Beans and Quinoa

There is a recipe, that I can’t find right now, in the Engine 2 Diet recipe book that calls for beans and quinoa and several other ingredients.  My pantry is always stocked with quinoa and cans of beans, and depending on what else is on hand, these two main ingredient make a great dish that has become a once a week standby in our home.  Today I used about 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa along with a can of drained and rinsed red beans, some diced jicama, chopped red bell pepper, chopped red onion, cilantro, toasted walnuts, and flavored balsamic vinegar.

When Tessa visited here this summer, she bought me a bottle of Bordeaux cherry balsamic vinegar from a nearby store called The Olive Tap.  This vinegar is absolute perfection and doesn’t require the addition of oil because it’s not as acidic as normal balsamic vinegar.  There are only 6 of these stores in the US (Lynne, 3 are in Illinois) but perhaps there are other shops around the country that sell flavored balsamic vinegars.

Cooking quinoa usually requires 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups water that cooks to make 3 cups.  What to do with the leftover quinoa?  I had been wanting to experiment  and make a cereal for breakfast.  So with the leftover 1 1/2 cups, I first made about 1 cup oatmeal that I purposely undercooked for 1 minute with some water in the microwave.  To this I added about 3/4 cup frozen blueberries which naturally thawed quickly in the hot oatmeal, the quinoa,  one chopped apple (should have used 2),  2 TB brown sugar (is that a no-no?), and some chopped walnuts.  Mixed it all up and now breakfast is made for tomorrow morning.  My daughter already had a bowl and absolutely loved it. 

One of these days I will get the hang of photographing food.  Lynne gave me several pointers but it’s still difficult.