Iron rich vegetarian recipes?

[margo49]

Yeah, quinoa 's got everything.
Pity it looks, smells and tastes so awful

[SAMbike]

Thanks very much everyone! These links and suggestions are really helpful. Now I just have to continue to be conscious about this and work it into my food routine. Much appreciated!

[VeloVT]

Also, you probably do this already, but cook your tomato sauce/other tomato dishes in cast iron. The acidity of the tomatoes leeches iron out of the pots.

Oakleaf, those spinach tofu burgers sound really good!

[limewave]

Yeah, quinoa 's got everything.
Pity it looks, smells and tastes so awful

I LOVE Quinoa! I make it as a pilaf using veg. stock instead of water.

Also, a Quinoa Veg. Soup Recipe:

3/4 cup dry Quinoa
6 Cups veg stock or water
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup onion
1/2 cup carrot chopped
1/4 cup celery chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 tbs curry powder (optional)

Saute the quinoa, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and garlic in oil until golden brown. Add veg. broth, tomatoes, and cabbage and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste. You can add beans too.

[Andrea]

I LOVE Quinoa! I make it as a pilaf using veg. stock instead of water.

Also, a Quinoa Veg. Soup Recipe:

3/4 cup dry Quinoa
6 Cups veg stock or water
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup onion
1/2 cup carrot chopped
1/4 cup celery chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 tbs curry powder (optional)

Saute the quinoa, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and garlic in oil until golden brown. Add veg. broth, tomatoes, and cabbage and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste. You can add beans too.

I tried it, and it's great! As always, I modified/personalized the recipe to my own liking- I didn't use cabbage (just because I'm not too fond of it), put some bay leaves in while it simmered, used 4 cloves of garlic, and also threw in about 2 tbls of Worcestershire sauce (that technically makes it non-vegetarian, but adds a lot of flavor).

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, quinoa 's got everything.
Pity it looks, smells and tastes so awful

Are you rinsing it very, very thoroughly before cooking??? Probably not the grain to eat during a water shortage, because you really have to run a lot of water through it to get the saponins off, not like rinsing rice.

I agree it's too sweet for a lot of recipes, but it works really well in the bean salad, and also in lentil soup.

[margo49]

I knew that quinoa had saponins but I *thot* that by the time we buy it that it is already rinsed. I read about those two guys from Boulder that brought it first to the US and got the impression they had organised that exported quinoa was rinsed of the saponin layer coating or whatever it is.
Maybe that is part of my prob.

[OakLeaf]

If it has an acrid smell it definitely needs to be rinsed. Eden brand that we get in the US does. I can't speak to anything else.

[Jolt]

Are you rinsing it very, very thoroughly before cooking??? Probably not the grain to eat during a water shortage, because you really have to run a lot of water through it to get the saponins off, not like rinsing rice.

You can also soak it for a couple hours to get the saponins off, then change water and soak it a little more--that would use less water than just rinsing under running water (but takes more planning).