It’s Day 2 of our countdown to Food Day.  Today’s recipe from my book, The Essential Guide to Healthy Healing Foods, is a quinoa dish.  Quinoa (pronouced “keen-wah”) is near and dear to my heart as it imparts such a bevy of culinary possibilities, captures a variety of flavors well and is a protein-packed, fiber-filled grain.  Celebrate the power of whole grains with this tasty dish.

Spicy Tomato and Olive Quinoa

This zippy quinoa, a Mediterranean grain, is delicious by   itself as a maindish or along side tofu, shrimp, chicken, fish, and lean beef.

Yield:  6 servings    Serving size: 1/2 cup

Prep time:   5 minutes    Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

1 cup water

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 green onions (scallions), chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt to taste

1.   Rinse quinoa and add to a medium pot over medium heat with broth and water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.

2.   Add oil, green onions, cherry tomatoes, black olives, paprika, and a dash of salt. Stir gently to mix. Serve warm on a bed of leafy greens.

Nutrition Information:

174 calories

8 g total fat

1 g saturated fat

0 g trans fat

0 mg cholesterol

324 mg sodium

21 g carbohydrates

3 g fiber

2 g sugars

4 g protein

8 percent iron

 

What do you think of quinoa?  I’d love to know…

-VSR