HEALTH, HAPPINESS & HOTTNESS: 10/25/11

I love quinoa because its so simple, yet incredibly beneficial to our health. Many assume that quinoa is a grain, but it is actually a seed that has been eaten for over 5,000 years! This gluten-free superfood provides plenty of protein, fiber, calcium, magnesium, antioxidants, potassium, iron, amino acids, the list goes on! Many health problems such as diabetes, certain cancers, infections and muscle strains can be cured with quinoa as well. I've been looking forward to creating my own quinoa meal for quite some time, but I haven't cooked a new dish without a step-by-step recipe before. I need to practice my Housewife skills in the kitchen more often, that's for sure!

I decided to put together a recipe of my own to try, and it just so happens that I got the dish right the first time, whew! I apologize for the low-quality photo and lack of proper presentation, but I haven't gotten my hands on a decent digital camera yet. I completely freestyled this, so the measurements are based on what worked for me, and you can add and subtract based on the amount you will be eating. The total amount from this recipe serves about four because I wanted to make extra so that I could store the rest in the fridge to use in other dishes. Quinoa fills you up so that its much easier to consume in smaller portions, which is definitely a plus! Remember: The smaller the serving dishes, the smaller the portions.

'NUTS ABOUT QUINOA'

This tastes so much better than it looks, I promise!

Ingredients:

Remember to keep it organic!

1 cup of quinoa (rinsed)

1 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 clove of garlic (sliced or chopped)

5 cherry tomatoes (sliced)

1 zucchini (chopped or grated)

1 sprinkle of kosher salt

2 sprinkles of ground black pepper

2 tbs olive oil

1 sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Fyi: a "sprinkle" is a bit more than a "pinch", and its best to add it to your hand first to get the right amount.

Directions:

1) Add water, quinoa and a pinch of salt to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Salt? Yes, it somehow causes the water to boil more quickly and works every time! Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to "low" and cover the pan until the quinoa has soaked up all of the water, which usually takes about 15 minutes. Once ready, turn off the heat and keep the quinoa covered.

2) Heat the olive oil in a skillet at medium heat, then add the walnuts and garlic and stir until you have toasted nuts. Mmmmmmm toasty!

3) Add zucchini, tomatoes, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to the skillet and stir until slightly tender.

4) Remove the saucepan and skillet from the stove and either spoon the quinoa into a bowl followed by "the goodies" or mix it all together beforehand. Due to the fact that I had extra quinoa, I added "the goodies" after spooning some into a bowl and stored the rest in the fridge.

5) Add the fresh thyme and enjoy!

Like all of my other personal writing and photos, this is property of http://HealthHappinessandHottness.blogspot.com.

Last night I attended the screening of the documentary 'What's on Your Plate' for Food Day (http://foodday.org) and found it to be very informative and entertaining. I had the pleasure of watching the film with Max Goldberg of http://livingmaxwell.com, and he wrote a great review: http://livingmaxwell.com/whats-on-your-plate-documentary. I am so inspired to work with children more, we must do what we can to decrease childhood obesity, diabetes and other terrible diseases caused by poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Let's support local farming so that these kids can eat healthy in school, too - no more "mystery meat" and soggy veggies! Check out the site and get involved! http://whatsonyourplateproject.org