Quinoa Recipes

Recipe No.1: Quinoa Rice with Nutty Cinnamon.
This is a very easy dish to prepare and is one of my absolute favoured quinoa breakfast recipes. The ingredients you will need are as follows: 1 x cup skimmed milk, 1 x cup of water, 1 x cup of washed and rinsed quinoa grain, a dozen or so blueberries or strawberries, 2 x teaspoons of cinnamon (finely ground), 3 x cups of pecans (chopped)(or any other type of nut that you prefer), 4 x teaspoons of organic (or natural) nectar.
Instructions: First put the milk into a medium-sized pan, add the water and quinoa grain and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes approx, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Then stir in the chopped pecans and cinnamon. Transfer contents of the pan to a serving dish, place either the blueberries or strawberries on top of the cooked quinoa and drip over the nectar. Voila...a very simple yet extremely tasty breakfast recipe that literally takes minutes to prepare.
 Recipe No.2: Quinoa breakfast cereal.
Another very easy recipe for you is the quinoa breakfast cereal. This is probably one of the easiest dishes to prepare and takes literally minutes. The only ingredients that you will need are as follows: 1 x cup of cooked quinoa, (quinoa that has been bought to the
boil and then simmered for 15 mins) 2 apples (sliced), seedless raisins, a pinch of cinnamon, full fat milk and finally a teaspoon of honey.
Instructions: Simply mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the milk. To add a little sweetener for flavour, simply sprinkle over the cinnamon and drizzle with honey.
Recipe No 3: Peanut Butter Quinoa Recipe.
This last one of the three quinoa recipes, is what I like to prepare for the kids more than anything else, and again only takes as long as the rice to cook. The ingredients you require are: 1 x cup quinoa, 1 cup water or milk, peanut butter.
Instructions: Place the milk or water together with the cup of quinoa into a saucepan and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for approximately 15 minutes, less simmer time if you wish for the quinoa grain to have a little crunch to its texture. Add a spoonful of peanut butter to the pan and stir in. Transfer contents of the pan to a serving dish and serve hot. You can add a little garnish to this dish in the form of strawberries, sliced banana or even thin slices of honeydew melon (optional).
As you can see, cooking quinoa doesn't have to be tedious or boring, add a little variety to your meal times, and start your day with healthy quinoa breakfast recipes. There are so many things you can do when cooking quinoa that you really can be as adventurous as you desire. This is cooking at its absolute best.

No.4: Breakfast porridge.
Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa, ½ pint water (or milk), a handful of sliced or crushed almonds, honey or jam.
Instructions:
The first things you need to do are wash and rinse the quinoa grain to remove all debris and coating on the seed. Place in a pan of water (can also try boiling it in milk for extra flavour) and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and gently simmer for 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally. Transfer to a serving dish and add a few almonds (either crushed or sliced) and serve with honey or jam.
No. 5: Quinoa Paella.
Ingredients: For 2-4 servings
2 cups of quinoa, one red onion (chopped), two (crushed) garlic cloves, 1-2 teaspoons of Saffron (preferably pre-soaked in warm water), 3 cups vegetable broth, one (chopped or sliced) red and green peppers, 1 cup green peas, 1 lime, salt and pepper and finally olive oil.
Instructions:
Warm through some olive oil in an average size pan and throw in both the chopped onions and the crushed garlic. Add both green and red chopped peppers and continue to stir. When these ingredients start to soften then add the quinoa rice and fry for a couple of minutes. Next add the green peas and the soaked saffron to the mix, and finally the vegetable broth. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and gently simmer for approx 15 minutes. Transfer onto serving bowls and serve with a wedge of lime.
No. 6: Quinoa veggie soup.
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, vegetable broth 5 cups, 3 cups water, 5-10 sliced mushrooms, 2 large plum tomatoes (chopped), 1 carrot (diced), 1 stick of celery (diced), 1 finely chopped onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 green pepper (chopped and seeded), small head of cabbage (chopped), vegetable oil, small bunch parsley, salt and pepper.
Instructions:
Warm through the vegetable oil in a medium-sized pot, add the following contents: quinoa, diced celery, mushrooms, diced carrot, chopped onions, chopped peppers and crushed garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes until they begin to soften, then add the vegetable broth, chopped tomatoes, chopped cabbage head and water. Bring all the ingredients to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for approx 15 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper for flavour and then serve. Garnish with parsley for visual effect. Serves 2-4 persons.
No. 7: Vegetarian Quinoa Recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil (preferably un-toasted) if not then you can simply use olive oil, 1 cup quinoa grain (please use a dry measure of grain after you have been through the wash and rinse process) a pinch of sea salt, 5 medium-sized mushrooms (sliced ), 1 large yellow pepper (diced ), 4 chopped bok choy leaves, 1 clove of crushed ginger,1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, 1 lime (zest and juiced) 2 Tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)
Instructions:
Add the 2 cups of water to the dried quinoa grain and a pinch of sea salt, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Whilst you're cooking quinoa there is no need to stir it. You will know when it is cooked correctly as you will visibly see the translucent centre of the grain as well as the swirl pattern on the grain itself. Heat another medium-sized pan and pour in the sesame oil (un-toasted) and the sliced mushrooms, cook until soft. Next add the diced yellow pepper and stir together with the mushrooms and again cook until they become softer. Add the bok choy leaves to the mix and cook further until the green parts of the leaves begin to wilt, then add the lime zest together with the crushed ginger and a pinch of sea salt to flavour and stir all contents taking care not to make everything mushy. Finally, transfer the cooked quinoa from the first pan into the cooked vegetables and add the tamari, lime juice and sesame oil continuing to stir ingredients.
There are many different types of meals you can do with quinoa, it is great for breakfast recipes, snacks, lunch meals and main dinners, it really is that versatile and can be mixed with almost any other ingredient that you would associate with a normal rice dish.