Bold Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

We've been addicted to this quinoa salad for the last several weeks. Every time I get myself a serving, my husband comes in and "borrows" the bowl.  It's totally amazing, and absolutely packed with bold flavor. Seriously. Just when I think there's not something else that I could adore more about quinoa, I find another great recipe. 

 Let's talk Quinoa. Quinoa has been around long enough now in the front lines of the natural food universe that it isn't new anymore. When I first started writing this blog, it was pretty new.

Organic Grains.Com Sprouted Quinoa Tabbouleh recipe inspired me to really crank up the herbs and use some bolder flavors in my quinoa salad. This recipe is what resulted from that inspiration. I used Organic Sprouted Quinoa along with Organic Black Quinoa in this one too. Sprouting the quinoa seeds removes the naturally occurring saponines (the bitter enzyme that causes a strong flavor if quinoa is not rinsed). Using the sprouted the seeds also removes the phytic acids and take the grain through the early stages of sprouting, rendering the grain more digestible and the vitamins more accessible.

Bold Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

1 cup sprouted quinoa
2 cups boiling water
¼  cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3  cup Ahuacatlan Avocado Oil
1 ½  tsp kosher salt
1 bunch scallions, minced, white and green parts
1 ½  cup Atheno Low-fat feta cheese*
½  cup minced fresh herbs (dill, mint, parsley, oregano, flat-leaf parsley)
1 cup chopped bell peppers

1 cup Peppadew Peppers, chopped

1/2 cup roasted garlic, chopped

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a rice cooker, combine the sprouted quinoa and boiling water. Cook 20 minutes until tender.  Cool for at least 20 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients.  Chill. Serve. Yield 8 servings

High Protein Ancient Grain KAMUT® and Seed Pancake Mix

Today we finally perfected an all purpose combination of this flour with other ancient seeds and pseudo-grains that will give you excellent results in baking lighter items like cakes, cookies and muffins.  

Remember the KAMUT ® is Cool post where we discussed the epic-awesome power of this amazing grain. It is always organic, non-GMO, and the standard of excellence in ancient perfection.  I'm a fan. Can you tell?  KAMUT ® has an amazing Origin dating back to cultivation in ancient Egypt.

•  Modern studies into the grain made an amazing Determination of phenolic compounds in old varieties of durum wheat using liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
•  It is also recently had amazing reviews in a study  on Prebiotic effect of soluble fibres from old durum-type wheat varieties on Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains. 

 

Those eating this ancient grain have greater ability to deal with oxidative stress on the body as well as lower levels of inflammation markers in their system. With all the hype that the anti-grain movement has been getting, I like to see  well educated response from grain growers, like the article Here. We should differentiate this grain from modern wheat.  

Dr. Bob Quinn, PhD said, 

"Not all wheat is created equal. 

Neither is all gluten created equal. "

KAMUT ®, though it contains gluten, contains a very primitive form of it that only contains 28 chromosomes (compared to modern hybrid wheat that contains 42). Because it is also high in ancient forms of gluten protein, it is excellent for pastas and breads, but it does tend to make life a little more difficult for light and fluffy things like pancakes.

The combination of the high protein ancient quinoa and amaranth will give your flour all the essential amino acids for a complete protein, with all the ability to form fluffy lighter baked items.   

We use the NutriMill Electric Grain Mill  and I really do love the quality of the flour it produces.   Doing your own flour will not only provide clean fresh nutritious flour, but provide you with flour that has not been able to go rancid from sitting around. Your baked goods will taste amazing!

Chef Tess Ancient Grain Flour All Purpose Flour:

10 cups whole grain  KAMUT ® here

3 1/2 cup organic quinoa

1 cup organic amaranth

Fine mill to a flour. I use the finest setting on the nutrimill.

High Protein Ancient Grain KAMUT ®and Seed Pancake Mix

9 cups all purpose ancient grain flour (see recipe above)

1 cup egg crystals

1 cup non-gmo Soymilk Powder

1 cup Blanched Almond Flour

1/3 cup Aluminum Free Organic Baking Powder

2T sea salt

2T NuNatural Stevia Powder

1 cup Flax Seed

1 cup sesame seed

1T natural vanilla flavor powder (optional)

To prepare: Combine 1 part mix to 1 part water. Sit 5 minutes.

