This one is really going to throw you for a loop.  Two food-related posts in one week!  What can I say, the few times that I do cook or bake, I have to tell you about it because it is really a momentous occasion for me.

Saturday night Andy was making chicken de la parrilla (on the grill) and when I was trying to come up with a suitable side dish, I had a flashback to Sara’s bridal shower last year when her sister and friends has prepared a delicious vegan feast for the occasion.  One of her bridesmaids, Kelly, had made a dish using quinoa, something I had never heard of.

Quinoa pronounced “kwi-noa” is grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds.  It originates in the Andes region of South America.  Its protein content is 12 – 18%.

I wanted to share quinoa with Andy since I thought he would like it and it would fit into the Andy 4.0 diet (he has already lost 20 lbs!) so I decided to try and track down the recipe.

With some direction from Kelly, I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

It was pretty easy to make and is a deliciously healthy, vegan side dish chocked full of protein.  Andy enjoyed it and we plan to start incorporating it into our lunches from time to time.

Now that Belén is able to eat most foods, we decided to let her try as well.  It is hard to tell which foods she really likes, especially with the first taste, but she didn’t seem to dislike it.  I think the new texture threw her for a little bit of a loop, but she ate it.

And its kind of purty too.

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