Quinoa and white bean salad

Another one of those cold salads that can be made ahead, and eaten either cold or at room temperature. (Also good as a wrap filling.)

Reprinted below:

1 cup quinoa
2 cups cooked white beans of your choice or 1 14 oz can butter beans or cannellini beans, drained of all liquid
½ lb green beans
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ small red onion, finely diced
2-3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper


Place quinoa in a medium sauce pot with 2 cups water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook about 10 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool (You will want to assemble the salad when quinoa is still warm, but not hot). In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the green beans for about 5 minutes (they should be cooked, but still crisp), then transfer them to an ice water bath. When cool, drain them and cut into 1 inch batons. In a large mixing bowl combine the quinoa, drained white beans of your choice, green beans, diced onion, diced pepper, lemon zest and juice, vinegar, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley.

Spinach and cheese quinoa casserole

This is a great thing to make when there's not much left in the house--quinoa from the pantry, a box of frozen spinach from the freezer, some odds and ends of cheese.

Reprinted below:


1 1/2 cups dry quinoa
3 cups chicken broth
1 red bell pepper, chopped (I left this out, didn't have one)
3 green onions, chopped (I substituted a shallot)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 box chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and all liquid squeezed out
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I threw in some goat cheese as well)
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cups grated mozzerella cheese (Used gruyere instead)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper

In a large saucepot over medium high heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the chopped bell pepper, scallions and spinach and saute for about four minutes—just until bell pepper has started to soften. Add the garlic and continue sauteing for another 30 seconds. Add quinoa to the pot, followed by the chicken broth, salt, dry mustard and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed. Stir well.

Now, add the grated cheddar cheese and milk. Stir to combine then pour into a greased 9 x 13″ casserole dish. In a small bowl, combine the Panko and the mozzerella cheese. Sprinkle on top of casserole and bake for about 30 minutes at 375 until golden. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving (or not).

Quinoa "risotto" with mushrooms

So not kid-friendly. Still delicious, though.

You can also layer this, with salad greens, into a wrap and eat it cold.

From Epicurious:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 8-ounce package sliced crimini (baby bella) mushrooms
6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced
3 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
1 cup dry white wine
Grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 2 cups salted water to boil in medium saucepan. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender and water is absorbed, about 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until onion begins to brown, 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and thyme. Sautée; until mushrooms are tender, 6 minutes. Add wine; stir until wine is reduced and liquid is syrupy, 2 minutes.

Mix quinoa into mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper. Pass cheese separately.

Quinoa salad with apples and sweet potatoes

Spring actually is right around the corner, the weather notwithstanding, which makes me want to eat green, healthy things. However, the lettuces at the supermarket are still looking limp and tasteless, so I'm attempting a spring-like salad out of winter ingredients. To wit, this quinoa salad. I've made a quinoa salad with sweet potatoes before, but this one feels spring-ier to me.

Note: I'm not a huge fan of raw onion, so I left it out and used scallions instead.

From Food and Wine:

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups quinoa
Salt
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 large Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
8 packed cups baby greens, such as arugula or kale (about 6 ounces)

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the quinoa and toast over moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer the quinoa for 16 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff the quinoa, spread it out on a baking sheet and refrigerate until it is chilled, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, on a baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring once, until golden and softened. Let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 6 tablespoons of olive oil with the vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Add the quinoa, sweet potatoes, apples, parsley, onion and greens and toss well. Serve right away.

Acorn squash stuffed with quinoa and chunky pesto

I call it "chunky pesto" because I tried to make a small batch of it in my large food processor--it didn't quite incorporate all the way. So I mixed a little of it in with the quinoa. Regular pesto would work just fine.

1 acorn squash, roasted
1 cup cooked quinoa, mixed with 1/4 cup pesto
1/2 red pepper, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

That's it! Mix the quinoa with the pesto and red pepper, and mound on top of the roasted squash. There. Done.

Quinoa salad with roasted sweet potato

Reprinted from The Kitchn:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, all around rhe same size
3 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/3 cup pine nuts
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup dried cranberries
4 scallions, sliced

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place the quinoa into a small saucepan and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes, or until the water is evaporated. Turn off the heat and let quinoa sit covered for at least one, hour or preferably, three hours.

Place the sweet potato cubes into a roasting pan and toss with 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes, or until you can just pierce the cubes with a fork. Set aside.

Place the pine nuts into a small pan over medium heat until lightly toasted, stirring often. Set aside.