 Cook on medium hot in a non-stick pan 2-3 minutes per side.  Serve hot with your favorite sauce or syrup.

There you go darlings! Have fun with this amazing blend!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Healthy Strawberry Almond Quinoa Breakfast Salad

The 90 day weight loss challenge continues.  I'm down 8 lbs and 10 inches since we started just over 30 days ago.  I know I have a long way to go, but I'm more excited about the success along the way and am so happy with how things are going so far.  When I visited my doctor this week he said, "Don't you dare quit! Keep going!" So, that was a huge motivational push. He's a great support. Are we ready to eat then?!! Let's celebrate summer!

It is stinking hot in Arizona during the summer and I never want anything warm. So, it goes without saying that during these months I keep a nice cool breakfast salad in the fridge. My friend Melissa has been going on morning walks with me and after a wonderful chatty-chat walk, there's nothing like a healthy-health breakfast!  This is by far my favorite flavorful boost in the morning for energy and for a great amount of protein. Plus, it is vegan and gluten-free! It's full of fiber and low impact carbohydrates for an even blood sugar level throughout the day. It packs a lot of nutrition into the 200 calories it gives me and keeps me going full speed.  Go for organic berries if you can.  I love how all the fruit is in season right now. I love this salad made with fresh cherries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries as well. If you've never cooked quinoa, I have a full tutorial on Quinoa cookery  Here . Quinoa is a super-grain and one of the most nutritious things you can add to your diet.

Strawberry Almond Quinoa Breakfast Salad
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
2T agave nectar
1/4 cup toasted almonds (about 10 each)
2 tsp fresh orange zest
1/2 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice blend
2T Fresh lemon juice

Directions: Combine all ingredients. Serve Chilled.

Yield 2 cups breakfast salad.
Nutritional information: Serving size 1 cup (2 servings per recipe). 201 calories, 5 g fat, 34 carbohydrates, 5g fiber, 8 g protein.

There you Go! Don't you dare quit! Keep going!!  Onward and upward my darlings!!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Vegetarian Quinoa Black Bean Burgers and The Health Benefits of Quinoa

The 30 day mark is approaching for the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge!  I'm down a few more pounds and feeling much better about my energy levels.  It is a work in progress darlings!  My family has been getting really excited about quinoa! Even Ace, who doesn't really like to try new things has been fully converted to this lovely grain.  Today I taught a gluten free class on cooking with quinoa and amaranth and this new recipes has become a much requested meal around here. We first talked about cooking this amazing grain on the blog with the full Quinoa Cookery 101 Post. 

Great  Health Benefits of Quinoa

 adapted from the  Article by Julie Wilcox, Forbes

• Complete Protein! Quinoa  is a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids.
• Fiber! Quinoa contains almost twice as much fiber as most other grains. 
•  Contains Iron. Iron helps keep our red blood cells healthy and is the basis of hemoglobin formation. 
• Contains lysine. Lysine is mainly essential for tissue growth and repair.

• Rich in magnesium. Magnesium helps to relax blood vessels, may reduce type 2 diabetes because it promotes good blood sugar levels. Benefits of magnesium include transmission of nerve impulses, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth.
•  High in Riboflavin (B2). B2 improves energy metabolism within brain and muscle cells and is known to help create proper energy production in cells.
•  High content of manganese. Manganese is an antioxidant, which helps to prevent damage of mitochondria during energy production as well as to protect red blood cells and other cells from injury by free radicals.

Normally we just use quinoa instead of rice and boost our fiber and protein as well as getting a really cool different texture.  I think it might be one of my all-time favo-rageous  friends.  

The quinoa black bean burgers have a really beefy texture and are full of flavor. My husband asks for them often and we especially love them drizzled with hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or homemade ketchup.  The use of the quick cook blackbeans makes them come together fast. I cook the quinoa and the black beans together on the stove and they are both ready to make into patties in as little as 20 minutes.  You can easily double or triple the recipe and make the patties ahead of time for keeping on-hand in the freezer for fast and easy meals as well. 

