Quinoa with Veggies and Turmeric

Evening folks! Like earlier posters, I'm a big fan of quinoa. I've found it's a lot cheaper to buy it in bulk, which I used to do at Whole Foods. Now the local grocery has an organics aisle though, so I can get it there! Yay! I came up with this while experimenting during spring break with a diet of juices, teas, whole grains, and veggies. The level of turmeric may seem a lot, but it adds a great savory flavor, and it's a good anti-inflammatory. (Then again, I really go for spices, and use far more than any sane person should.) This serves one person, and makes quite a bit. I'll take this and some strawberries or the like for lunch.

1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed
2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach
1 medium tomato
5 kalamata olives, pitted
4 artichoke hearts, chopped
1 t. turmeric
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 lemon
olive oil

Quinoa: Heat up a saucepan, toss in 1/2 c. quinoa to toast a bit. When it smells nutty, add 1 cup of water/stock/bullion/whatever liquid floats your boat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium, cook until liquid is nearly absorbed–about 15 minutes. Just before that, add all spices, stir it up, and let the liquid finish cooking. This is almost exactly like making rice, only faster.

While the quinoa cooks: in a skillet, heat up about a teaspoon of olive oil on medium heat. Toss in spinach leaves. They cook down a -lot-. Cook until they're tender and medium green. Dark green is a little too wilted for my taste. Set spinach aside to cool. Now toss the chopped up artichoke hearts into the skillet and brown them. Set them aside with the spinach.

Chop the tomato up into bite-size bits, whatever bite-size is for you. Chop the olives up into little pieces as well.

In a mixing bowl, toss the spinach, artichokes, tomato, and olives together. Add the quinoa once it's cooked. I like to add a good handful of lemon zest from the lemon's rind at this point that I scraped off with a micro-plane grater, but that's because I'm a nut for lemon. Chop lemon in half, and squeeze half the lemon over the quinoa/veggie mix. Save the other half for something else. Watch out for seeds! 

Add in a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Mix all of this up thoroughly.  Voila!

I do this at night before bed, then stick the results in the fridge overnight to take to school in the morning. I eat it cold at lunch or microwave it for one minute just to warm it a bit. Invariably I get lots of 'oooh, that smells good!' I really think it's the turmeric that makes this yummy.

Happy Sunday!

–Fatimaner
Cedar Park, Texas