Quinoa Bowls

Today I am going to share with you a delicious recipe. It is so easy and SO healthy it’s going to blow your mind! It’s based with quinoa (yes, I am a supporter of the quinoa craze) and then topped with just about any fresh veggie you have available. Have you ever had Hawaiian Haystacks? My mother makes those a lot when she has company over. People always rave about it, but my humble mother will always reply with, “You made it yourself”! Touché, mom. You win. Well, this is kind of the same deal here where you just add whatever toppings you like, chow down, and give yourself all the credit.

Quinoa Bowl

4 elements:

•    Quinoa
•    Beans, corn and onions
•    Protein of your choice
•    Veggies

Quinoa: prepare as the package tells you. (Put 1 ½ cups water in a small pot with 3/4 cup dry quinoa. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat off, put the lid on, and let it sit there on the stove until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is soft -apx. 10 minutes).

Beans, corn and onions: Sauté onions/shallots in olive oil until translucent. Add in 1 can of drained and rinsed black beans and 1 can of frozen or drained, canned corn. Salt and pepper. Sauté until beans are cooked through (apx. 7 minutes).

Protein: Tofu: press the tofu. This means you put a paper towel under a brick of tofu and then something heavy on top to press out the water. This makes it easier to brown and get the edges crispy and delicious. Keep wringing out the paper towel on the bottom until the tofu is pretty dry. Then dice the tofu in small-ish cubes. Put tofu in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then either cumin & garam masala or old bay seasoning- you choose. Sauté in the same pan you cooked the onion/bean mixture in. Cook until crispy and brown on the edges.

Veggies: Dice and chop up what you like. Here are my suggestions: cucumber, green pepper, red pepper, celery, spinach, shredded carrot, avocado, CILANTRO, tomato, olives, toasted sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

There are so many flavors in this recipe that you don’t even need a dressing! If you would like to top it all with a squeeze of lime juice, that is a fantastic addition.

 Or here is a simple Sesame Lime Vinaigrette recipe that you can make in a cruet:

Sesame Lime Vinaigrette

• 1/3 Cup fresh Lime juice
• 1 T. Sugar
• ¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 T Sesame Oil
• 1 t. grated ginger