Tess Quinoa Black Bean Burgers 

½ cup quick cook blackbeans

¼ cup  organic quinoa, pre-rinsed*

1 3/4 cup water

½ cup gluten free breadcrumbs

¼ cup minced bell peppers

2T minced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning

¼ cup Whole Egg Crystals**

Directions:

Bring the quinoa, beans and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture. Add all remaining ingredients and mash well with your hands. Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties. Heat a large non-stick skillet. Cook the patties until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Nutritional Information: 
Recipe yields 5 patties. Serving size one patty. 
132 calories, 5 g fiber, 19 carbohydrate, 3 g fat, 7 g protein

*Note: Quinoa needs to be pre-rinsed to remove the natural saponin on the grain.
** If you don't have egg crystals, whole egg may be added, but reduce water by 1/4 cup. 

Serve with any side dish you love. May I suggest Cuban Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple and Jicama

There you go my darlings! Happy and healthy ideas for a wonderful summer dish. Keep going with the weight loss challenge and eating well. Xoxo!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade Quinoa-Amaranth Mango Blueberry Granola-of-Glory

This week for our Wednesday 5 minute Grain Surgery™ 
I thought I'd show you how to make multi-grain super granola. What do you think? It's a fun way to use a lot of grain and completely cool for being creative with grain. Use the recipe as a guide for the quantities of rolled grain to go with honey and play! I want to hear what you make. 

 A week or two ago, when I showed you how to roll your own oats and quinoa, my son Face had rolled about 3 lbs of oats. It was fun...but I have to say we had a lot of extra oats just laying around. Mind you, I could say right now, "Hey Face, go roll me some oats!" and he would run out to the roller and happily crank that thing. He loves it! To my credit (and this doesn't happen every single day), I remembered to have him roll some extra quinao as well.  Then we went ahead and  popped amaranth on the stove and make use those beautiful grains to make granola. I decided that I needed to make more granola after making all the pints and quarts of Homemade yogurt that were then piled in my fridge needing some assistance. I don't think my husband can safely resist granola and yogurt together...especially when the yogurt has been converted into his favorite flavors. So far he still begs for the lemon chiffon and the pina colada. That being said, he'd eat yogurt all day in that condition. So...there it is. Waste not, want not. Time to make granola. I like my granola a little less sweet than most folks. Keep that in mind when your making this. 

Quinoa-Amaranth Mango Blueberry Granola-O-Glory
6 cups rolled oats or 6 grain rolled cereal
1/2 cup amaranth (popped to equal 2 cups)
1/2 cup quinoa (rolled to equal about 1 cup. See tutorial here.)
1/4 cup chia seed (see my post on why I use it here)
1T Wise Woman of the East (cinnamon spice and floral blend)
1 1/2 cups pomegranate honey
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil or olive oil of your choice (lemon or orange infused rock!)
2 T vanilla
1 1/2 cup freeze dried mango
1 1/2 cup freeze dried blueberries
1 cup almonds (whole or chopped)

Directions: Pop the amaranth. Heat a large deep pan on the stove, medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Pour the amaranth into the hot pan and stir until the grain pops and turns white. Pour out of the pot when all the grain is white. {The full tutorial on popping amaranth is in the chocolate amaranth bread tutorial.}
Combine the honey, coconut oil and vanilla. This pomegranate honey is really a pretty shade of pink. The flavor is totally unique and just beautiful for granola. If you don't have flavored honey, you can use regular honey instead.

In a 2 gallon large bowl, combine the grain, nuts and seeds and spice blend. 

Another shameless plug for the beautiful Chia

Stir the honey mixture into the grain and seed mixture. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide granola mixture between two large sheet pans, preferably one with an edge. Bake 15 minutes. Take pan out of oven and stir. Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes more. 

Remove from the oven. Add the freeze-dried fruit (or you can also use any dehydrated fruit of your choice). 

There you go! Make some fantastic granola!  

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Chef Tess Quinoa Pistacho and Feta Salad Video Tutorial

This is one I wanted to share, since I've been eating quinoa salad all week and am just sooo in love with it. I also want to say a big thank you to Honeyville  for sponsoring this video! It's a great tutorial on how to make this universal grain salad. Try it made with almost any cooked grain. It's just beautiful!

 Go to the recipe post on the blog : Here. 


