Quinoa Health Tips - Great Quinoa Recipes » Quinoa Recipes

Quinoa With Spaghetti Squash and Dill-Almond Pesto

Ken — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:24:36 +0000

Quinoa With Spaghetti Squash and Dill-Almond Pesto.

This recipe is quite different from all my recipes. I love Spaghetti Squash and never thought to base any Quinoa Recipes on it.

The recipe was created by Peggy Lampman and is used with permission. See her own recipe site here – dinnerfeed.com

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash
1 1/2 cups quinoa; black, red or white
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup packed finely chopped fresh dill
1/3 cups sliced almonds
1/3 cup chopped feta

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375?.
Prick the whole squash in several places, about 12 times, with a skewer or other sharp pointed object. Place whole squash on a baking sheet on middle rack of oven; roast 1 hour.
While squash is roasting, in a medium-sized saucepan, bring stock and quinoa to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, 15-30 minutes. Toss cooked quinoa with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season to taste with kosher salt, if desired, and freshly ground pepper.
Meanwhile, make a pesto by combining garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, dill and feta.
When squash is baked and cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise with a sharp knife. Scoop the seeds and fibrous strings from the center of the squash and discard.
Scrape the prongs of a kitchen fork over the squash flesh to shred the pulp into spaghetti-like strands. You should have 3-4 cups.
In 4-6 serving bowls or dishes, divide quinoa, then top with shredded squash and center a spoonful of pesto on top of the squash.

Squash Roast Time: 1 hour

Active Time: 30 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 4-6 main course servings

Bean And Quinoa Salad

Ken — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:39:33 +0000

This article and the excellent Bean And Quinoa Salad Recipe are taken from The Home Organics Website and used with permission – Thank you Sarah.

Quinoa. You’ve heard of it, mispronounced it even (next time say “keen-wah”). So just what is it? Well, it’s a seed that you eat like a grain, sort of like cous cous or, indeed, rice. It’s texture is curiously tender yet crunchy and tastewise it’s gorgeously nutty. The really big news though is that it is a nutritionist’s dream, with an almost perfect balance of amino acids and a high protein content (12%) which makes it a brilliant food for vegetarians and vegans. The combination of manganese and copper make it a brilliant antioxidant (it makes you look younger!) plus it has tons of iron. I could go on but really the bottom line is that you need to get this into your weekly repetoire. As soon as.

Don’t panic about how to cook it – it’s quick and very easy (David Lynch in a wonderfully out there quinoa cooking class advises a glass of wine while “all the little quinoas” bubble away) plus you can make it in advance. I cook it in the same way I prepare cous cous - I lightly toast it on the pan then add hot water and let it bubble way for about 15 minutes until tender. Each seed sprouts a little “tail” and when that happens it’s cooked.

For a very healthy yet surprisingly moreish lunch, I often have a bowl with a couple of onions pan-fried in butter til golden and almost mushy stirred through then topped with a handful of steamed broccoli florets with lots of black pepper and a generous pinch of Maldon. Salads are another way to go and everything you can do with cous cous you can do here. Last night I took what were probably the last of this summer’s runner beans, cherry vine tomatoes, black Greek olives, some salty feta and a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds and put them together to make a very satisfying side to go with a courgette omelette. Today, I’ve just finished a bowl of the leftovers for lunch.

To keep things light I used a lemon dressing with a little balsamic thrown in for a depth. If you’re making this to have for lunch the next day you can dress it in advance but you might want to add a little extra lemon juice before you eat as the citrus bite tends to dissipate over night.

