One of the challenges of being “the friend who cooks” is that I’m counted on to bring “something different” to potlucks. This past weekend was no different. I knew that the people at this particular gathering had never tried quinoa and since I had some in the pantry, that was my “something different.” If you don't already cook with quinoa, you should know that it doesn’t have an intense flavor on its own (plays well with many flavors), is a complete protein (vegetarian and vegan friendly), and cooks pretty much like rice. It can be used as a breakfast cereal, and it’s also gluten free friendly.
I made Quinoa Black Bean Salad. The hardest part of the recipe was slicing the corn off of the cob without it skittering across the kitchen. The whole recipe was done and piled it into a serving bowl in under 20 minutes. Not all of it fit, so I had the excess for lunch, and it was darn tasty.
Of course, not everyone liked it; I think the appearance is so different that people just don’t know what to make of it. If you check out the picture, you can see that the grain is translucent, and there is a darker ring around it. That dark ring is the grain, which will sometimes detach and look like a tail (get over it). The kids shunned it in favor of Toffee Bar Coffee Cake, and some of the die hard traditionalists leaned more towards Really Red Potato Salad (to which I added some garden fresh broccoli that needed to be used).
Considering how ridiculously cold it is for August, I plan on using the rest of the box of quinoa on Kidney Beans & Quinoa, a fall favorite.
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