How to Cook Quinoa

fool proof method for perfect, fluffy quinoa! When using quinoa, rinse it before cooking.

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water

- Add water and quinoa to a pot that has a tight fitting lid and bring to a boil.

- Lower to a simmer, cover pot and let cook for 25 minutes.

- Turn off the heat and let the quinoa sit covered for another 5-10 minutes.

- Fluff with a fork and serve!

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

A new favorite recipe. I've been trying for a great veggie burger recipe and it finally worked. The burgers held together perfectly and the spice mix is wonderful. I ate mine plain with a dollop of avocado-yogurt on top and a side of shaved zucchini salad.

BLACK BEAN & QUINOA BURGERS

1 can black beans, drained
3/4 cup of cooked quinoa
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
Olive oil
1/3 cup parsley
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp sambal
1 egg
1/2 - 1 cup bread crumbs

- Saute the red onion in a pan until softened. In a separate pan saute the shiitake mushrooms until they have released their liquid

- In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients except the egg and bread crumbs and pulse until combined

- Stir in the egg and the bread crumbs a little at a time until the mixture can loosely hold together when formed into patties

- Heat  oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Form the patties and  place in the hot pan 2 at a time. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Add more oil as necessary, form the remaining mixture into patties and cook.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Quinoa, Dates and Sage

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH QUINOA, DATES AND SAGE
adapted from Tyler Florence

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 1/2 cups water
8 sage leaves, torn
10 dates sliced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

- Preheat oven to 350

- Toss squash with oil, salt and pepper on baking sheet and roast in oven until fork tender

- Meanwhile, toast quinoa in a dry pan, until you just start to smell a toasted scent

- Add water to quinoa, bring to a boil and simmer covered until water is absorbed

- In a small skillet, saute dates and sage in a little oil for 1 - 2 minutes

- Mix all ingredients in a large boil and add just enough olive oil for the ingredients to stick together

How Much Ham Can One Woman Take?

Through a strange (and perhaps cruel) twist of fate, I found myself this week in possession of an 8 lb ham.  This, after eating ham on Easter and bringing home leftovers that we just finished.

However, I cannot bear to waste food and so last night I baked the ham, maple glaze and all.  I have a wedding to attend this weekend and am concerned about how bloated I will be after the consumption of this much pork and sodium.  I plan to bring a good portion of the ham to work to share!

Earlier in the day I had come across a recipe for Tabasco Quinoa on 101 cookbooks.  I figured a healthy dose of quinoa and veggies might help counteract the pork overdose.  The idea of adding butter to my nice healthy dish turned me off, so I adjusted the recipe a bit, using very little tabasco butter but ramping up the straight tabasco and adding roasted red peppers in with the asparagus.  The smokey flavor of the roasted peppers is a really nice compliment to the pork and helps add a new dimension to the quinoa itself!

TABASCO, ASPARAGUS AND ROASTED RED PEPPER QUINOA

4 Tbsp butter room temperature
Tabasco (start with 15 drops and move up from there)
1 tsp lemon juice
2-3 tsp dijon mustard
1 cup quinoa
1/2 lb asparagus cut into 1-2 in slices
2 red peppers
salt and pepper

For the Tabasco Butter:

Cut the butter into slices and blend in a food processor.  Add tabasco, the lemon juice and mustard and continue to blend.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Set aside.

Rinse the quinoa.  Combine the cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook until all the water has been absorbed, 15-20 minutes.

Set up a bowl with water and ice.  Steam the asparagus for just a minute or two, until the asparagus turns a beautiful, bright green.  Shock in the cold water bath to stop it from cooking.  Drain.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Turn the broiler on High and roast the two bell peppers, turning until the peppers are charred on every side.  Put the peppers into a covered bowl to steam which helps loosen the skin from the peppers.  Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and remove the seeds.  Chop the peppers into thin slices approximately the same length as the asparagus.

Add a tablespoon of the tabasco butter, the asparagus, red peppers, salt and pepper to the quinoa and mix well.

Quinoa Turkey Muffins with Wild Rice Pilaf

I had seen a recipe for quinoa turkey burgers that I've been wanting to try, especially since the success of my last turkey burgers.  We decided to try making little quinoa turkey muffins to have for the week.  I had a bag of wild rice that I've been waiting to do something with, and along with some carrots, mushroom, onions and celery it made a delicious pilaf!

