Herbed Quinoa

As a homeschool mom, I pride myself on my ability to not only spell words correctly, but also pronounce them fluently.

Quinoa is pronounced, KEEN-WA, not QUINN-OOH-AA.

I didn't learn of that until I asked where it was in the health food store.

And had to repeat it a half a dozen times for clarification.

Because she was looking at me with a confused expression on her face, I knew that the store employee was either hard of hearing, or I was not pronouncing QUIN-OH-AA correctly.

I thought about referring her to the hearing specialist.

After my pathetic attempt of trying to get her to understand, she finally said, "Oh, do you mean KEEN-WA?"

I told her that that would work too, but the generic version was fine if they had it.

I now travel 45 minutes south to a different health food store.

With my dignity intact.

Quinoa is a tiny seed that is protein-rich, gluten-free and easy to prepare. Before using quinoa though, you must rinse it to remove the saponin from it. It is the bitter tasting coating on the quinoa seed. It won't hurt you, but it does affect the taste without rinsing.

Our new favorite quinoa recipe is courtesy of Giada from The Food Network.

Herbed Quinoa

(recipe by Giada De Laurentiis)

Quinoa:

2-3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or homemade)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed

Dressing:

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 Tb. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

2 t. lemon zest

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, add the chicken broth, 1/4 cup lemon juice and quinoa. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cover with lid; let simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 12-15 minutes.

For the dressing, mix EVOO and lemon juice together with a whisk. Add fresh herbs and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the quinoa and serve.

The quinoa may be Giada's recipe, but the biscuits are all mine! Actually, this was my Mister's plate, so technically, they were all his.

Enjoy!

P.S. There were vegetables with this; I grilled asparagus, but took the picture before I put them on the plate!