California Quinoa Recipe

Next to my hand to show how much it makes!

Today at lunch I ran to Whole Foods to get some Organic, Powdered Peanut Butter to mix in my Protein Shake for after my workout. It is 85% less fat and I figured it would mix in a shaker-cup easily with water and protein powder.

Anyway… while I was there, I grabbed something called California Quinoa as a side dish to a Turkey Breast/Mozzarella sandwich (was really good!) and a very odd-textured drink called Synergy Raspberry Chia Seed Kombucha. It was the first time I ever “chewed” my drink! (It’s so interesting of a texture that I may do a post on it in the future.)

Well, needless to say, for those 3 little things alone, I paid a whopping $11.55! Yes, I could have had a hot meal in a restaurant for that price, but after eating their California Quinoa, I re-framed it in my head and was satisfied because in the end, I paid $11.55 for an awesome recipe that I will definitely make again!

How did I get the basic recipe, you may ask? I found it from this month’s favorite blog I came across – “Kid Tested Firefighter Approved.” His website’s tag line is “Healthy plant-based recipes everyone in your family will love!” And there’s some great stuff on there, so go check it out. (AFTER you read the rest of this post, of course!)

As with most of my recipes though, I changed it more to my liking, by adding more or less of many of the ingredients and reducing a step. Following is what I ended up doing. It makes ALOT! So much so, that I ran out of storage containers to dish it into and settled on ziploc bags for the remainder. Heck, some family and work-friends may end up with a little healthy present on their desks tomorrow!

Quinoa is also considered a “Super Food,” so this is also a healthy recipe.

• 2 cups red quinoa, rinsed (I used a 12 oz box that was pre-washed)
  
• 4 cups water
• 1-1/2 cup frozen mango chunks – dice while frozen – (you can get it from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods) or 1 cup diced fresh mango’s
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1  red pepper, diced
• 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed, chopped (about 1/2 cup leaves only)
• 3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 cup unsalted, dry-toasted slivered almonds
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• Juice of 3 small limes (test after squeezing 2 in. It may get too “limey” for your personal taste if you add more)
  
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions:


1. Rinse quinoa (if it is not the pre-rinsed kind), cook according to directions on box.

2. Put cooked, hot quinoa in heat-safe bowl (a really large one!)

3. Add frozen edamame and mango and mix with hot quinoa (why bother defrosting, when the hot quinoa will defrost it for you!
4. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

5. Divide into containers and refrigerate or eat right then! It’s meant to be eaten cold, so you don’t need to heat it up.
   

Give it a try and put your own twist on the recipe. I may even try adding chicken breast to it to make it a whole meal. If you want to see the original recipe, where my recipe evolved from, go here.

Now that this post is done, I’m going to go make my lunch for tomorrow – so I don’t have to pay $11.55 again!  😛

–Yours in fun fitness, Mike