Quinoa

I'm always interested in eating foods that are good for you. Whether or not that relates to my diet as a whole is up for debate, but a few months ago I heard about quinoa (I had been saying it "key-no-ah" up until about six seconds ago when I found this site (http://www.quinoa.net/) that informed me it's actually pronounced "keen-wa") and I knew I wanted to try it. I'm obsessed with grains like rice and pasta as it is, but quinoa supposedly is better because it has more protein than any other grain as well as other vitamins and amino acids. So I found some at Whole Foods (even then there was only one brand that they carried, so I'm pretty sure a normal grocery store wouldn't have it) and made some tonight.



It only takes about 15 minutes to cook, which was very surprising. You really just need to let the water boil, cover, and let it sit like rice or couscous, and it turns out kind of looking like little segments of rubber bands almost. Too bad my camera is crappy, or otherwise I'd be able to prove it.



Meanwhile, I wilted some spinach and then sauteed some garlic, which I subsequently burned because I was too busy taking pictures of the quinoa. I salted that and then coarsely chopped some almonds and added that to the pan for a little toss.




After I added the spinach, garlic, and almonds to the quinoa I salted it a little more and squeezed in some fresh lemon juice, then topped it with sliced tomato.



All in all: delicious. I was thinking about adding in asparagus, but that would require walking to Jewel today and it was way too cold. I would also like any suggestions for what else to do with it. It really is so light and fluffy I would think twice about adding any type of sauce, as that might just make it too heavy. I might want to stuff it in bell peppers...I think that might be tasty too.