Quinoa....My New Best Friend

Since I gave up refined grains a couple months ago, I've been using quinoa as a staple in my diet. I pretty much use it as a rice replacement. Besides who wants to wait almost an hour for brown rice to cook? It kind of has a nutty flavor and a couscous-like consistency. It's nutrional profile is pretty impressive: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5705/2

1 cup of Quinoa has:

over 8 grams of protein
nearly 3 mg of iron
118 mg of magnesium
2+ mg of zinc
500+ mg of omega-3
all 8 essential amino acids

Most importantly, it's easy as hell to make and I never have the problem with it being over moist or over dry like rice often turns out.

You can find quinoa in the bins section at whole foods. To cook it, all you need to do is:

1. Mix 1 cup of quinoa with 1 cup of water in a pot.
2. Bring to boil
3. cover and reduce heat
4. simmer for 15 mins.
5. done

Apparently, if you soak them for 24 hrs. before cooking, they begin to germinate, which increases the nutritional potency.

For dinner tonight, I kind of did a spin on fried rice modifying a recipe I found for a black bean quinoa dish:

Quinoa and Black Beans
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-and-Black-Beans/Detail.aspx

I followed the recipe to a tee and set it aside.

Then I grabbed a large wok and sauteed half a package of baby portabellos in a little oil. When they got soft, I tossed in the quinoa and black beans. I grabbed my mini-bottle of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, and gave the cooking quinoa and beans a few squirts. I stiry fried it for about 5 minutes and then it was ready for consumption.

Serve it with a side of steamed veggies and you're all good.