FREE COOKING: Roasted Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced kinwa) has been gaining a lot of popularity among foodies and healthy freaks! It's no coincidence, since this seed packs a lot of nutrition and is incredible versatile and tasty in the kitchen!

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Quinoa's nutritional value:

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete protein source, unusual among plant foods.^[13] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration human occupied spaceflights.^[13]

I've done it many different ways, and it ALWAYS tastes great!

Here is how I made it this time:

• First I rinsed 1 cup of the seeds as directed in the package. I used a very fine strainer for that. 

• Then I decided to roast it! To do that I simply put them in a non-stick skillet until they were dry and then roasted.

• Once roasted, I reserved them aside and added a little bit of oil to the heated skillet, then added 1 finely chopped red onion to stir fry it. Once translucent I added the minced garlic (add to taste), let it cook for a few minutes, than added roasted quinoa and let it stir fry it for a few minutes as well.

• While letting the quinoa stir fry for a bit, I added the seasoning to taste. I used a seasoned garlic salt.

• Added two cups of water (2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa)and brought to a boil. Once water is almost at the level of quinoa, it's ready to cover and let it simmer.

• When the quinoa was all dry, I added chopped cilantro, green onions and lemon zest.

• Finally I added one can of kidney beans (the kind without salt added in it), half a lemon juice and additional salt to taste if needed and some black pepper to taste!

Great warm, cold, the next day! We had it by itself with lemon pepper salmon and a plain spinach salad!