Miracle food!

[lushy]

Beatle I am not an expert but I think eating it the next morning is just as nutritious. I actually leave my spinach uncooked and just throw it in when the quinoa is cooked. It wilts down enough. Of course you could use frozen, I just prefer the texture of fresh. If you were to use frozen (thawed of course) I would mix it in while the quinoa is cooking to soften it up a little more once you have squeezed all of the water out of the spinach.

I have used quinoa that was past its best by date and it was fine. I guess cook it up and see if has an off taste. Cooking it in chicken broth really is yummy. And I saw a recipe to cook up quinoa, add whatever veggies you like and stuff red peppers with this mixture and bake. So much you could do with it.

Thanks for the pomegranate tip MOW. I will be going there today......

[MyOwnWoman]

Beatle - put it in any soup. Like I said above, I added it to chicken soup instead of noodles or rice. it's so delicate and delightful in a brothy soup.

I'm going to look for more recipes... I have a couple good vegetarian cookbooks, I'm sure I'll find some good ones. I'll let you know.

[MyOwnWoman]

We keep crossing posts!!

VERY IMPORTANT TIP: Rinse your quinoa very well before cooking. The seeds have a coating that acts as a natural insect repellant, and tastes very bitter if you don't rinse it.
I think that there may be some now that has somehow been cleansed of this - like maybe the bulk quinoa available where Lushy and I shop - but I rinse mine anyway, just to be sure.

[beatle]

Thanks for the tips again. I have a pile of veg cookbooks (being a semi-vegetarian, with all-vegetarian kids), but I don't tend to use cookbooks much (too lazy, I suppose). I will however take a new peek at them. Certainly they will contain quinoa recipes. And we do adore stuffed peppers... never thought about using quinoa before. lovely tip.

[MyOwnWoman]

I'm the same way with recipes, but I need to get over it. My daughter and I need some new dishes for dinner. I found a recipe in my moosewood cookbook for quinoa stuffed peppers. I think I"ll do that this week.

[beatle]

Yeh, the Moosewood cookbooks are very good. I have 2 (or 3) of them. I just miss the pictures. I like cookbooks that show you how the food should look. It is a bit more inspiring that way. (or maybe I'm just a lacker in culinary imagination).

[Finding My Self]

Beatle - if you've room and light for a big plant pot (outside is fine) and get some Perpetual Spinach seeds from anywhere that sells garden stuff....it's great; pick and pick and it just keeps on growing! Not as much as it will in spring but it will none-the-less...I must get my pots going again. Nothing like green stuff straight from pot to pot to plate!

Thanks for this tip....off to the cupboard right now!

[lushy]

Never heard of Perpetual spinach seeds. Oh the things I learn here. Thanks FMS!!

[luCKy]

I just had quinoa spaghetti yesterday. The noodles were quinoa.

[MyOwnWoman]

How was it Lucky? I think I tried quinoa-corn pasta once and gagged.
I've used to eat brown rice pasta - that is good (or maybe it was at the time because it was the first pasta I'd had in like a year, after swearing off refined flours)