Your Favorite Quinoa Recipes

[cdttmm]

I've got several bags of quinoa in my pantry. I know I like the stuff because I've eaten it at restaurants. But I'm stumped for simple and frugal recipes. Care to share any favorites? Bonus points if they are vegetarian. :D

[puglogic]

I've got several bags of quinoa in my pantry. I know I like the stuff because I've eaten it at restaurants. But I'm stumped for simple and frugal recipes. Care to share any favorites? Bonus points if they are vegetarian. :D

I think I've made this a hundred times, and never get tired of it:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quinoa-and-Black-Bean-Salad-12245

I use half green pepper and half red pepper, or red and yellow, for color.

In fact, it fits my budget this month so I may just make it again this week! :) (plus I have corn from the garden I can use if I want)

[catherine]

I think I've made this a hundred times, and never get tired of it:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quinoa-and-Black-Bean-Salad-12245

I use half green pepper and half red pepper, or red and yellow, for color.

In fact, it fits my budget this month so I may just make it again this week! :) (plus I have corn from the garden I can use if I want)

I am definitely having that this week! I've got some quinoa in my pantry, too. Sounds delicious. Thanks for the recipe

[Dhiana]

Many recipes that call for rice, I'll replace with quinoa. From any kind of rice and beans recipe to stuffed peppers to a vegi red sauce using quinoa instead of pasta.
When it's sold here, instructions for cooking it in a rice cooker are included on the packaging.

I just think of it as a different kind of 'starch' and go for it.

[try2bfrugal]

We have started using quinoa in place of rice because of all the lead and arsenic scare stories in the news. I make it in the rice cooker.

I like it with a little melted butter on top with chicken and a vegetable. Or we will put chicken in a Marsala sauce and service it over quinoa.

[creaker]

I think I've made this a hundred times, and never get tired of it:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quinoa-and-Black-Bean-Salad-12245

I use half green pepper and half red pepper, or red and yellow, for color.

In fact, it fits my budget this month so I may just make it again this week! :) (plus I have corn from the garden I can use if I want)

I've used the dressing - but I had changed the ingredients a bit.

I didn't use the jalapeños or green pepper, used yellow pepper and added red onion instead. Lots of cilantro.

I also have this thingie (looks like http://norpro.com/gallery/3329-corn-cuttercreamer-ss/5403.jpg) that works great for getting corn off the cob for this recipe.

[RosieTR]

Grill some corn on the cob, and a few slices of tomato or small (cherry or grape-sized) tomatoes just til they turn a little bit of color. Toss cut off corn and roasted tomatoes into cooked quinoa with any fresh chopped herb, esp basil or cilantro. Proportions: probably equal parts tomato and cooked quinoa by volume, then maybe half that of the corn and a quarter the herb (so like 1 c tomatoes, 1 c quinoa, 1/2 c corn, 1/4 c herb, less if it's really strong). You could also roast a small hot pepper and add any amount of that to taste, and/or onion. This time of year all that stuff should be fresh and easy to come by, and good to cook if it's a warm day! This could be eaten warm or cold, and for a non-vegan option you could add a little feta or grated parmesan.
For later in fall, I would recommend steaming then lightly sautéing regular or sweet potato cubes along with diced onion and garlic, then tossing those with the warm, cooked quinoa. Again with the feta or blue cheese/gorgonzola esp if you want to add a foil for the sweet potato. In that case, you would only need a tablespoon or so per cup of cooked quinoa, and I'd actually maybe do 2 c potato to 1 c cooked quinoa but your tastes may vary.
My two favorite ways to do quinoa are just throwing in some pesto (this is really fast if you make batches of pesto in the late summer and freeze them) and tossing quinoa with some diced, canned tomatoes with some Italian seasoning somewhat like spaghetti.

[cdttmm]

After soliciting your suggestions six months ago (!!!), I finally got around to actually making quinoa. :D What can I say? I have procrastination issues...

Anyway, I decided to try quinoa as a breakfast cereal. Did some searching on the interwebs for ideas and ultimately ended up making it much like oatmeal. I cooked the quinoa in milk and then added raisins and a little sugar at the end. My dearly beloved even had some and thought it was pretty good. I topped mine with more milk; he just ate it straight up. Very satisfying -- perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but I think I could eat it in place of my usual oatmeal pretty easily. I realized after the fact that adding some cinnamon might have been a good idea so I'll try that next time.

Feeling more empowered now that I have successfully cooked quinoa!!! :cool:

[SimpleSarah]

I LOVE this one, it's a summer staple of mine:

http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2013/04/crunchy-cashew-thai-quinoa-salad-with-ginger-peanut-dressing/

[Ruffian]

I was going to say use it as a breakfast cereal! My recipe is 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups apple juice, a pinch of salt & cinnamon, then add blueberries & raspberries. I usually halve the apple juice with water (it's too sweet for me otherwise). This makes 4 servings that I put in containers, refrigerate and I have breakfast done for most of the week! I like mine cold, but heated works well too.

I got this recipe from Christine Pirillo's book, "I'm Mad As Hell & I'm Not Eating It Anymore!"

[iris lily]

heads up: I purchased a bag of "Quinoa" at a low price because of the low price. When I brought it home, I found it was toasted pasta in little balls. Later I'll get the brand and post it here. Duplicitous. But this also drives home the lesson: if it's too good to be true, it probably IS.