Quinoa!

I finally bought a bag of quinoa. I have ONE bag. You have to convince me that this stuff is good in ONE BAG (I haven't tried it yet). What's your suggestion for what to do with it?

It's got a strong flavor that isn't for everybody. It works best with strong flavors like chiles, garlic & moles.

I eat it in salads lol.

Southwestern Quinoa Wraps

Quinoa and Kale Minestrone This is one of my all-time favorite recipes!

I'm trying this one this week

Is your bag pre-washed? It naturally has bitter saponins on the outside that need to be washed off or it will be disgusting. Just a heads up.

This. This is delicious.
http://apassionateplate.com/grilled-salmon-and-quinoa-salad/


Sometimes I use it in place of rice in a Spanish rice-type thingy.

If the taste is too strong for you by itself, it blends really well with brown and wild rices too, sort of gives a nice variety of textures and flavor. Mostly I just substitute quinoa for rice when I'm making stir fry or even curry and it turns out pretty delicious. I do think it is better if you have something with a sauce or broth to serve over it. The plain quinoa flavor can get kind of old after a while.

I like it made into a salad with veggies and hot sauce.

If you have a favourite rice dish, just replace the rice with quinoa. When I was first trying it out, I really enjoyed it in a fried rice type dish.

My favourite way of eating it now is in salad form. I chop cucumber, peppers, and feta cheese, mix it into cold quinoa and pour a vinegrette ontop. So good and refreshing.

I've tried quinoa a lot. multiple ways. I'm not a huge fan, but here is a good recipe (I <3 the lemon vinaigrette over quinoa).

http://iowagirleats.com/recipes/superfood-salad-with-lemon-vinaigrette/

I did mine kind of as a side dish, so I left out the fruits and just did the onion, black beans (I'm not a huge fan, but trying to broaden my foods), avocado, corn, and cilantro, I think I added some grape tomato halves to make it more of a southwestern quinoa salad. Also, there are shrimp in the picture, I didn't do shrimp either. If I was going to eat it as a meal I might add shrimp or chicken.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I don't like spicy foods, so anything spicy is out. I have heard of people eating it warm and plain like a hot cereal, but that doesn't appeal to me at all. So I think I'll try some as a salad, and maybe some sort of side dish with fish?

I am not a fan of the texture. To me it was like eating bird seed. I am willing to try again with some of these recipes

Hmm I've never tried it - but thanks to this thread I'll buy some tonight when we going grocery shopping. SO is out tomorrow, so I'll try it then. He's very put off on things he doesn't know.

I like to mix it up with kidney beans, salsa, and shredded cheese. Sometimes I add grilled chicken, if I'm feeling energetic lol.

So I tried mine for the first time yesterday. I've ha a bag hanging around for a few weeks now. It was AMAZING! Like, really good. Here's what I did: started with one cup, uncooked quinoa, RINSED, thouroughly and vigorously for several minutes, cooked in some homemade chicken broth (vs just plain water) with some garlic powder, dried rosemary, and a few extra dashes if salt. It was really good just by itself but I didn't stop there. I mixed it up with a bag of steaned birdseye veggies (the kind you steam in the bag. It was golden corn, white corn, asparagus, and baby carrots), 4 oz of torn up grilled chicken, and 4.5 oz of Greek yogurt, 1.5 oz of that was some of my "Greek ranch" (greek yogurt+a packet of kroger ranch powder) for extar flavor. Refrigerate and serve cold! It was like a Greek yogurt, quinoa, chicken, corn salad?? Lol. Can get enough of it, whatever it is.

My biggest tips would be to RINSE and don't boil it in plain water. Instead use broth with some garlic and other aromatic spices.

Did you try any of these recipes? How'd they turn out?

I still haven't tried any, I haven't had the time! I get half a day off Monday, so I might try then.

I've read that this stuff is very healthy.

I made the quinoa fruit salad with honey lime dressing the other day and I HIGHLY recommend this! Especially with as hot as it's been everywhere lately. Good protein that you can eat cold and it's still delicious.