Experimenting with Quinoa

For several months I have been pinning quinoa recipes on Pinterest. I was intrigued after reading about its super-protein status–sounded like a grain (technically a seed) worth checking out. If you’re a food nerd like me, you’ll enjoy knowing that quinoa is a perfect protein, inhabiting all 9 essential amino acids in it’s small, round body–capable of supplying what little else is: that unique trifecta of protein, healthy fat & fiber . Your body will love you for eating this stuff.

In early June we had a Cupcakes’ meeting at mom Tiffany’s house. Tiffany always puts out a lovely spread and the centerpiece this time was a fresh quinoa salad, reinforcing my desire to cook up quinoa at home. So last Saturday–in the middle of my day of doing nothing–I remembered about my quinoa interest and decided it was time to experiment. Tiffany’s salad inspired many of the ingredients I tossed into mine.

What I used:

2 cups of quinoa
1/2 container of grape tomatoes
1 English cucumber
Handful of chives
1 10 oz can of olives
1/2 a lemon
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic or garlic salt
Feta cheese

Because I’d never cooked quinoa before, I Googled “cooking quinoa” and came up with the savvy vegetarian site. I doubled their recipe and here are the basics:

Soak 2 cups of quinoa for 5 minutes in a 3 quart pot. Rinse & strain. Pour back into pot and add 3 cups of water. Cook over medium heat until mixture is boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Take off heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Here’s what I did next:

Chopped up all my fresh veggies and add a little garlic salt. (Even better, use a clove of freshly chopped garlic–I was out!).

Let the quinoa cool for a few minutes and added it to the veggies, stirring everything together.
Squeezed the lemon over the salad, added a tablespoon or so of Balsamic and the same of olive oil, mixed it all in and added a bit more to taste (If you’re out of lemon or Balsamic, try a good dressing like Newman’s Own Light Italian or Balsamic).
Sprinkled Feta on top and served up a big bowl for my lunch.

I think this is the trick with quinoa: let your muse have her way and dump in whatever good things you have around. This versatile seed can take it and you may just invent something new. If you do, pass it on back this way. I’ll need a new recipe soon.