can you say 'quinoa?'

in this post i will pretend to be one of you cooker people.
who make beautiful things to eat...
and know what you're doing in the kitchen.

seriously, those who know me, know cooking isn't my thing.
i love good food and i even enjoy making a good meal from time to time,
but generally, i'd rather someone else make my food.

the problem with this feeling of mine is
that i struggle to prep good healthy meals for myself.
i'd rather just eat leftover pizza or the crusts from my kids sandwiches
then take the time to prepare a salad.

that's why i love this meal.
i can prepare it and eat it for a few days!
the bonus is that it's really good for you and yummy.

so now i will share how to make my new favorite lunch:

fiesta quinoa! 

(i just made up that name.)

(as well as making up the dish.)

this is quinoa dry:

have you had or heard of quinoa yet?

if not, it's pronounced "keen-wah."

i'm just trying to help you out so you don't mispronounce it

the first time you order it or ask the grocery store helper to show you where it is.

not that i've ever done either.

this is the description of it off the box from trader joe's:

basically, it cooks the same way as rice.

two parts water / one part quinoa

for this recipe i used 1 1/2 cups quinoa.

3 cups water.

if you have a trader joe's near you,

and you are actually wanting to use this recipe,

you'll be happy because a few other ingredients from it

were purchased there.

if you don't have a trader joe's near you,

you'll be okay. (i guess.)

one quick thing you can add to the boiling water/quinoa

is garlic or cilantro.

(i know there are people out there that hate cilantro. 

obviously, they wouldn't use it for this.)

this will flavor your quinoa nicely.

the cheater way to add these two things, 

if you don't have fresh cilantro or garlic around,

is to get some of these dorot cubes from tj's:

they are little frozen cubes of the two.
(i think they have basil too.)

this is what they look like from behind.
pop one of the cubes out into the boiling water.

here is a picture of all of that boiling:

i know i'm totally impressing all of you right now with that boiling pot of quinoa.

i mean, there is really nothing more exciting than that.

not to mention how weird i feel for actually taking a picture of a boiling pot of quinoa.

okay, i think it takes about 10 minutes for the quinoa to absorb the water,

so about halfway through,

i added some frozen corn.

but not just any corn,

i added trader joe's roasted corn.

 which add some nice smokey flavor.

i also add a can of black beans.
do you know that i could eat beans and rice every day?
yep, i could.
another reason why i love this meal.

it helps everything taste better if you have a helper
open the can of black beans.

 do a quick rinse:

 once the quinoa absorbs all the water,
add the beans and give it a stir.

you'll know the quinoa is cooked when you see a little spiral swirl around the grain.
can you see it??

here comes my favorite part:
serve with fresh salsa or pico de gallo and a few chips!

 yummy!!


okay, i promise to not try to post more food stuff for a long time.
hope at least one of you enjoys this!
xo.