Meet Quinoa

It's a grain and it is pronounced keen-wa'.
It is also tasty and very nutritious. Over 5 thousand years ago ancient Inca's were gobbling up the stuff and it is still raised today in the highlands of the Andes mountains. I first had Quinoa in a very tasty salad served by folks from the New Leaf Market (very cool organic coop in Tallahassee,FL) at Sweet Grass Dairy outside of Thomasville, GA. The salad was a simple mix of quinoa and crunchy chopped fresh veggies with a very light citrus vinaigrette. Last night I served salmon with quinoa salad and steamed veggies for dinner. Today my husband, Nick feasted on the leftovers. Here are the recipes.

Quinoa Salad

• Bring 4 cups of water to boil and add 1 cup of thoroughly rinsed quinoa.
• Simmer of about 10 minutes.
• Boil 2 inches of water in the pot
• Drain and return quinoa in a sieve to the pot
• Cover with a folded dish towel and cover with pot lid
• Steam over low heat for another 6-10 minutes until dry and fluffy

(this is a good standard preparation for quinoa)

Make vinaigrette by whisking these ingredients in a large bowl

• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 1 lime (or 2 if your lime is not very juicy!)
• 1 T. canola oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Add

• Cooked quinoa
• 1 large chopped tomato
• 3 thinly slice scallions
• 1/4 cup of cilantro or Italian parsley

Serve!
You could add a can of black beans rinsed and drained, feta cheese, chopped jalapeno peppers; substitute lemons for the limes, add other herbs like Basil (my favorite also the name of my 98 lb. boxer/Rottweiler), thyme or chives. Whatever you like. Feast!

I served this with slow roasted salmon. Put fish on foil lined pan. top with salt and pepper, sprinkle with white wine. Top with herbs. I mounded it with lots of fresh thyme. Bake at 250-275 for 30 to 40 minutes until just cooked. Fish will be delightfully juicy. Feast!