Friday, March 12, 2010

Quinoa and Black Beans


Alrighty, if you haven't yet experimented cooking with quinoa, I highly recommend it!  Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wa") is a cereal grain that is a complete protein.  It's also gluten-free!  Because of its high riboflavin and magnesium content, it's supposedly good for migraine sufferers.  I choose to eat it because it's a complex carbohydrate that offers up a good amount of fiber and iron.  Think of it as a slightly crunchier, nuttier version of brown rice.  And it takes on the flavors of what you cook it with. 

At first, I wasn't sure about serving up a "crazy hippy food" item like quinoa, but Bo loves it and requests it all the time.  We both love this recipe because it's packed with flavor.   My next goal is to cook it for breakfast as an alternative to oatmeal.

It's definitely a 5 Spooner in our house. 

Enjoy!



Quinoa and Black Beans
1 tsp. vegetable oil                     
1 shallot, minced                        
3 cloves garlic, minced              
½ c. uncooked quinoa               
¾ c. chicken broth
½ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 (14oz) can roasted, diced tomatoes, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until golden. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with broth. Season with cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Stir mushrooms, black beans, and tomatoes into saucepan and simmer additional 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Makes 3-4 servings.


The ingredient lineup.


Quinoa looks exactly like birdseed.


Even after you've added the chicken broth and seasonings...it still looks like birdseed.


And now!  Pastey birdseed.  :)


But when it's finished, I love all the colors and textures!

6 comments:

  1. I have really been wanting to try it but where do you buy it? I cannot seem to find it anywhere.

    Thanks for the delicious looking pics!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh no - your grocery store doesn't have it?! :( I find bags of it sometimes in the baking aisle with the whole wheat flours and cornmeal. Sometimes it's in the rice aisle. Have you tried health food stores? I've even found it in bulk in some. I'll keep thinking of ideas for you, k?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello ladies..

    Crazy week for me. I will have to stop by and see what you have been cooking. This looks good..

    Have a great weekend everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks super tasty. You can also easily cook it in a rice cooker, same 2 to 1 ratio as rice. We also enjoy the leftover quinoa for breakfast, but lightly stir fried with a bit of oil (like you would for breakfast potatoes) for about 10 minutes until lightly browned and crispy. Then at the very end add a few eggs and sprinkling of cheese and you've got a very complete and hearty breakfast. Quinoa has also saved me more than once on the Scrabble board.....

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  5. I will have to try this. My son has multiple allergies, and quinoa is a safe protein for him (amazing, a grain that is also a complete protein). So far we've only used it in quinoa pasta, though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How cool is this! Yum! I liked it so much I linked it up here:

    http://lifeasmom.com/2010/03/frugal-friday-making-my-own-instant-oatmeal.html

    Another recipe to try!

    ReplyDelete

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