Quinoa Quick Tips

Our ingredients of the week is Quinoa (keen-wah)

Photo courtesy of 123rf.com

quinoa makes the list of amazing super foods. In fact, it's almost at the very tippy top of the scale in goodness. Quinoa is a seed not a grain. For a little while it was also confused with being in the grass family. Quinoa is grown high in the Andes Mountains and has been cultivated at altitudes over 10,000 ft. The Incas used this super food in their every day cooking. Native Americans have also planted it and used it to help gain lean muscle and lower fat intake. This seed packs a highly nutritious punch and contains enormous amounts of essential amino acids, beneficial vitamins and minerals along with fiber, folate, iron and calcium. Consuming quinoa base foods regularly adds the extra benefit of strong bones and teeth. Vegetarians know this food very well and it's used often to help their own diets that are often low in all eight essential amino acids and their ability to maintain an adequate daily source of protein. Those suffering from Celiac disease should also take note. There is no gluten or wheat in quinoa. Quinoa also rates low on the glycemic index, rating in at 18 of 250 which helps to control blood sugar spikes in Diabetics. I recently was reading a magazine while in the pediatricians office about holistic dermatology. My son has severe dry skin in the winter and I was looking for a helpful solution. I read that quinoa reduces skin redness as well as skin allergies, just as oatmeal calms the skin, quinoa has the same benefit, both by ingesting it and using it directly on your skin.


Quinoa cooks very easily, in just about 15 minutes. It will cook up like a charm in your rice cooker. It's nutty and when it's balanced correctly with spices and healthy fats, you'll want to eat it all the time. You'll need 2 cups of liquid to one part quinoa. The key to quinoa is spicing it up to make it flavorful. By itself, it's pretty bland. I've used everything from coconut oil, grape seed, butter and olive oil to give it consistency along with a variety of vegetables, nuts, cheese and spices. If you purchase the puffed variety of quinoa, you can add marshmallow, peanut butter, chocolate and pair it with berries and yogurt and you have an amazing breakfast or treat to munch on. It's so versatile. Please take the time to discover how wonderful this super food is. Search the Internet and books for recipes and experiment with Quinoa!
Curried Quinoa 
2 T. olive oil + 1 small onion diced + 2 cloves garlic minced + 1 c. quinoa + 2 c. chicken stock (sub veggie stock) + 1 T. curry powder + 1 T. ancho chile powder + salt and pepper to taste
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add quinoa and cook until it's slightly toasted. Pour stock over top and bring to a boil. Add curry and ancho chile, cover and simmer until tender. 15-20 minutes. Salt and pepper after you flush with a fork. 
you can substitute ancho chile powder for regular Mexico red chili or Red chili powder. 

Early on when I started using quinoa, I found this recipe on the Food network website. It's been a big hit at big gatherings. It is quick and easy and tastes as good as it looks. 


Quinoa Cowboy Caviar 
1 c. cooked quinoa
1/4 c. fresh corn, cut off the cob (canned and thawed frozen corn will work great)
1/4 c. cooked black beans
1/4 c. red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. minced red onion
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 avocado, cut in to small cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste
        note: the recipe on the website says you can use guacamole...uh it doesn't work at all.
Cook quinoa according to packaged directions. I used veggie broth to cook mine with a pinch of salt and I added a splash of hot sauce like sriracha (that's the big red bottle at asian restaurants). 
In a medium sized bowl, combine corn, black beans, red pepper, and onion and combine. Add your lime juice, quinoa and mix well. Add avocado cubes and season with salt and pepper. Make sure you fold it gently so you don't mush up the avocado. 

Coconut Quinoa Carrot Muffins 

Recipe and Photo courtesy of my fellow blogger Allie 

We made these for breakfast this morning while I was testing quinoa recipes. They are some of the best muffins I have ever had. Super moist...Enjoy!

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup oat flour (ground oats)
• 1/2 cup spelt flour (you can use all purpose if you need to)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in water with a 1/2tsp. of agave nectar)
• Wet Ingredients:
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup whole milk vanilla yogurt (or any other yogurt)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4-1/2 cup agave nectar 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 T coconut oil (sub canola if you need to)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350* Cook quinoa (about 12 min.) Combine dry ingredients, excluding quinoa. Whisk together wet ingredients. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until evenly mixed. Fold in cooked quinoa

Quinoa "meat" Balls

1 cup cooked quinoa (cook in chicken stock if you don't plan on doing the veggie version)

6 dried mushrooms, diced

1/2 bag fresh spinach

1/2 onion, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

1 egg

8-10 macadamia nuts, roughly chopped (sub with walnuts or pine nuts)

1 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. rosemary

salt and pepper (it's good to make a little ball, fry it and see if it's seasoned correctly first, before making up all the balls) 

                           

In a saute pan, coat with olive oil and cook mushrooms, onion and peppers until softened. Set aside and in the same pan cook spinach until slightly wilted. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients until they come together. Form quinoa balls and then fry in 2 tbsp. lite olive oil or canola oil until they are golden. If you have a really great non stick skillet, use that with or without oil, but make sure the balls don't burn. You can also bake them in a 400* oven for 30 minutes. 

here are two sauces that are delicious with these quinoa balls. 

In a small sauce pan add

Simmer  these ingredients until they are syrupy and then pour over your meat balls and garnish with scallion

Marinara sauce out of a jar is really great on these quinoa balls. My little boy uses a toothpick to eat these yummy faux meat balls. We often serve them over top linguine with butter sauce and feta cheese.