.