Salad Fit for a Quinoa

Queen-oh-ah…Queen-wee-wah…Kan-oh-a.

How in the grain do you pronounce this ingredient, you say?  Yes, we’ve heard you speak all of these iterations and we’ve used them all ourselves at one time or another.  So, we wanted to give you once and for all the most common pronunciation.  (We are not ones to say ‘the correct’ pronunciation, because we don’t really care how you pronounce it ~ we just want you to experience this delicious, nutritious grain-like seed.)

We know that some of our ingredients are awkward to say, and adopting a new way of eating can feel like learning a new language.   For me, this was reminiscent of marrying into the Army life.  The phonetic alphabet is actually pretty cool, but all those acronyms left me confused and on edge.  We’d leave a party and I’d ask Brian if I was privy to classified information about 9/11 or was I being invited to go grocery shopping on post? 

Keen-wah

So there it is.  Quinoa.  A grain-like seed that might as well have its own crown and action figure.  Per heaping handful, it offers 14 g of protein with a balanced set of essential amino acids (making it a complete protein) and is also high in fiber, magnesium, and iron.  Food fit for a Queen. 

We thought you might enjoy as we begin this early summer.  Fresh mint.  Lime juice.  Why, it’s practically a mojito in a bowl.

Ingredients:

1 c dry quinoa

1/4 c organic extra virgin olive oil

Juice from 2 limes

2-3 fresh mint sprigs, leaves removed and chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 chopped scallions

1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

1-2 cloves minced garlic

Step 1:  Cook the dry quinoa according to instructions (typically 2 - 2 1/2 cups of water per 1 cup quinoa).  We used our rice cooker.

Step 2:  Combine all ingredients with cooked quinoa in a bowl and toss lightly.

Step 3:  Cover and chill.