What the Heck is this Quinoa? Here's How I Cook It ...

Quinoa. It took me a long time to figure how you were supposed to say the word, much less how you are supposed to eat it.

Now I love quinoa as an alternative - a much healthier alternative - to rice or potatoes. Which is great, because quinoa apparently is all the rage. But I know why now.

The Wikipedia entry for quinoa is here. The grain is considered a superfood, and is full of protein, fiber, magnesium, iron and phosphorus. It's also a source of calcium and, important for me, is gluten-free. Not that you'd expect a grain to be gluten-filled, but still!


So quinoa appeals to me because it has a much more rounded nutritional profile than simple rice or potatoes. I've largely gone away from eating a lot of carbs throughout my day, but quinoa is a nice addition to the diet a couple of times a week AND the husband actually likes it. Another bonus.

But, you ask, how can you make it tasty? It does look blah when you buy it. And I was leery at first when I dipped my toe in the water. But I've found ways to cook it that add a lot of flavor and make it, in my mind, better than some of the alternatives.

1. Pineapple quinoa. I do this one the most. I found a few recipes throughout the Interwebs on pineapple quinoa, so my approach is an adaptation of those. I was excited when I found this because I have a lot of extra pineapple juice in cans, leftover from our end of the world party we held on Dec. 21 last year. (I had purchased it for hurricanes.)

Dried pineapple

• For every cup of quinoa, add 1 cup of pineapple juice and 1 cup of water. Combine those ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for up to 20 minutes. Check in a little before that to make sure it's not already finished (it cooks a lot like rice). Sometimes I have to take the cover off around 20 minutes and let the additional moisture boil off. But overall this time frame seems to work.
• In the meantime, I saute chopped onion and red pepper in a separate pan. Add garlic if you'd like. When the quinoa is done, I mix the onion and red pepper in with it, and, if I have it, I'll add slivered almonds (pre-packaged nuts are the best!).
• And the kicker for pineapple quinoa is dried pineapple. Add a good handful and mix it in. You can also add yellow raisins as an alternative, but I prefer the pineapple.
• I like to serve pineapple quinoa with either an Asian-flavored salmon or pork tenderloin.

2. Regular old quinoa, cooked in chicken broth. This one's pretty straightforward. Instead of water, cook the quinoa in chicken broth. 2 cups to every one cup of quinoa. There are conflicting reports of how much water vs. quinoa you should have, but I have found the 2:1 ratio to work pretty well.

• I usually serve this style quinoa with, no surprise, chopped up chicken. You can add any number of veggies. Onion is always good mixed in, but I love red or green pepper (sauteed), as well. I typically just add what I have in the house. And again, slivered almonds and raisins are a good addition depending on your mood.

3. Greek quinoa. I've done this one once. I made the quinoa in chicken broth, let it cool and then mixed in the ingredients found in various Greek quinoa recipes throughout the Internet. I chilled it and ate it as a salad for lunch at work the next day.

• Cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, crumbled feta cheese (add this when the mixture is cool!)
• After cooked, I added balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar, to taste.

You can buy quinoa in bulk in some stores, which is the more economical way to do it. Or buy it in bags, as the picture shows above. It's not super-cheap but it is very filling due to its protein and fiber content, so you'll find yourself satisfied with less.

Enjoy!