Southwest Quinoa

We buy our chicken stock in bulk, in those 4 cup containers so unless I have something planned for the whole thing, I hate opening one.  This time after making a homemade soup last week, we had just the right amount to use up with some quinoa.  I have been meaning to try it for oh, say about a year now.  It’s one of those health food buzz words you hear a lot of today.  It has a lot of benefits including antioxidants, high fiber, and higher protein for a grain (although it’s technically a seed). I still need to perfect my method for rinsing the quinoa to remove the bitter coating.  I used a coffee filter, but it wasn’t foolproof.

Anyway, this is a pretty basic recipe that you could add a lot of other things to like bell peppers, spicy peppers like jalapenos, or other veggies.  I just used some things I had on hand. 

One adaptation was using a can of diced tomatoes instead of the two cans of black beans called for.  Next time I will also add something green like a green bell pepper, jalapenos, or green onion/scallion mostly because I like things to be shiny and pretty and pleasing to the eye.

Needs some green, don’t you think?

Southwest Quinoa
adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients:
1 T. Olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable to keep it vegetarian)
1-2 t. ground cumin
1/2 - 1 T. cayenne pepper (adjust for your level of heat)
1/2 – 1 T. chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro or scallion (I left this out)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in garlic and onion and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with broth.  Season with cumin, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat  and add in canned tomatoes, then simmer about 20 minutes. (I did this until liquid had cooked mostly off and quinoa was getting fluffy).
3. Stir in frozen corn to pan, and continue to simmer another 5 minutes until heated through.  Add black beans and cilantro or scallion. 

Makes 8 generous servings as a side.

Nutrition facts for whole recipe:
Calories: 1448
Fat: 29g
Carbs: 240g
Protein: 58g

For 1/8th recipe:
Calories: 181
Fat: 3.6g
Carbs: 30g
Protein: 7.25g