Using Quinoa

One of the items I selected last month was tri coloure quinoa

• 3 varieties of 100% pure quinoa grain.
• Full of protein.
• A good source of Iron, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus.
• Sourced in accordance with fair trade guidelines.

Quinoa is a little plant seed that has properties and uses similar to larger cereal crops. This packet contains three types of quinoa: red, white and black. There are no colourings or additives in this product, just 100% quinoa grain.

Quinoa is naturally gluten free and a good source of protein. It can be used to bulk out soups and stews as well as being used instead of rice and cous cous. You could even use quinoa as a stuffing or gently roast it and add to your breakfast cereal.

So first of all I followed the instructions to boil the quinoa for ten minutes, once cooked I stirred a tub of yoghurt kebab sauce threw it  that we had in the fridge, and served it with some Cumberland sausages. The quinoa itself is pretty tasteless, looks like couscous and has the same consistency.









Next up I decided to try something different, well why not?  Not a lot of point in copying existing recipes so I tried something different.

So I cooked some up in orange juice along with a mixture of dried fruits (cherries, mixed fruits , and aronia berries) and left it to go cold, a fruity rice pudding type idea. The consistency was nice, the flavour was obviously fruity and the dried fruits were plump and juicy and enhanced the quinoa. I served this with a few fresh strawberries, and OH topped his with whipped cream.
Makes a pleasant change from a milky rice pudding.







With some of the remaining fruity quinoa I thought I would add some to a normal cake and it gave it a beautiful flavour, and added some goodness and did not affect its texture at all.

Next I thought I would try it in a milk loaf, thought  a loaf would make a pleasant change from a cake, and a sweet loaf would go nicely with the fruity quinoa.

add 15 oz warm milk to a bread maker,  mix 2 teaspoon salt through 700g Kamut flour and pour on top of the milk. Dice 2oz butter and add to bread maker along with 1 tablespoon sugar and a sachet of easy blend dried yeast. Choose a sweet bread cycle and add the fruity quinoa near the end of the cycle. I added mine too early and it got broken up.

Lastly I added some cooked quinoa (none fruity) to a mixture of 2 eggs, 4 oz milk, 2oz grated cheese and a handful of sweetcorn. Some of this I cooked in a dish and sliced and served cold with lettuce and tomato. I also made some into "easy pies".








Easy eggy quinoa pies

use a rolling pin and flatten out a slice of bread. Butter the bread, and cut the slice in half. Place it butter side down into a muffin tin, add a squirt of barbeque or tomato sauce, and then add the egg mixture and cook at 180 oC for 20mins until set. These are nice eaten either hot or cold.

If you have any other ideas please feel free and share them.