Post # 1
Member
1394 posts
Bumble bee
I am having a crazy day with the quinoa today!! Quinoa protein bars for the man at work, an experiment with overnight refridgerator quinoa, and a fresh quinoa salad in the fridge for dinner!
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of eating quinoa, it is a super food (seed to be exact) that is a complete protein, delicious and nutritious! We sub it almost anywhere you use rice (with different cooking instructions) plus we have a whole list of concoctions we’ve created! Quinoa spagheti, quinoa butter chickpea (a spin on the indian dish butter chicken, way healthier!) fried qinoa (like fried rice only with a whole nw dimension!)
Who else loves this stuff like crazy? Want to maybe swap some recipes? I’d love some new ideas and would be happy to share mine 😀
Post # 3
Member
730 posts
Busy bee
@lalalyanne: I love it! I used to eat it all the time and then it started making me sick. 🙁 The same thing has happened to me with some other foods too, so I figured I would give it another shot aaaaand… no.
I used to eat it for breakfast, mixed with mashed banana and cinnamon. And for dinner I’d make this bag of “ancient grains” mix that has quinoa + different kinds of rice, amaranth, etc. I’d cook that with some veggie bouillon and woodear mushrooms… so good!
PS I’m not trying to scare anyone off quinoa. I seem to have developed a bunch of weird food allergies/sensitivities in my mid-20s and that just happens to be one of them. It’s not usually a problem for people.
Post # 4
Member
4478 posts
Honey bee
I like it quite a bit, although it depends a lot on how you cook it. If it’s not prepared and seasoned well, it can taste a little too healthy to be enjoyable.
Post # 5
Member
10453 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
I have never actually cooked anything with quinoa, but I have a bag of it waiting in my pantry… I found a recipe for chicken and quinoa in a slow cooker that looks pretty good.
Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 3 large carrots, sliced (2 cups)
- 2 medium stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
- 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb), skin removed
- 5 cups water
- 3/4 cup uncooked medium pearl barley
- 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
In 4- to 5-quart slow cooker, place carrots, celery and onion. Place chicken breasts on vegetables. Add remaining ingredients except parsley and thyme.
Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 9 hours.
Remove chicken from cooker; place on cutting board. Remove meat from bones and chop into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces; discard bones.
Stir chicken, parsley and thyme into stew. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 10 to 15 minutes longer or until chicken is thoroughly heated.
Post # 6
Member
10453 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
Oh and I totally meant to replace the barley with quinoa!
Post # 7
Member
1394 posts
Bumble bee
Okay, here’s a bump 😉 But with a recipe!!
Quinoa Summer Salad
This is a pretty common one that can be switched up and varied easily to suite individual tastes!
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water
Veggies, chooped (today I did 1 carrot(grated) a bunch of green onions, 1 yellow pepper, 1 orange pepper, four radishes, 1/2 long english cucumber, parsley, cilantro)
Balsamic vinegar, olive oil (equal parts) juice from half fresh squeezed lemon, salt, pepper, chili peppers, additional spices to your liking
Cook the quinoa in the water, let cool. Add chopped veggies, dressing ingredients, mix and chill! There’s all kind of varieties you can try. Think avocado, feta, roasted corn, etc and so forth!
Happy quinoa eating 😀
Post # 8
Member
1394 posts
Bumble bee
You’re all so fast and sneaky, ahaha, no bump required apparently but you all replies wile I was typing le recipe :-p
@lampshade: oh no!! That is no good 🙁 Its weird how our bodies develop intolerances to certain foods (that we love so much) Bodies can be frustrating!! I hope you find some resolve in your allergy problems. I highly suggest, if you have one around and can afford it, to see anaturopath. They may have a whole new outlook that could really help!
@abirdword: Thats how my boyfriend feels too. If its in or under something delicious and flavourful, he’s totally game but its true, by itself its kind of mediocre!
@Pinkmoon: That sounds so good!! I haven’t whipped out the crock pot in months but this sounds like a good of an excuse as any! Tomorrow I will try it!
Post # 9
Member
3248 posts
Sugar bee
@lalalyanne: I love quinoa too! I only recently began eating it regularly (after discovering that wheat does not agree with me very well), so I only have 2 things I like to do with it so far: make tabbouleh with quinoa instead of bulgur (yum!); and put tahini sauce or tahini salad dressing on hot quinoa and some steamed vegetables. I guess I would sort of automatically use it to replace rice in some things, though.
I’m looking forward to finding some ideas on here too! 🙂 I like the quinoa “spaghetti” idea a lot, since I loooooove pasta with tomato sauce, but try to avoid wheat as much as I can and don’t always feel like spending on gluten-free pasta.
Post # 10
Member
1460 posts
Bumble bee
Another quinoa lover here 🙂 It’s absolutely delicious to stuff a bell pepper!
Post # 11
Member
3969 posts
Honey bee
I find it kind of bitter! Any suggestions??
Post # 12
Member
3248 posts
Sugar bee
@lalalyanne: Oooh, yum! I’ll have to try that soon!
If anyone wants to know what my tahini sauce usually contains, here is an approximation of the recipe:
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed butter)
juice of 1 lemon
1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped (and lightly sauteed in olive oil, if you don’t like/can’t digest raw garlic)
Enough water to make sauce pourable
Salt
Chopped parsley or other herbs
Spices– hot pepper, cumin, or others you like
If turning this into a salad dressing, I also add some cider vinegar, olive oil, and green onions or chives– to make a version of Goddess Dressing. Both versions are delicious with quinoa and steamed veggies!
Post # 13
Member
706 posts
Busy bee
LOVE quinoa!
One of our favorite things to do is to cook it in coconut milk (instead of water or broth). It’s so flavorful and gives it an extra dimension.
Post # 14
Member
3248 posts
Sugar bee
@love108: I used to find it too bitter to enjoy also, until I read in Deborah Madison’s amazing cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, that one must rinse the dry quinoa in a colander a few times before cooking it. It has saponins (bitter soapy compounds) on its seed coat, and rinsing it a few times in a colander removes them. I enjoy it much more now that I know to do that!
Post # 15
Member
3248 posts
Sugar bee
@melisandescott: OOH I like this idea. I’m really into cooking with coconut milk and coconut oil right now. I’ll try this soon. 🙂
Post # 16
Member
403 posts
Helper bee
I absolutely love quinoa! My favorite is combining it with feta and this recipe. I could eat that meal every day!
