To quinoa or not to quinoa

To quinoa or not to quinoa?

That is the question.

At least it was last night.

Quinoa

Pronounced "Keen Wah"

I think it gets a bad rap and, actually up until recently, I had been involved with that misconception.

I would see quinoa and black bean burgers or quinoa salads on menus and wonder why anyone would want to eat "that stuff" when I really didn't know anything about "that stuff".  

This herbaceous annual plant grown as a grain crop was first domesticated about 4,000 years ago by the Andean people. This crop was held sacred by the Incas and referred to as the "mother of all grains".

Quinoa also has plenty of health benefits and is a staple in the whole food, plant based way of eating!

 Honestly, I had never tried this particular whole grain before this self-imposed challenge. Early on in this journey, I made a quinoa salad which was not appealing. Hubs ended up eating the rest of it - at least it didn't go to waste. We figured it must have been a texture thing with me. It looked pretty though.

Considering I still had about four cups of quinoa left, and I refuse to waste food, I decided to give quinoa another chance. I'm so glad I did, because not only was this recipe easy and all made in one pan,  but it was pretty good! So good that I thought I'd share the recipe with you!

One Pan Mexican Quinoa

2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tsp)

1/2 jalapeno, minced

1 cup quinoa

1 cup vegetable broth, plus 1 tablespoon

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

ground black pepper, to taste

1 avocado, diced

Juice of 1 lime

chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

1. Heat tablespoon of vegetable broth in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and jalapeno, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant.
2. Stir in quinoa, cup of vegetable broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin.Season with pepper, to taste.
3. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
4. Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro

(recipe adapted from Damndelicious.net)

To quinoa or not to quinoa?

The jury is still out but where this dish is concerned,

we're going with quinoa for the win!