I have been dying to try quinoa for over a year. I have read about it on blogs, and heard about it in my old weight watchers meetings. It was a must try for any vegetarian because of the amount of protein in it. A few weeks ago I bought some at good old Trader Joe’s but was informed by all the recipes I looked up and by the box that you had to rinse quinoa before you cook it. I thought, how on earth do you drain it? It’s so small! Then I was at Target the other day and found the perfect quinoa strainer.
It’s exactly 1/4 cup which is the serving size! Tonight I decided to make quinoa two ways. I like to prepare my lunch for the next day while I am making dinner so I just doubled up on the quinoa and made two separate meals.
First I made Caprese Quinoa Salad (Serves 1)
Ingredients
1/4 cup quinoa
3 baby roma tomatoes
1 part skim cheese stick
1/2 of an English cucumber
5 basil leaves
dash of EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt + pepper.
First start by soaking your quinoa! Then cook it by the directions on the box, which probably say to boil water and then let it simmer until all of the liquid soaks up. While the quinoa is cooking, chop up your tomatoes, cheese stick, cucumbers and basil leaves, then set aside in a bowl. Once the quinoa is done combine it to the bowl with your other ingredients and add a dash of EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes before serving.
A few things on this… I am addicted to the tomato, mozzarella, basil combo. Addicted. But, I generally can’t eat 15 servings of mozzarella cheese by myself before it spoils, so I started buying cheese sticks. I am brilliant because I don’t waste and it’s instant portion control. Also after Caitlin mentioned she bought a basil plant and didn’t kill it, I decided I would too when I saw they were just as cheap as a bunch of basil. It’s been two days and it’s still alive and DELICIOUS!
Then after I ate, it got darker, and I made Tofu Quinoa Stir Fry.
Ingredients
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 a block of Trader Joe’s Teriyaki tofu
1 cup sugar snap peas
This starts the same as the recipe above by soaking your quinoa! Then cook it by the directions on the box.While the quinoa is cooking, chop up your veggies and your tofu. Once the quinoa is done, throw everything into a pan and cook until veggies are soft. I say veggies because this would be good with more than sugar snap peas, but I couldn’t figure out what else to put in it.
Have you ever cooked with quinoa? What did you make?
Tags: caprese salad, dinner, Lunch, meals for one, quinoa, tofu, vegetarian
I like making breakfast quinoa! With honey and apples and cinnamon. I never thought of doing it caprese style, brilliant!
It was delicious! You’ve gotta try it!
We love quinoa and buy ours from TJ’s too! Both of your quinoa recipes look great!!
I LOVE quinoa!! It is one of my favorite things to make. It stores well in the fridge and can easily be turned into any sort of recipe. Glad you liked it so much!!
I want to try some quinoa too. Maybe this upcoming week will be the week.
You have to try it, it’s so easy and versatile!!
Thanks for stopping by!
I am so addicted to quinoa after buying a huge bag of it at Costco last month. I like hot quinoa but cold quinoa salad like yours is my favorite
I tried it hot yesterday… I heated up the tofu stir fry and I have to say I think it might be better hot! It had much more of a taste heated up.
haha…when i read the title of the post i immediately thought of Top Chef (er, do you watch? they always make things “two ways”….)i’ve never tried quinoa but everyone keeps talking about it. it must be good!