In a small bowl, place the remaining three tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, honey salt, pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Whisk well.

When the quinoa is dry, use a whisk to break apart the seeds and place into a large bowl. Add half the vinaigrette and mix with the whisk. Add more to taste, depending on how wet you like your quinoa; I add it all. Add the sweet potatoes, pine nuts, cranberries and scallions and mix gently. Serve at room temperature.

Quinoa oatmeal

This makes a great low-cal filling breakfast. Throw some dried or fresh fruit on top for extra flavor. Best of all, quinoa is actually a complete protein (all eight essential amino acids). I've made this in big batches instead of regular oatmeal (when I ran out of steel-cut oats), and reheated a little each morning at work.

1 cup quinoa, cooked with 2 cups water and a pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and allspice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
salt

Cook the quinoa; bring it to a boil, lower heat, and simmer 12-15 minutes or until the spiral-y things come out of the grains and the water has been absorbed. Meanwhile, add the spices to the milk and cream and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from the heat and let steep until the quinoa is done. Add the spiced milk to the cooked quinoa, let boil over medium, and let simmer until the mixture has thickened. Once it cooks slightly, it will thicken even more.

Black quinoa salad with avocado and lemon-cumin viniagrette

One of the things I got in my CSA box was a group of four fresh-off-the-tree avocados. Not wanting to waste such goodness on mere guacamole, I opted instead for a quinoa salad.

I used black quinoa, but red or white will do just fine. To the quinoa I added the four chopped avocados, a few chopped dried apricots, some sliced almonds, and a little garlic powder. In a separate bowl, I zested one lemon, then added the juice from half the lemon, along with cumin and smoked paprika. I whisked in a few tablespoons of olive oil, and poured that onto the quinoa salad and mixed it all up well, along with salt and pepper to taste. Some fresh scallions or chives would have gone very nicely, as well. I also added a handful of edamame (but quinoa, since it has all eight amino acids, is a complete protein--so adding edamame was nutritional overkill. Tasty, though).

Cost: 40 cents for the cup of quinoa, let's say 50 cents each for the avocados (those are California prices), another 50 cents for the handful of edamame, and 50 cents for everything else. Around $2.00 total, for two full adult servings. Bonus: SUPER-healthy.

Red quinoa, spinach and feta salad

Any color quinoa will work, of course, but I felt like using red.

I didn't really measure anything (shocking, that). I made a batch of quinoa (1 cup dried) and added most of a bundle of fresh spinach. I then added a small handful of feta cheese, a couple tablespoons each of olive oil and red wine vinegar, and some diced shallot and garlic. A little cumin and salt and pepper on top, then mix it all together. It makes a great you-don't-need-a-microwave lunch!

Quinoa with corn, cilantro and tomatoes

In addition to being cheap and gluten-free, quinoa is also a complete protein. Grain-like, it comes in three colors--regular, red and black. The red and black taste a little nuttier than the regular, but the regular is most easily found, so don't worry too much about the color.

To cook it, just add a cup of quinoa to about a cup and a half of water or broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the little curly grain inside the beads of quinoa is revealed. That means it's done. You can do pretty much anything you want at this point--adding frozen corn, chopped cilantro, and some halved cherry tomatoes is quite lovely, but you can also add frozen peas, edamame, walnuts or pecan, dried cranberries, olives, whatever. Go nuts. It's filling and very good for you.

One cup of quinoa plus additional veggies will feed 3-4 as a side dish or 2 adults as a main dish.

Bacon and almond quinoa

Quinoa is a wonderfully versatile (and gluten-free) grain. Here's last night's impromptu riff on it.

I took one cup of quinoa and added two cups of broth, and let that cook down until the quinoa was done (about 15 minutes). While that was going, I diced some bacon and cooked it, and toasted a handful of sliced almonds. When the bacon was done, I removed it from the pan, poured off all but about two tablespoons of the bacon fat (which I save in the fridge), and sauteed a finely chopped shallot in the bacon fat. When the quinoa was done, I added the bacon, shallot, toasted almonds, and a small handful of chopped chives, fresh parsley, and some fresh Thai basil.

On a whim, I jazzed up the final product by adding a fried egg on top and a whole bunch of fresh salsa. Yum.

Cost: bulk quinoa is $3.99 a pound, and for a cup...let's say 60 cents. Roughly half a pound of bacon at $6.99 a pound (I won't scrimp on bacon!), plus 17 cents for the egg, plus maybe 50 cents for everything else, including the salsa. $5.26 total, serves two adults as a main course.