Today I asked the Homemakers.com Facebook group: Which healthy ingredient should I cook with next? Aileen was the first to answer “quinoa” and so I booted over to Sobeys to pick up some ingredients.
I found the quinoa in the cereal aisle, next to the healthier cereal options. Quinoa (that’s keen-wah) is a good-for-you seed that’s low in sodium and gluten-free. It’s also high in protein, calcium and iron. Plus, it delivers a good dose of vitamin E and most of the B vitamins. Best of all, it has a mild nutty flavour I enjoy so it’s not hard to see why I’m keen on quinoa.
So I started this healthy recipe of the week by soaking dried porcini mushrooms (which, BTW, smell like my sister’s fish food) and immediately began dancing to David Guetta and Akon’s Sexy Chick while the mushrooms soaked.
Got that? Step 1: Soak stinky mushrooms. Step 2: Dance to Sexy Chick and other booty-shaking tunes while you wait for those dehydrated mushrooms to plump up. Do you see why they don’t let me edit Homemakers recipes, folks? 
I was excited to try this quinoa recipe because of the spices listed in the ingredients. Curry, garam masala, cumin and coriander practically guarantee you won’t end up with a wimpy-flavoured dish. Have I mentioned my picky palate loves spicy food?
I forgot to pick up the almonds at the grocery store (eek!) so I added chopped walnuts to the dish instead. And I forgot to add the nuts before I snapped the photo above. Maybe that’s why dancing isn’t part of the recipe instructions — too distracting!
The results? OH. MY. GOD! Just like Usher’s latest hit. (I just love cooking with my music library alongside me.)
It’s savoury, spicy, mushroomy deliciousness. Yum! There’s no question. This is definitely my favourite healthy meal I’ve made so far.
Recommendation: Add about 10 minutes to cooking time to allow for dancing! If your music library is like mine, one great dancing song leads to another. Trust.
For the rest of the steps to the recipe and to make your kitchen smell as amazing as mine does right now, you simply must try this healthy recipe of the week: Fragrant Quinoa Pilaf with Mushrooms and Almonds. It’s so freaking good and you’ll see how the spices dance together beautifully.
Find more quinoa recipes that look so freaking good, from the blogosphere:
-Quinoa Salad with Lime + Fresh Mint
-Double Broccoli Quinoa Recipe
-Quinoa Vegetable Paella
