Monday, October 22, 2012

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. 

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

8 comments:

  1. We do love quinoa. It may be my imagination, but it feels like there isn't the crash we get after some grains (especially wheat). Is that because it's more proteinous?

    We just got our lipid profiles and glucose done after about six months of being whole-food vegan (and four of juicing). Very encouraging!

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  2. Oh, do tell us the numbers! This will encourage others too.

    I had not thought about it, but you are right in that I never feel a crash after quinoa either. Just looked up the numbers and quinoa has 6 grams of protein per 1/4 cup and white flour has 4 grams. 29 carbs vs 35.

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  3. I posted them here with a cute chart. They go like this:

    Total: from 254 to 192
    HDL: steady - 51 to 50
    LDL: 179 to 117
    tri: steady 120 to 125
    glucose: 99 to 90

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  4. Awesome! Bet you really love that LDL number.

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  5. Every time I eat out, I almost always wind up with a dish featuring quinoa. I always like it and tell myself I need to look for recipes so I can cook it at home more...but I've still only remembered to cook it a couple of times at home so far! Well, thanks for reminding (and tempting) me to eat more quinoa!

    I've got to check out that flavored vinegar too! Ahhh, still so many vegan recipes to try out and explore!

    p.s. I think your food pic looks very appetizing! Great job!

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  6. Quinoa is a seed, not a grain. It is a complete protein source and is gluten-free. The body does not convert it to sugars the way it does with wheat, therefore, no crash.

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