fivemonkeys

The March 2009 issue of Runner’s World has an article titled “In With the New” in which they list a number of food alternatives. Perfect considering I’ve been on the hunt. I’ll cover most of them at some point but today is all about Quinoa.

Quinoa, pronounce “keen-wa”, a food considered more valuable than gold to the Incas, has all but disappeared from most modern pantries; But that should change. Quinoa is a grain like no 0ther. While most grains are deficient in the amino acid, lysine. Quinoa has an adequate quantity of lysine as well as the other essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. Additionally, quinoa has high amounts of fiber, magnesium, iron, tryptophan, copper, and phosphorus making it much more nutrient dense than other grains.

Once cooked, quinoa has a nice nutty flavor with a much softer texture than, say, brown rice. I I really enjoyed the change. And knowing how much more nutritious it is, it will definately be staying in our pantry and standing in for some of our lesser grains.

Cooking Quinoa:

Cooking quinoa is super easy.

1. Thoroughly rinse 1 cup of quinoa. (There is a bitter coating on it which needs to be rinsed off.)
2. Bring 2 cups of liquid to a boil. (I used chicken stock but you could just use water.)
3. Add a little salt to the water for flavor
4. Add quinoa to water
5. Cover, drop heat, and simmer for 15 – 20 min.
6. Fluff with a fork and serve

Quinoa with Chicken and Veggies:

• 1 small zuchinni, diced
• 1 small yellow squash, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• handful of mushrooms, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large chicken breast, cooked, diced
• olive oil

Instructions:

I used some chicken that I had already grilled. Dice the chicken and all of the veggies into little pieces. Heat oil in a large skillet on med-high. Add garlic and onion. Once onion is translucent, add the rest of the veggies and mix together. When everything is just about cooked to your liking, add the chicken to warm.

Serve over the quinoa you made from above.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under food, nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.