Quinoa
There are 2 types of quinoa I use, the red and the
white. I get the red from trader joes.
So quinoa tastes a little seedy, but we add enough
vegetables and crap to it where it’s pretty much a really healthy filler.
You’ll notice after eating it a few times you feel pretty good after it and do
not get hungry like with rice. There are
a few tricks to cooking it well. First,
you have to rinse it before you cook it. The outsides have a bitter chemical on
them to keep predators away and you will taste it if you don’t soak or rinse
them quinoa under cold water for a minute or two. I do this in a strainer - http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20100426-essential-kitchen-hand-strainer.jpg
Work your hands through it to make sure you’re rinsing all
of the quinoa. I normally cook 1 cup of
it plain, at a time and eat it over 2 or 3 diff meals. I just boil it in water with a little bit of
salt, but you could do chicken broth if you were having trouble with the taste. The other trick
with quinoa is not to make it mushy, so like rice, when you are boiling it, you
don’t want to mash it around. Never use a spoon, try not to stir unless
needed, but use a fork if necessary. I boil it in a medium sized
saucepan.
Quinoa requires 2 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa and the
method is to bring the water and quinoa up to a hard boil, then reduce down to
low heat and cover with a lid. Wait for
all of the water to evaporate. .
They’re normally ready to eat when this white spiral explodes in each
grain. I don’t like mine soggy so I
normally add a touch less water. After cooking quinoa I set it aside and then add it to
dishes like sautéed spinach,black beans, chilli, broccoli,
asparagus, kale.
Some good combos
- Black Bean, Corn , Cilantro, Avocado, Lime
- Chili- Kidney Bean, Tomato, Onion
- Spinach Pesto
- Italian Herbed- basil, parsley, lemon
- Greek Salad- Tomato Cucumber Olive Onion
- Lemon, Dill, Parsley
- Tabouli- Lemon, Parsley, Onion, Tomato, Cilantro
- Lentils and yogurt
- Broccoli Lemon
- Asparagus,Mushroom, Garlic
- Green Onion, Mushroom, Tofu, Soy Sauce
- Cauliflower Yogurt
- Swiss Chard/Kale
Farro
Farro has a nice brown rice type taste and is easy to cook,
hard to mess up. Rinse it well , just
like the quinoa and then we boil it in salt water at a 3 to 1 water to grain
ratio. This cooks like rice, so the
water will be absorbed when it’s finished..
Normally I just keep this on the side and add veggies and stuff. It can
be eaten cold, warm, sprinkled on salads or even cooked in soups.
Some good combos
- Lemon Olive Oil
- Tabouli- Parsley Lemon Tomato Onion
- Broccoli
- Sauteed Fennel
- Tomato Basil
- Spinach Tomato
- Mushroom
- Basil Pesto
- Spinach
- Tuna Basil Tomato Onion Capers
- Peas Asparagus
- Arugula Ricotta
- Eggplant Shallot
- Leeks and Mushrooms
- Swiss Chard and Yogurt
- Artichoke- Lemon Spinach
- Mushroom and Swiss Chard
- Cauliflower