Quinoa

Parent Cafe
1

<p>My daughter the healthy vegetarian left me a lot of quinoa when she moved this summer. So far, it’s only been a peripheral part of my diet. I’ve had some good quinoa but have yet to become a true enthusiast. The container is open, so I can’t donate it. Recipe ideas please! (We don’t eat pork or shellfish, but if you have good recipes with those, I’m sure someone reading the thread can enjoy them.) Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You can pretty much substitute quinoa in any recipe that calls for rice. Cooking times are somewhat different, so I would suggest starting by cooking the quinoa separately until you get the knack of preparing it to whatever your preferred level of texture/doneness. But it also can be mixed uncooked into a casserole or crockpot meal with enough liquid for the quinoa. </p>

3

<p>Like Calmom suggested I use quinoa as a rice substitute. I use it with under teriyaki chicken, with stir fries. I also use it in cold salads. One of my families favorites is to mix cooked quinoa with our favorite greek salad recipe. </p>

4

<p>Here’s a link to a delicious quinoa black bean salad:</p>

<p><a href=“Zesty Quinoa Salad Recipe”>http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zesty-quinoa-salad/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>^^^
That looks good. I just printed it off for future use.</p>

6

<p>quinoa with tiny snipped kale (I use kitchen shears), pistachios, and apricot bits…just cook the quinoa, add the extras, stir and let it sit a bit. Also excellent as lunch the next day at work, people always ask what it is!</p>

7

<p>Cooked in chicken broth, Quinoa is pretty delicious and similar to Rice Pilaf. That’s one of the ways my H & kids will eat it.</p>

8

<p>I’ve made quinoa patties. Not too different than a veggie burger: different things will bind it, sometimes egg, sometimes cheese (sharp Cheddar is good,) with whatever spices or other ingredients you like (I’ve used shredded zucchini.) You can chill the patties to help them bind. There are recipes online.</p>

9

<p>Quinia = jet-propelled flatulence</p>

<p>I couldn’t believe they were serving it in the American Airlines business class lounge at JFK</p>

10

<p>Quinoa with cranberries and almonds is good.</p>

<p>That said, has anyone gotten sand in their quinoa? I got quite a bit in some I bought at a Fresh Market. Was it bad or did I cook it wrong?</p>

11

<p>It can also be a pasta substitute. Since my mom was diagnosed with Celiac, I do things like make quinoa with pesto instead of using pasta. For an added taste/texture, I will saute minced onion and gr. pepper, mix that into the cooked quinoa, then stir in the pesto.</p>

12

<p>You can also cook it with almond milk (vanilla is good), mix in fruit and/or nuts and eat it for breakfast like oatmeal. I’ve never gotten sand; I buy Bob’s Red Mill.</p>

13

<p>Toledo, did you rinse it well before you cooked it???</p>

<p>I’ll vouch for the black bean/cumin recipe posted above - delicious! </p>

14

<p>I’ve heard to rinse quinoa well and then rinse again.</p>

<p>My daughter ran across this recipe a couple weeks ago and requested we give it a try. We haven’t done so yet but it looks good - and easy:</p>

<p><a href=“http://damndelicious.net/2014/04/09/one-pan-mexican-quinoa/”>http://damndelicious.net/2014/04/09/one-pan-mexican-quinoa/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>I love quinoa tabouli. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/quinoa-tabbouleh-10000000223454/”>http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/quinoa-tabbouleh-10000000223454/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Another way I have had it was used in turkey meatballs. I don’t have te recipe but it was good. If it wasn’t pointed out to me I wouldn’t have known it was there. A good way to use it for quinoa phobics.</p>

17

<p>I like Quinoa, but have yet to find a brand or method that effectively cleans the bitter taste from it. I have read several suggestions , followed to the T and still needed up with something inedible</p>

18

<p>I love quinoa, but D makes me feel guilty about eating it.
I also buy quinoa pasta.
I use it like rice, plain with butter, sometimes cook in broth like risotto.
I use AncientHarvest brand, never had a problem with bitterness. I just rinse it first, like I do rice.</p>

19

<p>I also tried quinoa and found it rather bitter (the saponin), even though the package said it was pre-rinsed. Someday, I will try it again, rinsing it myself first (maybe more than once!). Someday. :)</p>

20

<p>I use quinoa a lot because DS is now a vegan. The first time I tried it, years ago, I used some from Trader Joe’s. I hated it. Later, I heard about Bob’s Red Mill, tried it and loved it. As others have mentioned, toledo, you are supposed to wash quinoa before cooking, a real pain because the grains are so tiny. As 1moremom posted, BRM quinoa does NOT have to be washed.</p>

<p>There are good quinoa recipes on cookinglight.com (with ratings) and on mynewroots.org. And on this thread!</p>

<p>Thanks for the kale/apricot/quinoa recipe, greenbutton! It sounds wonderful, and so easy. My kind of recipe. </p>

<p>Mark Bittman’s vegetarian cookbook has a number of quinoa recipes. One that I plan to try soon is to “bread” slices of goat cheese with cooked quinoa, saute them, and use in salads.</p>

<p>I sometimes throw some quinoa in with my oatmeal - makes it much more filling.</p>

<p>I buy BRM quinoa (and some other BRM products) through Amazon subscribe-and-save. You have to get 4 packages at a time (not a problem for us, because we use a lot of quinoa, rolled oats, steel-cut oats, chana dal, etc.) but prices are really good and shipping is free.</p>