There you go! Make some Quinoa Salad. Can I ask a tiny favor of all of you?  If you want to see more videos like this one, click through the video and visit the Honeyville Foods You Tube Channel. The more likes and shares these videos get, the better chance of seeing a whole lot more just like it.  Xoxo! Thanks my darlings! 

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess 

How to Make Rolled Oats and Rolled Quinoa from Whole Oat Groats and Grain...at Home!

Today I wanted to just throw a quick post your way that showed the simple basic way I've been using to roll my whole oat groats like this...

 Into regular old-fashioned oatmeal like this...

 Why do I love rolling my own oats and grains? 
First there's the obvious nutritional reasons.   All the nutritional oils and flavor are released in my home instead of a mill somewhere else. Seriously, I adore all the amazing people who work at grain mills. They don't get enough credit for the remarkable good they do for feeding the masses. However, I'm a freakish foodie snob and for the same reason that I mill my own spices, I've really enjoyed having the fresh milled grains. I didn't even know how simple it would be to do the rolling at home! Not that there's anything wrong with buying pre-rolled oats, I've done it that way for years. I'm just completely in love with the fresh version now that I have it! Oh...and they don't need a steamer to roll out nice at home either. That's a huge perk! After teaching a whole class on the health benefits of Oats (Here), this has been a natural progression. I love oats. Love them, in fact, in an oddly abnormal almost obsessive kind of way. Ya know, in case some day you find me hiding in my closet with a jar of chocolate truffle sauce and a face slathered in a  honey-oat poultice...you won't call the cops. Okay. You probably should call the cops if I go that far. There shouldn't be food in the closet. Ever. At that point there wouldn't be a "health reason" for eating the fresh milled oats. It would just be a pure-freakish-obsession.

 At any rate....the other reason I love the idea of rolling my own grain is the food storage advantage.  One can get a much longer shelf life on the whole grain if  kept in-tact as the whole oat groat. I've read that oats in that whole state will be good for close to 20 years if kept in an oxygen-free environment and if they're kept cool and dry. As the pre-rolled oat sit, they last 7-10 years in an oxygen-free can. Plus, if I wanted to roll other grains and extend the shelf life on those, it would be epic! Right?!  My brain has been whirling with all the new rolled options! So far we've done oat groats, quinoa, buckwheat, soft wheat, rye and barley! Now, I'm not saying you need to store grain for 20 years in your basement, but if you did...you could.

How do I do it?
Enter the Marga Roller Grain Mill. It's a hand cranked home roller  that I recently bought at  the Honeyville Retail Store in Chandler, AZ. I'd seen it for about 6 months in the store and well...I'm a whole-grain chef right? I cook and bake with this stuff every day. I teach classes for Honeyville and I'm officially writing the comprehensive Gourmet food storage cookbook for them. I'm the company chef. So why buy the roller? They could just give it to me for free? Well, I wanted to give it an honest run. If I don't like something, I actually don't review it on my blog. If I buy it myself, I don't feel obligated to give a review. My personal blog is not related to Honeyville in any way. It is my own deal. It's right around 100$ for the mill and it's heavy duty.
 So daggumit...I'm giving you my honest opinion. This thing is really cool.

 My son Face, age 9, rolled 2 lbs of oat groats through this thing in just under 5 minutes. It's quick and it doesn't take a lot of muscle to get the job done. I wanted to know how it would fair with other grains as well. Let me show you how it worked with whole quinoa.

 I personally adore the number 2 setting on the roller. It makes the grains more like thick cut oats and for quinoa it had a really cool effect.

They rolled and slightly cracked. So, they were amazing to cook.

Taking 1/3 cup of the rolled quinoa and adding it to 1 1/3 cup of boiling water, I was able to make a creamy quinoa cereal for breakfast. It cooked in about 4 minutes flat...drizzled with some honey and some fruit it was divine!

 My son's grand obsession with the new roller landed me with enough fresh rolled oats and quinoa to feed a small army.

 So I made a Mango-Blueberry Almond, Rolled Oat, Quinoa, and popped Amaranth Pomegranate Honey Granola...with Chia Seed. If that's not a mouth-ful to say, it was a blissfully spiritual experience to eat. Okay...I may be exaggerating on the spiritual side of it. The nutty, hearty, toasted goodness of the fresh milled grain combined with a light kiss of spice, vanilla and crunchy freeze dried fruit. It was a magical happy-dance of flavor in my mouth. This of course, was on top of the magnificent pile of my creamy lemon Homemade Yogurt.

