Cooking Quinoa Serving Suggestions

If you are making an effort to be healthy, you may want to consider adding quinoa to your diet. Quinoa is a seed that is treated like a grain in cooking. It is a good source of vegetable protein, and has a complete amino acid profile.

Additionally, quinoa is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It is a good source of calcium and magnesium. This impressive nutritional profile has people everywhere claiming that quinoa is one of the healthiest foods around. But how do you cook quinoa? Here are some serving suggestions.

Serving Suggestions

Quinoa can be served at any meal. In the morning you can make a hot cereal with quinoa by adding you choice of milk, (regular, soy, almond) nuts and fruit. Or, try adding cooked quinoa to oatmeal and milk and spicing it up with cinnamon. Add your choice of seeds, nuts and fruit and you have a delicious healthy breakfast.

If you are looking to cook quinoa for lunch or dinner, there are many great alternatives. You can make a quinoa salad or try adding quinoa to stir fries. Quinoa also works great in casseroles and can be a healthy alternative to rice or pasta.

One of my favorite ways to make a quinoa dish is on the stove top. I start by sautéing some vegetables - like onions, red bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes. I then add the quinoa and toast for a minute or two. Next, I will add in 1.25 times broth as the amount of quinoa that I have used, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. (So if I use one cup of quinoa I will use 1 ¼ cups broth) I like to finish up by adding in some fresh herbs. My favorite is cilantro, (I like it spicy) but parsley, thyme and chives also work well.

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