Quinoa Chili-esque

I. Love. Quinoa. Love it. The worst part about the whole thing is rinsing it, but other than that, it's wonderful. While on my trip I had two roasted sweet peppers stuffed with red quinoa, cranberry nuts and roasted garlic with a pepper puree on top. It was amazing. I will most definitely work on replicating that recipe once I get some red quinoa.

Yesterday was pretty lazy, so I decided to make a big pot of something so that lunches and dinners would be prepared for the next couple of days. Lo and behold, I had a large bag of quinoa that I purchased a few days before my trip. I started looking at some different quinoa recipes but found that I was missing two many ingredients from one or another, so I went with me own.

I have given birth to a super awesome quinoa chili-esque dish. It was fantastic. It's supposed to last me a few meals, but it'll be gone in like two days. The best part is it's pretty versatile. Really whatever vegetables you have on hand can be thrown in.

Quinoa Chili

2 cups uncooked quinoa

3 cups of water

1 small onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1 bag frozen vegetables (mine had red peppers, broccoli and mushrooms in them)

2 cans black beans

1 can kidney beans

2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 of them drained (mine were fire roasted with oregano and garlic)

2 handfuls of spinach

1tbs chili powder

bay leaf (if you have it)

dried oregano to taste

salt, pepper to taste

First soak your quinoa in water for 10 min. Then rinse it 2 or 3 times, carefully removing any small stones that might be left behind. Cook the quinoa, covered, in the 3 cups of water until the water is mostly evaporated, roughly 20min.

In a dutch oven, saute your onion, garlic and vegetables on med low heat for 10 min. Then add your tomatoes, bay leaf and beans, reduce heat to low. By this time your quinoa should be done, so add this to your pot, add the seasonings and cover and cook for 30 min, stirring occasionally. When it has thickened up to your desire, turn the heat off, add the spinach, check for any needed spices and serve. Some vegan sour cream would be nice with this!