Thursday, July 5, 2012

Quinoa Mac & Cheese

Since my sister is a vegetarian I have been trying to make more healthy vegetarian food for her. This Quinoa Mac & Cheese is a good recipe for her and something meat-eaters will like too. The orginal pin is from a really great blog Iowa Girl Eats.

I had never made quinoa before so I was surprised at the number of steps the recipe required but it was failry easy. I altered the recipe a little to make a little simpler for my irst time with the recipe. Visit the original recipe for a more flavorful version.

What you need:

2 tsp. Olive Oil
1/2 cup diced green pepper, red pepper or tomato
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained (I unknowingly bought a pre-washed kind which was very convenient)
1 clove garlic
3 cups water
2 large eggs
1 cup milk of choice
1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese ( I will use more next time, it wasn't as cheesy as I thought it would be)


Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add vegetables (mine were green peppers). Cover and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in quinoa and garlic, continue cooking uncoverd for 3-4 minutes until the grains turn opaque.




Add 3 cups of water  and cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat and let it stand for 5 minutes.



Now preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then coat a casserole dish with cooking spray.  Whisk the eggs and milk in a large bowl and fod in the quinoa and cheese. Stir very well and let some of the cheese melt. It looks soupy but it will soak up.  Bake for 25- 35 minutes.







I made so much quinoa I needed to mix it up with the leftovers and I really liked it with salsa. I think adding some more veggies would also be really good.

7 comments:

  1. This looks really good. Quinoa is also great as a cold salad... I mix it with some cut up chicken, pineapple chunks, a can of mixed tropical fruit, some red onion and some sesame oil.. it is yummy!

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  2. Yum! I'm gonna try this for dinner tonight. Thanks!

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  3. Thank you for this recipe. I accidentally grabbed couscous but still made your recipe and it still was very good. I used tomatoes so next time I'll put them on right before I bake it in the oven Bc they cooked down to nothing in the pan and double if not triple the veggies and cheese.

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  4. This looks really good. Going to try this weekend and use broccoli as the veggie. Adding chicken sounds good, too.

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  5. Yummy!! I am a huge Quinoa fan! I will have to try this out! I have also done blended up cauliflower mixed with potatoes for mashed potatoes. Just sneaking a little extra vitamins in there:) Would you link this up to our blog hop?? I think our readers would love it! Thanks!
    xoxo, Jordan

    http://www.lilywhite-designs.com/2013/03/frugal-crafty-home-blog-hop-14.html

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  6. Our daughter is a vegetarian and this will be a nice recipe to try out. Loves quinoa so let's hope so.

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  7. Looks great! I love it when The quinoa when it gets crispy when it gets toasted or baked. It's a great texture! I'm sure baking it and then finishing it off on Broil would make a beautiful crust and nice and crispy and crunchy and add a different texture to the dish!

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