Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Blast of Protein!

My OH has taken up his training again using the multi-gym we have in the garage. As a result he's needing to increase the amount of protein that he eats. I've been busy looking for different sources rather than just meat or eggs and remembered my flirting with quinoa last year. I quite liked the porridge but felt that OH would prefer something a little more savoury. After researching on 'the net' I came up with this idea of a 'sort of risotto'.
Savoury Quinoa Risotto-thingy!
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup quinoa
2 cups veg or chicken stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup mixed veg
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 pieces of sundried tomatoes, chopped
25g grated cheese
Method
Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the quinoa, stock and tomato paste and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes and then add the mixed veg. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked. Stir in both sorts of tomato and the cheese and gently heat through. Season to taste and serve.
It all went down well and next time I'm going to play around with the veggie mix as I think that a bit of celery and courgette would go well too. So, a bit of a success if I do say so myself and I'm definately going to be looking for more things to do with quinoa!

6 comments:

Sally said...

Tasty looking indeed. Yum yum.
Do hope *Bertie* wasn't used for stirring this, mind you, would have been a good tool to use.

Oh my! Apple pie! said...

what a good idea! I'd never have thought of doing that but it makes sense IYKWIM, LOL.

JillyB said...

Sal, it was tasty and Bertie did think of joining in but in the end he held off!
Erica, it's taken me ages to do anything other than porridge with the stuff but now I'm ready to experiment!

hungryandfrozen said...

This sounds delicious. I do like quinoa but never thought of using it in a risotto-style dish. Good luck with the protein-loading! :)

Coby said...

I've yet to try quinoa at all, let alone a lovely 'quinotto'?:) What a fab idea, your husband must have been pleased:)

Maria♥ said...

Jilly, this looks delish and a good hearty meal!

Maria
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