166 - My First Quinoa Experience - Direct Recipe added below

 Back at the end of summer, I sought out some quinoa.  I've been wanting to make this for quite awhile and finally found what looked to be a good recipe in my Clean Eating magazine!

The first thing I had to figure out was, what exactly is quinoa? 

And where would one find it in the grocery store?

This is the organic quinoa that I purchased.  It seems to be most like rice - it is a grain.  Very tiny small beads that are near impossible to strain without losing a lot of them when you rinse!  Tip - FINE MESH SIEVE!  You can find quinoa in the rice/grain isle, some times the pasta isle.  If you have any trouble - ASK!

Here is a close up of what it looks like precooked. 

 While the quinoa was boiling with cumin, I used fresh lemon and cilantro with olive oil to whisk up the dressing.

Chop up one roma tomato and a little bit of red onion....

Here is the cooked quinoa

And a close up of the cooked quinoa

I added black beans and corn, tossed it all together, and Wha-lah - -

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

This was really really good!!  I'm glad I tried something new!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted, or 1 tsp ground cumin
• High-heat cooking oil (such as sunflower, safflower, peanut or grape seed oil), as needed to lightly coat grill grate
• 2 cobs fresh corn, husks and silk removed (or 1 1/4 cups frozen corn, thawed)
• 1 cup cooked black beans, drained
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1 zucchini or yellow zucchini squash, diced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper; set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil; add quinoa and cumin. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat an outdoor grill to medium-high and lightly oil grate with cooking oil. Add corn, close lid and grill, turning once, until tender and lightly charred, 10 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, boil cobs in a large pot of simmering water. Cover and cook until tender, 6 to 10 minutes.) Let corn cool, then cut kernels from cob. 
4. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, corn kernels, beans, tomato, zucchini and onion. Pour lemon-cilantro dressing over top and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate salad for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to meld, or up to 2 days.
   
   
   

Nutrients per 1-cup serving: Calories: 221, Total Fat: 11 g, Sat. Fat: 1.5 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g, Carbs: 26 g, Fiber: 4.5 g, Sugars: 2 g, Protein: 6 g, Sodium: 23 mg, Cholesterol: 0 mg