So last week I made quinoa for the first time. I hear tell, from a friend whose husband studies the wonders of quinoa, that it's a near-perfect healthy food. Wikipedia agrees:
Quinoa is
"highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source.[5] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest."
And another quinoa nutrition link, a bit more official than Wikipedia, from Nutritiondata.com.
Yay for nutrition! But, um, the two really great things about it, that make this nutritious food a viable addition to my family meals, are:
1-it doesn't taste yucky. It's pretty good, in fact. This means that there is hope that one day my kids may eat it, although they rejected this first try. Of course.
and
2-It cooks up FAST! Instead of waiting a full hour for my rice to be done, I can cook up some uber-healthy quinoa in fifteen minutes!
Apparently you can buy quinoa flakes, quinoa flour, eat it as breakfast food, serve it in all manner of ways. Is it cheap? Um, no. $3.59 for twelve ounces. So not cheap, compared to rice. Or whole wheat flour. Sigh. But you always pay a bit more for fast food. And it's the healthiest convenience food I've ever heard of.
2 comments:
I love Quinoa! I can't have wheat or corn, due to allergies and intolerances, so I make tortillas out of quinoa. They're really good! My son likes it too, we call it smiley rice (because it's round and sometimes looks like it has a smile on it).
I should say, quinoa flour, that is, for the tortillas... The flakes make a nice porridge too.
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