QUINOA TURKEY MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1 packet dried onion soup mix
worcesteshire sauce
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

For the quinoa:
Rinse the quinoa.

Put the quinoa and water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes

For the muffins:
In a large bowl mix the turkey with about 2/3 of the quinoa (I felt like cooked, all of the quinoa was going to be too much)

Whisk an egg and add it to the bowl with the turkey along with the packet of soup mix, a few shakes of worcestershire and some black pepper.

Scoop the mixture into the 12 muffin tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Quinoa Bake

I love quinoa and have been cooking more and more with it over the last year or so.  It's gluten free so it's a great alternative to barley or farro (both of which I also love).

This quinoa bake is delicious and feels like comfort food even though it is really healthy and very few calories.  I use the website Spark People to log calories and they have a function where you can add up all of the elements of a recipe and get the overall calorie content (along with protein, carbs etc.)  This recipe makes about 8 servings, each of which is only about 270 calories.  The recipe is gluten free but not vegan.

1 medium onion diced or 2 leeks
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
5 shiitake mushrooms diced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups spinach
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups quinoa rinsed
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 eggs
3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese
salt and pepper
parmesan for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9x13 baking dish.

Rinse the spinach and sautee in a pan with just the rinsing liquid until spinach is wilted.  Chop and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and add the onion, bell peppers and mushrooms over med/med-high heat.  Cook until softened.  Season as you go with salt and pepper.  How much may depend on what type of stock you're using.  I used my homemade stock which I don't add too much sodium to, so I definitely added salt.  If you're using a packaged stock check the label. 

Add the quinoa and garlic and cook until quinoa starts to become opaque (about 4 minutes).

Add the stock (you can also use water) and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, whisk 2 eggs together in a large bowl and add the cheese and spinach.

Once the liquid is absorbed from the quinoa and vegetable mixture remove it from the heat and continue to stir it to let it cool.  I also let it sit for awhile.  It needs to cool before adding it to the eggs or your eggs will scramble!

Once the quinoa seems pretty cool (definitely not steaming anymore) add a small bit to the egg, cheese and spinach mixture and mix well.  Continue folding in all of the quinoa mixture.

Pour the mixture into your greased baking dish, sprinkle with cheese if desired and bake for 35 minutes.

Most versions of this recipe I saw call for adding a cup of milk to the eggs.  We don't drink milk in my household so I just omitted it.  Adding milk will definitely make it a little creamier if you have it.  Even without the milk it was a perfect Saturday lunch.  I often eat it as a main course but it is a great side dish as well.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

I hadn't cooked quinoa in awhile and, as you know, love pomegranates.  I used a few recipes from the blog Closet Cooking as inspiration.  I made a big batch of this on Monday night which we ate as a side all week!

I also made my lentil and sausage soup which was even better than I had remembered.  I was intent on having food prepared for the whole week and we didn't have to eat out once (except for the sushi dinner we chose to have on Wednesday!)

QUINOA SALAD WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND POMEGRANATE VINAIGRETTE

1 eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 bulb fennel
2 red peppers
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup walnuts
3 oz (or so) feta
1 cup quinoa
1/4 cup pomegranate vinaigrette

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut up the eggplant into cubes, salt generously and set aside in a colander to drain or about 20 minutes (by salting and draining the eggplant, you remove some of the bitter taste eggplant can have)

Stick the red peppers on a baking sheet lined with tin foil.  But in the oven under the broiler and turn every few minutes until all sides are blackened.  Take our, put in a covered bowl and let sit until the peppers have cooled enough to handle and the skins peel off easily.  Chop the peppers into 1 inch pieces.

Rinse and pat dry the eggplant.  Put in a baking dish and toss with some olive oil and the cumin, paprika and cinnamon.

Cut the fennel into slices, put the slices in another baking dish and toss with a little olive oil.

Roast the vegetables in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package.

But the quinoa in a bowl.  Add the roasted eggplant, fennel, red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and feta and drizzle with the pomegranate vinaigrette.

I found that this salad was fine the night I made it but incredible the several days following!  J ate his room temperature, I heated mine up in the microwave before eating.  Delicious!