Food Photo of the Day ~ Quinoa with Fried Egg

With leftover spiced quinoa, a simple fried egg precariously off to the side, a drizzle of hot sauce and with finely chopped parsley is the perfect lunch to fuel a busy day. 


Hope everyone had a great weekend. It was a rainy one in E-town. The overcast skies have hung around with high wind, gusting to nearly 70km/h!  - JD 

Food Photo of the Day ~ Quinoa Vegetable Chilli

Chilli is a great substantial stand by. Add some cooked quinoa and you have one super dish full of protein and fibre.

Make whatever chilli recipe you wish, meat or meatless, your choice. Cook quinoa according to the package directions. Allow to cool slightly then add to the simmering chilli. Serve with arugula leaves, a dollop of sour cream and sliced green onions. 

Bright, sunny and warm here in E-town. Have a great weekend everyone! -JD 

Mushroom and Quinoa Soup

I like mushroom soup and I enjoy quinoa so after reading the label on the package I thought I would give it a try. It has a very distinct mushroom flavour and is quite filling. It serves 4 and is lower in sodium than most soups, only 14%, has 10% iron, 15% Vitamin A, 8% fibre, is low in sugar, only 2% and is low in fat, only 6%. Being lower in fat and salt gave way to a more natural robust flavour which was a welcoming change. To find out more about GoGo Quinoa click *here*   

And when the soup was on this is what is looked like. Very satisfying and a wonderful mushroom smell.   

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and is having a good week so far. Spent the past few days doing projects around the house. - JD 

Quinoa Salad

Here is a quick and easy salad. Rinse and drain quinoa and follow the cooking instructions. While the grain is boiling chop all your veggies. I used cucumbers, radishes, yellow peppers and spring onions. Then in a glass jar mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar with some salt and pepper and fresh thyme. Put the lid on and shake well. When the quinoa absorbs all the water fluff with fork and transfer into a serving bowl. Letting the quinoa cool down a bit. Add the veggies and toss. Then drizzle the dressing over top and toss again. Add some fresh chives. Serve and enjoy. This is a very filling salad and I enjoy it during the winter months as well. Have a great weekend!  - JW 

Quinoa

I saw this cookbook on the sales table at my local bookstore and couldn't say no. Not because of the sale price, which I thought wasn't much of a sale price, but because I have cooked with quinoa before and not many, if any, of my cookbooks have recipes incorporating this grain. Cooking with Quinoa: The Supergrain by Rena Patten; New Holland Press is an interesting book on getting you informed and on your way with quinoa. What is quinoa? What does it look like? and Preparing quinoa? are brief but helpful segments at the front of the book. I don't know about you but it helped me realise that I was indeed pronouncing the word quinoa wrong. Quinoa is pronounced keen-wah. This cookbook comes with mega photos and recipes to one side of the page. Recipes range from Soup, Breads and Pasta, Salads, Vegetarian, Meat, Poultry, Seafood and Sweet Things. The recipes deal with quinoa in it's three forms: a grain, flour and flakes. Quinoa is very high in protein, gluten and wheat free and full of vitamins. A tiny grain with mega results.

I took it upon myself this Sunday to make the pancake recipe from this book. Hoping that the organic quinoa flour would go undetected. I have cooked and baked with soy and rice flour before and it went unnoticed. Quinoa flour is different... it is quite fragrant. Even though the recipe called for 1 cup quinoa flour I cut that in half and used a 1/2 cup of organic quinoa flour. My kitchen senses were right on the mark. I think if the full cup was used some might have been struggling to get over the taste. Nonetheless there are many more pages with recipes to try. Lots of salads, main dishes and of coarse chocolate cake! - jw