Rinse the grains before cooking, and for better nutritional absorption soak for a few hours. (Read about hows/whys of soaking here.) I soaked my quinoa in water with a squeeze of lemon for about 6 hours. (If your kitchen is warm enough, you'll even see it sprout sooner. The lemon juice expedites the process and is not crucial.) While chopping everything else, cook the quinoa in chicken broth for 15 minutes, let rest covered for an additional 5 minutes.
Like rice, you can eat quinoa plain. Plain is boring. The following recipe is one that's adapted and evolved from Diana's Schwarzbein's cookbook - it's one of my favs.
Her recipe called for chopped spinach, and I've used frozen before. This time I used fresh swiss chard. It's in season and has been called a vegetable valedictorian. Sooo good for you. Buy some this weekend at the farmers market.
Look at the beautiful COLOR! Folding the leaf in half, I cut out most of the red fibrous vein, esp. in the big leaves. 
Rachael Ray would call this her garbage bowl. It's too pretty to go in the garbage, I'll put it in my compost. 
The 8oz bag made about 8 cups of chopped swiss chard. 
Now for the fun part. If you don't have a wok, any large pan will do. I started with 2 T coconut oil. Olive or sesame oil would be fine, too.
Look at the beautiful COLOR! Folding the leaf in half, I cut out most of the red fibrous vein, esp. in the big leaves. 
Rachael Ray would call this her garbage bowl. It's too pretty to go in the garbage, I'll put it in my compost. 
The 8oz bag made about 8 cups of chopped swiss chard. 
Now for the fun part. If you don't have a wok, any large pan will do. I started with 2 T coconut oil. Olive or sesame oil would be fine, too.
Then saute an onion, garlic and mushrooms, if you like. Usually I don't add the mushrooms but these babies were on sale (organic! for $1.25 this afternoon). 
Then get your man to fire the grill. Beef: it's what's for dinner. My dad will be so happy (he's a cattle farmer). 
Add a big splash of sherry to the onion/mushroom concoction. If you don't have sherry, it's not essential.However, it sure helps to remove the yummy tidbits stuck on the bottom of the pan. At this point, add your chard and stir.
I wanted to steam the chard so I borrowed the lid from my stock pot. 
Then crumble feta and soak currants. The feta adds so much flava! to this dish. 
Here's the cooked chard with currants added. 
Lastly, add the quinoa that you cooked while chopping the veggies. 
This is Hubby's favorite dish. He will eat leftovers straight from the fridge, if there are leftovers. 
Recipe Recap
Rinse, soak, cook 1-2 cups quinoa.
8-10oz green of choice: chard or spinach
Saute in oil:
-1 chopped onion
-garlic to taste
-mushrooms (optional)
then add
2 T sherry
chard or spinach
Steam till wilted then turn off the heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Red pepper flakes would be good.
Toss in 1/2 cup of currants, raisins or cranberries (also optional).
Mix in your quinoa and top with crumbled feta. Gobble it up.
To see other nourishing ideas and meals, visit Kelly the Kitchen Kop for Real Food Wednesday. And this Works for Me.
To see other nourishing ideas and meals, visit Kelly the Kitchen Kop for Real Food Wednesday. And this Works for Me.
Originally posted at Havin' Fun Yet?
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