Monday, January 31, 2011

Quinoa...

I was inspired by Danielle at Sometimes Sweet to eat healthier. She's posted photos of her fridge and how she makes her quinoa and now I can't wait to start.

I have fallen in LOVE with quinoa. It's so so healthy and SO easy. I plan on making it once or twice a week and saving it in the fridge for when I'm ready for it. Then I can mix whatever veggies I want in it. 

I said in the post right before this one that we went to the grocery store and I got a bunch of good stuff! Well, I DID! I bought everything for this amazing salad/dish. 

It's a take on traditional Tabbouleh.
I used red Inca quinoa. It's so pretty when it's cooked. I followed the directions on the box for cooking. It's a 1:2 ratio (one cup quinoa to two cups water). 
I boiled it, covered, until all the water was cooked out. 

Then I spread it all out on to a sheet tray and put it in the fridge to cool.
I didn't want the hot quinoa to cook the vegetables.
The vegetables that I used are: 
1 English cucumber
8 cherry heirloom tomatoes
4 stalks of celery heart
1/2 cup of shredded carrot
a huge handful of chopped parsley
1 Meyer lemon (my favorite)
(I also cut up some scallions, but I didn't end up adding them)

When the quinoa was cool, I put it all into a bowl to mix.
I added a few tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Then added all my vegetables.
Then mixed.
Then taste tested.
Yum.

I can't wait to try more quinoa recipes and different vegetables!


4 comments:

MamaGourmet said...

I have never heard of quinoa until now, and whatever you do to it makes it look delicious!

Anonymous said...

I just picked up some quinoa yesterday after a friend raved about it. I hadn't gotten to finding an idea for it today . . . until this! Thanks for sharing.

Amanda Smith said...

Yay! I hope you both love it!

Unknown said...

quinoa is one of my favorite meals and so healthy for you! in fact, i had it for dinner last night!

this looks great!