Quinoa salad with runner beans, cherry vine tomatoes, olives and feta topped with toasted pumpkin seeds

You’ll need:

1 cup quinoa

250gr runner beans – topped and tailed and cut into narrow (1.5cm) diagonal strips

300gr cherry vine tomatoes washed and quartered

A large handful black olives very roughly chopped

200gr feta cheese

A handful pumpkin seeds lightly toasted on a dry pan

For the dressing:

The juice of one lemon (slightly less if it’s a really big one)

1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Begin with the quinoa – toast it on a pan over a lowish heat until it starts to change colour slightly. Add 3 cups of hot water, stir well adding a generous pinch of salt. Allow things to settle down to a simmer. Cook for about 12 minutes until the quinoa is almost tender and the aforementioned tails are starting to appear. Add the beans and cover for about 2 minutes to let them steam. At this stage the water should be completely absorbed, the quinoa grains light and fluffy and the beans al dente. Let things cool down a bit while you put the dressing together. Mix the juice, balsamic and oil together and add a generous pinch of salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. To finish things off, add the tomatoes, olives and most of the pumpkin seeds to the quinoa and beans. Stir in the dressing and, finally crumble in the feta. Top with the rest of the pumpkin seeds and you’re ready to serve.

Quinoa Salad With Tuna

Ken — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:59:09 +0000

Quinoa salads are probably the easiest way to enjoy quinoa. You prepare the quinoa in the normal way. Take one cup of quinoa and bring it to the boil in 2 cups of water. Simmer the quinoa for 12 – 15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Then let it cool for an hour.

While you are waiting for the quinoa to cool you can turn your mind to the other ingredients you are going to add to your salad. This quinoa recipe uses tuna but you could use any fish that you have in your kitchen. Salmon chunks or sardines are great options for this salad.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

2 cups boiling water (See above instructions to prepare the quinoa)

3 Tomatoes cubed

Half a cucumber cubed

1 red pepper diced

1 green pepper diced

2 Handfuls of Salad leaves or Lettuce

1 can Tuna in chunks

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 Handful Chopped Parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Prepare the quinoa using the method shown above. Cool it and then fluff it up ready to add the other ingredients. Add the Tomatoes, Cucumber, Peppers, Parsley and Tuna. Mix together well. Sprinkle the Olive Oil and the Lemon Juice and mix it together once more.

If you wish you can add salt and pepper to taste but you do not really need it with all the flavours of the Tuna mixing with the salad ingredients.

Serve on a bed of salad leaves.

Red Dragon Quinoa Pie

Ken — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:10:12 +0000

This recipe not only has a great name. It also is an adaptation of a classic English recipe – Shepherds Pie. The aduki beans make up the Red Dragon Element. You can substitute other types of beans you have to hand if you prefer.

Red Dragon Quinoa Pie – Ingredients

4 oz (110g) aduki beans ( this is the red dragon)
3 oz (75g) cooked quinoa
tbspn oil
1 onion peeled and chopped
2 carrots scrubbed and diced
2 tbspns soy sauce
2 tbspns tomato puree
1 tspn dried mixed herbs or 2 of fresh
275 ml aduki bean stock**(½pint )
ground black pepper
1 lb (450g) peeled potatoes
butter to mash
METHOD **keep the stock

Wash the beans and soak overnight. drain and rinse them and bring to the boil in one litre fresh water. cook for 50 mins or until they are fairly soft. drain but reserve the stock**

Heat the oil and fry onions for a few minutes then the carrots. Add the cooked beans and quinoa. mix the soy sauce,tomato puree and herbs with the bean stock** and pour this over the beans and vegetables. boil gently 20/30 mins,season to taste at the end of cooking. If mixture is dry, add some boiling water. Place in a pie or casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes. return the dish to the oven to brown the potatoes. This dish can be frozen for later before covering with the potatoes.

To speed up cooking, other beans or peas in tins can be used instead of red aduki but of course this would not be the acclaimed red dragon.

Bea Jones 2011 ( ack.Sarah Brown)

Quinoa stir-fry with kale chilli and nuts

Ken — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:47:23 +0000

Even the great Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has discovered the benefits of cooking seeds and grains. There are a number of recipes at the guardian website here
. I have reproduced the quinoa one here. There are 2 other excellent recipes using bulgar and cous cous.

This makes a tasty, quick meal when hot, but it’s also good packed into a container and eaten cold at lunchtime. Serves two.

100g almonds or cashews
200g quinoa
5 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled, halved and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled, halved and finely sliced
1 small red chilli, seeds and membrane removed, finely sliced
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
140g kale (or chard), shredded
150ml vegetable stock
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Soy sauce, optional

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Place the almonds or cashews on a baking sheet and bake until slightly golden and fragrant, stirring once, about six to eight minutes. Leave to cool and chop very roughly.

Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet. While it’s cooking, warm three tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then add the onions and fry until softened and beginning to turn golden. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger, and sauté for a couple of minutes. Throw in the kale and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and simmer until the kale is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the quinoa, remaining oil, lemon zest and juice, and stir to combine. Finally add the nuts, season to taste and serve hot or cold, with a splash of soy sauce, if you like.

Quinoa Spinach and Parmesan Recipe

Ken — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:18:23 +0000

Robin Benzle has a weekly recipe channel on youtube. She sent me this great quinoa recipe. It is so simple and easy to make.
I went to my supermarket here in Bracknell and all the ingredients were there sitting on the shelf. OK – I couldn’t find the Parmesan Cheese without asking – but it was there. Just very well hidden.
The ingredients are Quinoa, Spinach, Olive Oil, Parmesan Cheese and tomatoes. I would not have made as much as this as I only usually cook for 2. I often think that American portion sizes are much bigger than English portion sizes.

The other important thing to notice is how easy the recipe is to adapt. Quinoa recipes are very easy to alter and change to suit the ingredients you have to hand. I like to use fresh vegetables with my recipes. So I would include whatever I had ready to pick from my vegetable plot at the time.

Sweet Asian Quinoa Salad

Ken — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:54:31 +0000

This gem of a quinoa recipe is a good example of how to use quinoa in a favourite recipe. Instead of using rice quinoa has been added as the grain part of the recipe. The mix of savoury and sweet flavours is lovely and not too tart.

I would probably reduce the cooking time by 3 minutes for the quinoa. This is because I like my quinoa a little crunchy. Cooking quinoa for 15 minutes makes is very soft and fluffy. This is fine if you like it that way.

There are many ways you could vary this recipe to accommodate what you have to hand. You could use any salad leaf or rocket instead of the spinach. You could also change the orange and orange juice for lemon and lime to give it a sharper flavour.

The onion could be changed to shallots

Ingredients:
Salad Ingredients

4 cups baby spinach

1 cup quinoa

1 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup mango, diced
½ cup green onion, chopped
Asian Dressing Ingredients
1/3 cup rice vinegar
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange juice, freshly squeezed
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon orange zest

Directions:
1. Rinse quinoa thoroughly, place one cup quinoa in a sauce pan with two cups of cold water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and turn down the heat to a low simmer.
2. Let cook for about 15 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat. Fluff quinoa with a fork and set aside to cool.
3. In a small bowl combine all dressing ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. In a large bowl combine quinoa, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and mango.
5. Pour dressing over salad and mix.
6. Let the salad sit for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.
7. Serve salad on top of a bed of baby spinach and garnish with green onions.

You Seen The Quinoa Recipe – Here’s The Movie

Ken — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:50:40 +0000

I put this video up on you-tube a few days ago and it has proved very popular from day one.

Its the same quinoa flakes recipe I wrote about last week but I know many people like the visual presentations more.

I’m currently updating The Quinoa Cookbook to add some new recipes and get rid of the typos that I have noticed. As I have said before, Quinoa is being discovered by more and more people daily and they are learning the benefits of quinoa themselves.
The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes

Quinoa Flakes Fruit and Nut Bar

Ken — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:09:46 +0000

This quinoa snack bar has proved to be one of the most popular in the Quinoa Cookbook. This is a simpler version of the recipe. When the book is updated this will replace the original version.

Packet of Quinoa Flakes

The combination of flavours is fantastic. A batch of 24 quinoa flakes bars like this only lasts a couple of days in our house.

In the UK I can only buy my quinoa flakes online. The infinity foods brand shown in the picture was bought from Baldwins.co.uk

Ingredients.

1 cup (150gm) Mixed dried fruit

Juice from one large orange

5 drops vanilla Essence

4 tablespoons butter

3 cups (250gm) Quinoa Flakes

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup brown or demerera sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs.

Method

To make this recipe you make a dry mix with some of the ingredients and a liquid mix with the rest of them. At the end you combine them together.

