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Quinoa recipes

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) makes a great side dish or a main dish. It’s exceptionally nutritious as it is the only grain to provide a complete protein–i.e. it contains all nine essential amino acids. (BTW, rice has half the amino acids and beans the complementary half, making rice and beans a complete protein.)

I found quinoa at Costco a couple of months ago and decided to give it a try. I love it and now we have it once a week or so. And my husband who never missed a beat found a beer recipe for it too AND consequently bought me quinoa seeds for the summer garden to plant with the okra!

Anyway, here’s a delicious recipe that has quickly become one of my favorite sides and worth the little extra time to make.

Quinoa with Toasted Almonds and Cranberries:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
• 1 cube broth stock
• 1-1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Soak quinoa for 1/2 hour (or even overnight if you’re a grain soaker) in cold water. Rinse thoroughly (until water runs clear). On medium heat stir and toast the slivered almonds until golden. Stir and roast the quinoa until dry and turning color. Transfer toasted quinoa and toasted almonds and cranberries to a 2 qt saucepan. Add boiling water, broth stock cube, salt, bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Bring back to boil, cover and turn heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Removed from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff gently with a fork and serve.

Here’s another recipe I found recently. I tried it once and it was pretty tasty.

Breakfast Quinoa (from Martha Stewart Living Magazine)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk (plus more for serving)
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed (until water runs clear)
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (1/2 pint) fresh blueberries

Directions:

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered until three-quarters of the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 minutes. Stir in blueberries, and cook for 30 seconds. Serve with additional milk, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries.

What’s Cooking?

What’s cooking in your kitchen this Lent?

I have our Italian Vegetable Soup in a crock pot and our homemade pretzels for tonight’s Covenant of Love meeting.

What are some of your favorite Lenten meatless meals? I was making a list last night of our Wednesday and Friday meatless meals. Since we go meatless throughout the year on Fridays, and since I’m the cook, I added an extra day with Friday reserved for very humble simple meals (soups and bread/grilled cheese sandwiches).

My list of possibilities includes:

• Lentil Soup (which we had on Wednesday)
• Italian Vegetable Soup (tonight)
• Tomato Basil Soup
• Potato Soup
• Black Bean Casserole
• Bean Burritos (for dinner next Wednesday)
• Manicotti/stuffed shells/cheese lasagna
• Chalupas
• Fish Tacos
• Grilled/Baked Fish
• Hummus with Tabouli(made with quinoa) and pita bread
• Vegetarian Chili
• Cheese Pizza (although I added to the list, I wouldn’t make it since we usually reserve another night for pizza night)
• Pasta with Basil and Sundried tomatoes
• Pasta (cheese tortillini or ravioli) with Pesto

What are your ideas?

Pretzel Time

Fulton, Muffin and I just finished making our first Lenten batch of pretzels.

I got this recipe from my favorite holy-day cook book called The Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz.

The pretzel is a very ancient bakery item, which traditionally was eaten only during Lent. It appreared each year on Ash Wednesday and disappreared on Good Friday. It goes back at least to the fifth century: there is a Roman manuscript in the Vatican Library dating from that period which shows a Lenten pretzel. As to the shape: it is made in the form of two arms crossed in prayer. The word bracellae, “little arms,” became in German Bretzel, then Pretzel. These early Christians ate no dairy products in Lent, so the pretzel was made only of flour, salt, and water: it was as simple as it could be.

Ingredients:

• 1 T. honey or sugar
• 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water (100-110 degrees F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast or 2-1/2 tsp
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• Coarse or kosher salt
• 1 egg, beaten

Add the honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Blend in the flour and knead the dough until smooth.

Cut the dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. You can make small pretzels with thin ropes, or large ones with fat ropes, but remember that to cook at the same rate, your pretzels need to be all the same size.

Place the pretzels on lightly greased cookie sheets. Brush them with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 425 degrees F for 12-15 mintutes, until pretzels are golden brown.