It just doesn't get more beautiful that that. Yes. I'll be giving the recipe for this granola soon. Don't panic.

There you go. Roll your own oats and grains. It's amazing!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Whole grain Kamut Bread with Teff and Black quinoa (Herb and Spice loaves 101)

Kamut Point. Right here.  If you have no idea what that word means...I'm going to give you the simple words:  Kamut is the ancient Khorasan variety of wheat. Now you're smart.  Kamut is 1/3 longer than regular wheat and high protein. Kamut is the name that is registed by the man who started farming it here in America back in the early 50's when his son sent him 32 grains of the wheat from Egypt where it was found, reportedly, in a tomb. It must be grown organically, have a protein range of 12-18%, be 99% free of contamination varieties of modern wheat and 98% free of all signs of disease. Even though this wheat variety contains gluten, it has been found to be more easily digested by people with slight allergic tendencies to modern wheat. Excellent for making pasta and bread because of that protein! So I use it for bread on a regular basis. It's remarkably awesome!

Whole grain bread need not be dry, lifeless and flavorless. On the contrary! It should be boldly going where you mouth is and full of so many grains that they sing and dance on the surface of the loaf! So...I added Teff. Teff is a grain the comes to us from Ethiopia.  It takes 150 grains of teff to equal one grain of wheat in size. So they're small...yet they pack a nutritional punch! Lots of fiber as you can well imagine. 2 grams per ounce of grain (That's almost 10% of your daily  needs in one ounce baby!). Plus...there's a high amount of quality protein and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper. For more nutritional facts on Teff, look here .   
I also added some cooked black Quinoa. I used it yesterday in the cool salad Here. 

Today I'm going to show you how to take a magnificent dough like this and transform the flavor of almost any loaf INSTANTLY by rolling in herbs, spices, nuts, seeds...basically anything you want! It's remarkable! I think you'll fall out of your seat...if you are cool and baker-like.


 Whole Grain Kamut bread with Teff  and black Quinoa

2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup cool water (not cold, but cool to the touch)

 5 Cups Kamut® flour

1/3 cup whole grain teff

2/3 cup cooked black quinoa 

2 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup lukewarm water

2 T honey

1/4 cup oil


Flavor agents:

2T lemon zest (Optional)

1T fennel seed (Optional)

Black pepper to taste (optional)

Directions:Dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl make a well in the mixture. Dissolve the honey in the 2 1/4 cup water and add the oil of your choice. Pour the liquid and the yeast mixture into the well of flour. Stirring from the center, first combine the ingredients to make a smooth batter, then fold in the remaining flour from the sides of the bowl, mixing them together into a soft dough. Soft dough is the key!! Add the teff and quinoa. Since the whole grain flour takes a while to absorb water, wait 10 minutes--then evaluate the dough. Add water or flour if more is required, but do this slowly as it will probably take less flour than you think. If you want really good bread--best keeping quality, flavor, and rise--knead the dough about 600 strokes without adding any more flour. The dough should remain soft and should become elastic and smooth. Rest whenever you want, but aim for 600 strokes. This is about 6 minutes on medium speed in a Kitchen-Aid mixer. This may seem like an amazing and outrageous requirement, but after many hundreds of loaves, I'm convinced that thorough kneading makes the critical difference. As you continue to work the dough, toward the end of the kneading, it will become lustrous, utterly supple and elastic. It should actually be white if you look closely, with brown bran flecks clearly visible against pale gluten. Form the dough into a ball and put in an un-greased crock or food grade food storage bucket. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or a lid and allow to ferment. At about 80 degrees, this will take 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. Wet your finger and poke it into the dough (called the ripe test). If your finger goes in without very much resistance and the hole remains when your finger is removed, the dough is ready to be punched down. For best results, do not wait until it sighs and collapses when poked. Gently press out the accumulated gas. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured table and keeping the smooth surface, carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet or floury hand from one side to another.