1. Soak the dried fruit in the orange juice and vanilla essence for an hour.

Soaking Dried Fruit in Orange Juice and Vanilla Essence

2. After an hour you can then start preparing the dry mix.

3. Melt the butter gently on the hob until it has melted. Then switch the heat off.

Melting The Butter

4. Add the chopped walnuts to the butter.

Add Chopped Walnuts To Butter

5. Then add the quinoa flakes and mix together thoroughly so that everything is blended together evenly.

Mixing in the Quinoa Flakes

6. Take this mix and put it into a mixing bowl. Add in the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Mix well for a minute or so.

Add The Sugar, salt and cinnamon

7. Leave this mix to one side and return to the fruit mix. Add the 2 eggs to the fruit and mix together well.

Add Eggs To Fruit

8. Put the 2 mixes together in the mixing bowl and combine them completely together.

Combine Quinoa Flakes Mix With The Fruit Mix

9. Press the mixture into a well greased baking tin. Make sure the mix has an even depth in the baking tin.

Quinoa Cookies Ready For The Oven

10. Cook the quinoa cookies for 15 minutes on a medium heat (I use 170 degrees) until they start to turn brown. Do not over cook them.

11. Take out the cookies and cut them into squares. Cool them on a cooling rack. The are ready to eat as soon as they are cool.

Quinoa Flakes Fuit and Nut Bar

Red Quinoa Waldorf Salad With Italian Pan Fried Chicken

Ken — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:12:33 +0000

This recipe is the first one I know will be included in the new book “Quinoa Recipes For Gourmets”. I don’t know how long it will take to prepare the book but in the meantime you can give this quinoa salad recipe a try.

I have used red quinoa because I like to have a mix of colours in my meals. You can use standard quinoa if you can’t get hold of the red quinoa.
Make sure you allow time for the quinoa to cool and the Waldorf Salad To rest before serving.

Ingredients

Waldorf Salad Ingredients

1/2 cup of red quinoa (3 oz approx)
1 cup of water (6 fl oz Approx)
Handful of grapes seedless
15 walnuts chopped
Juice of one Lemon
2 sticks of celery chopped
I Eating Apple – I use Red Empire
Green Salad To serve with

Dressing Ingredients – Either 5 Tablespoons of Low Fat Mayonaise OR

I ripe Avocado
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Oil
I Garlic Clove Crushed
Juice of one Lemon

Italian Pan Fried Chicken Ingredients

1 Chicken breast sliced into small strips
I garlic clove Crushed
Handfull of fresh Basil leaves
1 large Ripe tomato pureed
Small amount of olive oil for the pan

Method

1 1/2 Hours before serving the meal prepare the Quinoa. Rinse the Quinoa Well and put into a saucepan with the water. Bring the quinoa to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes. The quinoa will absorb all the water.
Cool for 1/2 an hour.

If you are making your own dressing simply place all the ingredients into a blender and blend for 1 minute.

When the quinoa has cooled mix it together with all the Waldorf Salad Ingredients. Then add the dressing and mix in thoroughly so that the dressing covers everything.
Put the Salad in a cool place for 20 minutes while you prepare the chicken. The 20 minutes will allow all the flavours to fuse togehter in the salad.

To cook the chicken start by warming the olive oil gently in the pan. Place the chicken strips in the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Add the flavouring ingredients and mix together in the pan. Bring the italian chicken mix to almost boiling and then simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Serve the Red Quinoa Waldorf Salad With the Italian on a bed of green salad leaves.

Quinoa Health Tips - Great Quinoa Recipes » Quinoa Recipes

Quinoa With Spaghetti Squash and Dill-Almond Pesto

Recommended Reading

Bean And Quinoa Salad

Recommended Reading

Quinoa Salad With Tuna

Recommended Reading

Red Dragon Quinoa Pie

Recommended Reading

Quinoa stir-fry with kale chilli and nuts

Recommended Reading

Quinoa Spinach and Parmesan Recipe

Recommended Reading

Sweet Asian Quinoa Salad

Recommended Reading

You Seen The Quinoa Recipe – Here’s The Movie

Recommended Reading

Quinoa Flakes Fruit and Nut Bar

Recommended Reading

Red Quinoa Waldorf Salad With Italian Pan Fried Chicken

Recommended Reading