How to make Quinoa ... the easy way!

The first time I ever made Quinoa at home was when I was doing my 1st Arise & Shine cleanse last October.  The cleanse is basically an alkaline diet excluding salt.  Now, you would think the week where we had to fast (meaning no eating at all) for 7 days would be the hardest part of the cleanse but actually, the hardest part for all of us who did the cleanse was not being able to use salt.  You don't realize how much salt we eat until you have to remove it completely from your diet.  Not matter how many spices I put in my veggies, there was always something missing.....salt!

Anyways, so as I was running out of ideas of what to eat and getting bored with bland dishes...I got curious about this "quinoa" that I was allowed to eat 3 times a week.  I bought some quinoa from the bio store and went home to give it a try.

I followed the instructions on the box and ended up with a huge pot of sticky lumpy quinoa (note: opps, i made way too much! remember that 500g of Quinoa is enough to feed a family of 8!!!) Out of desperation and hunger, I ate it with some roasted vegetables that night and threw out the rest of the batch.  I made a mental note to never make it again....it was definitely a failed attempt!

Then months later, I found GlutenFreeGoddess's post on how to cook quinoa with a rice cooker (http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-cook-quinoa-super-easy-way.html) and decided to give this Quinoa a second try.


Wow, it turned out fluffy like rice and absolutely delicious.  I now eat it about once a week.

With the rice cooker, cooking quinoa is really a no-brainer.  Just remember that the Quinoa to Water ration is 1-2.  If you want to cook 1 cup of quinoa (enough for 3-4 people), you would need to add 2 cups of water.

A little trick I use to give the quinoa more flavor is to cook it in vegetable broth instead of water.  YUMMY!

Quinoa is super good for you and if made correctly, it is absolutely delicious! So don't give up on that little grain! Try it with a rice cooker!

Here's some RED quinoa made with my rice cooker!  Great for salads!