 Turn the dough out onto a lightly moistened table (yes I use water instead of flour at this point. It keeps the dough moist!) keeping the smooth surface, carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet  hand from one side to another. Cut it in half and form each part gently int a round ball, still preserving the smooth surface on the outside. Roll dough into a rectangle and fold into thirds.  Now...this is where I get creative. Today I made the bread into a lemon fennel bread by adding a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest and 1 1/2 tsp of fennel seed at this stage. 

I gently press the flavor agents into the dough.

Then I form the loaf accordingly...in thirds.

Roll, pinch, and form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan (standard size only! 8inch by 4 inch--or loaves will be squat-ty). Loaves should take 35-45 minutes for their final rise (called proof)--I cover them with a loose gallon size bag. Make sure the surface doesn't get dry or the top crust will separate from the loaf when baking. I gently drizzled this loaf with lemon infused olive oil and sprinkled the top with more fennel and lemon zest.  

I made some plain bread, some with fresh Herbes de Provence and sea salt as well. You can make any kind of bread from a plain dough using this method! Again, be sure to cover and let raise until doubled before baking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. When oven is hot and only then, place loaves in the oven. If all has gone well, the loaves will arch over the top of the pan, touching the sides all the way up! The dough feels spongy but not soggy. Place in hot oven. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until internal temperature is over 175 degrees (can be measured with a chef style meat thermometer). Allow to cool before placing in a bag. Keeps 3-4 days if you kept the dough soft.


There you go. One crazy cool idea from a crazy cool chef! 
Let me know how your bread is coming along folks! I'd love to help in any way I can! Look at some of my other bread basics here:


basic bread recipe 
5 day bread dough


freezer rolls {and doughs}


There you go.
Your friend, 
Chef Tess

Universal Grain Summer Salad: Today with Quinoa Pistacho and Herb with Feta and Olive Oil

When I was visiting my family my sister kept saying Queen-Oh-Ahh. I had no idea what she was talking about until she said, "you know...that grain you use a lot on your blog." I had to smile. If you've never cooked with it or seen it this may be a new adventure for you. Let me start by saying that it's pronounced "Keeeen-Whaaah". Grain surgery continues today and I want to share this wonderful summer salad that I made for my cooking class this week. It's remarkably easy and I think perhaps my favorite summer salad. You can certainly use other cooked grains like wheat (Kamut, Spelt or regular red or white) barley, millet, or wild rice even. It's versatile for using with a mixed grain pilaf as the base. Mix up the herbs to reflect your mood  using my herb and spice alchemy.  There's also ideas on what flavors work together best in my post on Homemade Salad Dressings. So I hope to give you some more ammo here. As for today and the grain we're using for this Salad...Quinoa.
 Quinoa  has been cultivated in the Andes for more than 5000 years! Locally referred to as the "mother grain", it kept the Incan armies strong and robust. It's a protein powerhouse and considered one of the best sources of complete protein and amino acids by the United Nations. It's gluten free. Plus... look at it.  I fell in love the first grain that I ate. It is slightly nutty flavored and mild with amazing texture. If you've never cooked it, there's a full tutorial in the subject on my blog :here . There are a couple of tricks to cooking it and having it come out perfectly, but honestly it's one of the easiest grains to cook and I'm totally in love with it.


You will need to cook 1 1/2 cups quinoa. This will give you about 5 cups cooked and fluffed grain. 


Chef Tess' Quinoa Pistachio and herb salad with Feta and olive oil
Ingredients: 5 cups cooked quinoa
1T each chopped FRESH Parsley, Thyme and Rosemary
1 Clove fresh pressed garlic
1/3 cup Crushed Meyer Lemon Certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil or an olive oil of your choice
2T Red Apple Balsamic Vinegar or balsamic vinegar of your choice
1/2 cup coursly chopped pistachio
1/2 cup feta cheese
Zest of one lemon
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste and 1 tsp of my Chef Tess
Romantic Italian Seasoning. 

 Pour olive oil and balsamic into the cooked grain.

Add the chopped fresh herbs.

 Chop the pistachio.

 Press the garlic.

 Mix it all up. Add salt Romantic Italian Seasoning and pepper to taste.

 Top with Feta.

 There it is. Low in fat. High in flavor. Excellent for the summer. It's a meal if you want something light an luscious.

Keep using your giant GRAIN! xo. Big hugs my friends. 

--Chef Tess