Quinoa: My New Favorite Food

Quinoa: (keen-wah)is a tall crop plant, cultivated mainly in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile for its small, ivory-colored seed...


Who knew? I didn't. Over Easter I tried a bread recipe with Quinoa and I wasn't crazy about it, so that spoiled my view of Quinoa for the time.

Then, I was brave enough to try a Quinoa and Arugula Salad at California Pizza Kitchen.

Yum! I was sold and couldn't wait to try to recreate it at home.

I found the recipe online at ksdk.com.

Quinoa and Arugula Salad

1 c pre-cooked quinoa

2 portions arugula

1/2 oz red onions, sliced

1 Tbl sun-dried tomatoes

1/3 c blanched asparagus

1 1/2 fl. oz champagne vinaigrette

2 tsp toasted pine nuts

2 Tbl feta cheese crumbles

1. Toss all ingredients together, except the garnish

2. Evenly distribute feta cheese crumbles over the salad

So I went to Publix and bought Quinoa and Quinoa Flakes. Tyler tried eating gluten-free a few months back and felt great for the week that he did it and so I was excited to find gluten-free recipes. I stumbled on the blog glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com and this delicious recipe, Quinoa with Stir-Fry Vegetables!

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/06/quinoa-with-summer-vegetables.html

I made it tonight for dinner and we all loved it! It's so healthy. You can put whatever vegetables you want and I made the Quinoa with chicken stock to give it more flavor.

I was feeling adventurous in the kitchen (maybe it's because I've watched one too many Chopped episodes on the Food Network) and wanted to bake, so I got out the Quinoa Flakes. Never seen them before, but on the back of the box there was a recipe for Crispy Quinoa Cookies. Well, I didn't want crispy, I wanted soft and goo-ey; and I didn't want cookies, I wanted muffins. So I added a few things, left out a few things, and came up with my own recipe! How fun!

It's definitely not perfected but I wanted to share what I created so you can be adventurous as well and give it a try.

Gluten-Free Banana Cran-raisin Chocolate Quinoa Muffins

Mix:

2 T honey

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 c melted butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 mashed banana

Mix in separate bowl:

3/4 c rice flour (I used brown rice flour; if don't care if it's gluten-free just use regular)

3/4 c quinoa flakes

1 tsp baking powder

handful crasins

handful dark chocolate chips

(nuts would be delicious as well)

1. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix

2. Spray muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray

3. Put spoonfuls of mix into muffin pan

4. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

(makes 12 muffins)

So I encourage you...be brave! Try new things! Enjoy Quinoa!