Lauren's Latest Microwave Cinnamon Quinoa

Somehow, with changing out my Lumia phone back to an iphone, my pictures are not all there, sadly.   The good news is, I can now actually receive calls again at my house, so win!   Anyway, we tried out this breakfast quinoa from Lauren's Latest, and although we had to cook it longer than the recipe said, since I doubled the recipe, it was still a pretty fast and easy breakfast, and we all enjoyed it.  I didn't use maple syrup, I used brown sugar, but Owen and Noah both liked the syrup in it, and it was great with the bananas.  Each serving, with bananas and brown sugar, was 276 calories, but that will change based on how much or little brown sugar/syrup used.  Try this for breakfast, it's great!  We all gave it a 9.

Picky Palate's South West Quinoa Salad

For my birthday I received Picky Palate's cookbook, and we have been enjoying the food we have tried.  This salad was great to make in the morning, then eat for dinner with some pork quesadillas.  This is quick and refreshing, and pretty healthy.  I added some chicken broth and avocados to the original, and cut down on the dressing a little.  We split this into 10 servings, and each serving was 310 calories.  Aaron gave this a 6, Owen a 7, I gave it a 9, and Noah gave it a perfect 10.  Here's what I did

1 1/2 c quinoa
2 c chicken broth
2 c water
15 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz canned corn, drained
1 roma tomato, chopped
20 olives, sliced
1/2 chopped green pepper
1/2 c cilantro leaves
3/4 t salt, divided
scant 1/2 c (a little less than that really) olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
pinch of sugar
1/4 t ground cumin
1 avocado, diced

Rinse the quinoa in warm water and bring chicken broth and water to a boil.  Add the quinoa, bring it back to a boil, and cook until the liquid is absorbed.  Let sit for 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork and place in a bowl.  To that bowl add beans, corn, tomato, olives, green pepper, cilantro, and 1/2 t salt.  In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, lime, sugar, cumin, 1/4 t salt, and cumin.  Pour it over the salad ingredients, and place in the fridge to serve.  When ready to serve, add the avocado and mix it all together.  Serve.

Chicken Quinoa Soup

The recipe I'm sharing is something I threw together, trying to make myself cook.  I'm not having a lot of luck with the cooking thing right now, because everything I cook tastes terrible to me.  However, the rest of the family seemed to enjoy this.  We had this with some grilled cheese sandwiches, and everyone ate it up.  Aaron and Owen gave it a 7, and Noah gave it an 8.  I gave it a 4.  Anyway, it's easy and tastes alright, if a little salty.  Here's the recipe.

Chicken Quinoa Soup

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Thyme
Water
Salt
Quinoa

Cook chicken with desired amounts of celery, onion, and garlic and top with water.  Cook as long as desired.  Remove all ingredients from the broth, add in seasonings as desired, cook down a little while you let the chicken cool.  Remove bones from chicken, and return chicken to the broth.  Add in the quinoa and cook until the quinoa is ready.  Serve.

This wasn't hard, and wasn't fabulous, but it was interesting.  I used quinoa because I didn't have any noodles, and the quinoa was a lot healthier.