Keenwah

Keenwah - is actually spelled quinoa. However, I know from experience that if I wrote that, some of you would be reading it as kwin-oh-ah, and who could blame you for that! Quinoa is my favorite grain. Why don't more people eat it? Maybe because most of us don't yet know how to pronounce it - who wants to eat stuff you can't even ask for in the supermarket? Hmm, actually most of the stuff in the foods we eat are things we can't pronounce, but I won't go into that now. That's for another post. Also, unless your local supermarket has a health or natural food section, you may even have to shop somewhere else to find some. Believe me, it's worth the trip.

I mostly love quinoa because it tastes good, it's easily digested so I feel good when I eat it, and it's quick and easy to cook. Quinoa is the most nutritious and quickest cooking of all the grains. It is a complete protein, has a protein content that equals milk, is high in B vitamins, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamin E.

Quinoa is as easy to cook as rice. You should rinse it before cooking (as you should rice) by putting it in a fine gauge strainer (anything fine enough that the small grains don't fall through) and run water over it. Then put quinoa and twice it's amount of water (so, 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water) in a pot and boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. If there's any more water in the pot the quinoa will absorb it in a few minutes. Voila! Easy, huh?

Now the fun begins. Most people find grains boring all by themselves. I understand! I'm boring when left alone, too. I like to mix caramelized onions (or, plain old sauteed onions if you're not a foodie) and sauteed greens in my quinoa. You can also mix in some tomato paste - or even tomato sauce and throw in some garbanzo beans, raisins, walnuts, diced squash, the list goes on and on. Play with herbs - parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme if you're in a Simon and Garfunkel mood.

If you really want to get fancy, dry roast the quinoa in a saucepan before adding the liquid. You can cook it with broth instead of water. Whatever you do with rice, try it with quinoa - you can't go wrong!

We also get quinoa flakes which makes a nice hot breakfast cereal - cook them like quick oatmeal. I also add the flakes when I'm baking breakfast bars, it lightens the batter.

Quinoa's been grown on the high plains of the Andes Mountains for about 8,000 years. It's believed that it's the food that allowed the Incas to be the powerful, long distance runners they were. So, if you want endurance, or the next best thing to a trip to South America, give it a try - you'll be glad you did!

If you want a more specific recipe for quinoa, post a comment and I'll get you an exact recipe. Exact recipes are not how I cook but it can be done!