Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Soiree Into Quinoa

So with my weight-loss ambitions, I'm trying to gravitate to healthier foods and branch out with vegetables. I am in general not a picky eater, but when it comes to veggies, I tend to play it safe and buy what is familiar and what I know I can feasibly handle in the kitchen. I'm kinda a wuss like that. But since I'm eating alot more veggies, I'm trying to be braver and try new meal ideas so that I dont get bored. My mom has been raving about the virtues of quinoa (I say it Quinn-no, because its proper pronunciation is beyond me), and I stumbled across a recipe involving it on a blog that I read. So since I was going grocery shopping today I decided to give it a go.

Quinoa with Asparagus and Onions
Start quinoa cooking based on instructions on the package
Mince garlic and cut asparagus and onions
Add veggies to pan on medium heat and add olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Cover and cook.
Combine and EAT!


So some things about this meal:
- I ate fresh raspberries as I waited for it all to cook. Best decision ever. They were AMAZING. I love raspberry season.
- The quinoa made a lot more than I was anticipating - which works out because the veggies also were in abundance so I now have a ready-made meal for tomorrow.
- I wished I had salted the water before adding the quinoa, but I remedied it by salting the quinoa.
- Being totally sauce-less over in this region (yup no soy sauce or sauce I cant pronounce... I dont even have ketchup), I was worried that my veggies would be lacking a certain saucy component, so I got creative and added balsamic vinegar to them while they cooked. It was indeed a great decision.

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased with the result.

3 comments:

Tiffany Kay Smith said...

Ok. That looks dang good. I salivated a little.

Laura Dunford said...

Melissa! QUINOA rocks my socks. Its pronounced KEEN-WA according to google as I looked it up when I first tried it. I have a quinoa salad that is composed of curry honey apple and all kinds of other goodness! You should try it. mmmmmmmmmmmm

Cathy said...

I love keen-wa! :)
I really do. But I am very limited in my repetoire of quinoa recipes. We should experiment and share! Laura you, too.