Thursday, January 27, 2011

Quinoa on Trial

We tried quinoa for the first time tonight.  I have found that it is a nutty seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It acts like a grain, and reminded me of a cross between tapioca and couscous. It looked like beads before I cooked it and like little tiny pasta tubes when I was done. It was very interesting. I did enjoy the nuttiness.
Being a quinoa virgin, I followed a basic vegetable quinoa recipe that I found on the web.The recipe I followed was okay, but  a bit bland. I saved some of the leftovers for tomorrow so I can try to doctor it up a bit and play with the flavors a little more.
 I think quinoa would be best  used for stirfrys  and dishes with strong flavors since the quinoa basically tastes like whatever it is cooked with.  It also would probably do well as a breakfast food like oatmeal.   What I discovered it that not only is quinoa healthy and hearty, but also good for the budget. I say this because the recipe called for 1 cup of quinoa, but by the time the recipe was finished, it seemed to quadruple. We had a ton of it.
None of the kids liked it. Of course they didn't!  They are not very adventurous eaters. My husband and I liked it enough to try it again.So, it's getting a second lease on life with us, and at least for now, there remains no final judgement on its life expectancy in our household. The jury is still out.

No comments: