Fun Fact about Quinoa

I'll get right to it. I have news about Quinoa. I heard it on a podcast the other day, shared the information with my family at Thanksgiving, no one believed me, so I went online to confirm... that QUINOA is actually a VEGETABLE. Yep. It's a cousin of spinach, chard and beets. It's a seed of the Chenopodium plant, which is a green leafy plant.

I'll let you process that for a moment.

Quinoa is often on our dinner plates as a rice or starch substitute. Honestly, I use it a lot because it cooks so fast. It's a 2/1 ratio just like rice so 2 cups liquid (water or broth) to 1 cup quinoa and in about 15-20 minutes, it's ready to go, as opposed to 45 minutes for rice.

My kids don't really notice a difference and I kind of like the nutty flavor. Plus, now that I know it's a vegetable and not a grain, I feel better about feeding it to them.

It also stores really well, too, so if you have leftovers, just put it in the fridge and use it with everything in the next couple of meals. Which brings me to my inspiration for this blog post:

Sweet Potato Chickpea Stew is the perfect cold weather hot meal. And yes, there's quinoa. Best part of this meal? From start to finish, 30 minutes. I promise. I found this on Naturally Ella's blog via Yummly and I more than doubled it (but I didn't really measure anything) so mine is "loosely" based on hers. But here's the deal:

I used 1 cup of dried quinoa, boiled in 2 cups of water. While that's boiling, I peeled & chopped 3 sweet potatoes with my carrot peeler and chopped 1 onion. I heated some olive oil in my wok and sauteed the onions with some minced garlic. Then I added the spices: cumin, ginger & salt (just a few shakes of each) and let that heat up together. Next, I threw in the chopped sweet potatoes, a can of diced tomatoes (always organic when it comes to tomatoes!!), a whole box of vegetable broth and about a cup of chickpeas. I used dried chickpeas that I soaked and boiled but rock that can opener - no judgement here. Cover all that up and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Right before serving, throw a couple handfuls of spinach in there for some extra goodness. Served with quinoa in a bowl with the stew on top.

The quinoa really made this because it soaked up some of the stewy juices. It was delicious and warming (because of the temperature and the root vegetables!) and nobody asked where the meat was. It was hearty and healthy and a new staple in our winter menu. Let me know if you try it! :)

Enjoy! Namaste.

#vegetarian #food #mealplanning #health