Quinoa in the crockpot?

As much as I’ve enjoyed the quinoa recipes I’ve tried so far, they all fit the same pattern: rinse and cook the quinoa in the rice cooker, chop and mix remaining ingredients, mix in the quinoa. I’ve tried some that required baking, but it was still pretty much the same process, just with an additional step of dumping the mixture into a new pot and sliding it into the oven (yay, more dishes).

What if quinoa could be cooked in the crockpot? One dirty pot after prepping a complete meal and a whole lot more freedom in terms of timing. Dinner can be hot and ready whenever I want, without needing me to start cooking in that 20-30 minute window before everyone is hungry. This particular recipe is especially easy since it doesn’t even require much chopping. With the short (for a slow cooker) cooking time, this also makes for a delicious lunch; just toss it together after breakfast and it’ll be ready for you by mid-day.

Recipe: Tex Mex Quinoa

Adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Yield: Serves 6-8

Cook Time:

active prep: 15 minutes

hands-off cooking time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients:

1.5 cups uncooked quinoa, well rinsed

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can green chiles (mild or spicy)

1 cup frozen corn, unthawed

1-2 bell peppers

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 onion, chopped

2 T chili powder

1.5 t ground cumin

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (or water)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1-2 T lime juice

2-4 T taco seasoning 

1.5 cups shredded cheddar

Optional toppings/additions: diced green onions, sour cream, diced tomatoes, avocado or guacamole

Directions:

1. Rinse the quinoa well.
2. Place the washed quinoa, drained and rinsed black beans, undrained diced tomatoes, frozen corn, and diced green chiles in the slow cooker.
3. Chop the bell peppers. Add the chopped peppers, minced garlic, and chopped onion to the slow cooker. Stir everything together. Add in the chili powder, ground cumin, taco seasoning, and broth (or water). It should look soupy; see picture below. Stir again and cook for 3-4 hours on high or until the water is completely absorbed and the quinoa is cooked through. All slow cookers cook a little differently so make sure to occasionally check the dish to make sure the quinoa isn’t burning or sticking all to the sides.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice, and green onions if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the cheddar cheese and enjoy immediately.

Note: The leftovers taste great wrapped in tortillas for burritos or mixed with greens. We’ve also made delicious nachos with the mixture by adding cheese, salsa, the optional toppings, and chips.

This is what it looks like when the ingredients first go in; it should look a little soupy.

Mango + Quinoa = Magic

While I haven’t posted anything on here in a while, I have still been cooking. A lot has changed since my last post – we moved to a new house (with amazing sun for a vegetable garden!), have a new housemate staying with us sporadically, and we’re learning to cook with the help of our toddler. Some things haven’t changed though – I’m still looking for somewhat easy to prepare recipes. Another thing that hasn’t changed is that I’m still cooking  a lot of quinoa.

The following recipe is one I made first for a potluck at work. I made 2 or 3 different salads, figuring that the leftovers would be nice to have with dinner that evening. None of this delicious mango quinoa salad made it to evening, let alone through the entire lunch period. Who knew sweet fruit would work so well with the rest of the ingredients?

Since that first time, this recipe has been requested multiple times and not just by my coworkers. Our housemate has an aversion to tomatoes, to the point of asking for them to be left off her tacos and creating BLTs with no actual tomatoes in the finished sandwich. After trying this for the first time, she’s taken to “accidentally” purchasing the ingredients for this salad whenever she hits the grocery store and always includes the tomatoes.

If you’re looking for something healthy but delicious, light but filling, easy to make but fully flavored- this is the recipe for you. Most of the effort for the recipe is just going to be the chopping up of the ingredients. Since the recipe tastes great after chilling and even better the second day, you could easily make this ahead of time for picnics or summer BBQs.

 

Recipe: Quinoa Salad with Mango, Avocado, and Tomatoes

Adapted from two peas & their pod

Yield: Serves 4-6

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water

1-2 large mangoes, diced (make sure to get ripe, sweet mangoes)
2 large tomatoes, diced or a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
4-5 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or more if you’re a big cilantro fan)
2 medium avocados, diced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste

Lime wedges for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Rinse the quinoa under cold water. Cook the quinoa in your rice cooker and then fluff with a fork. Let quinoa cool to room temperature (we’ve skipped this step sometimes when really craving the dish and everything turned out fine).

2. While the quinoa cooks, wash and prep all the other ingredients. Toss the mangoes, tomatoes, green onions, and avocados in a large bowl.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, and cumin.

4. When the quinoa has cooled (as much as you plan on letting it cool), dump it into the bowl. Pour the dressing over the quinoa and gently stir everything until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled. The salad tastes great fresh, but even better on the second day.

Notes: Pouring the dressing over the quinoa while it is still slightly warm usually ends up with the quinoa absorbing almost all of the dressing, which we prefer. Then we mix the whole salad up to ensure the flavored quinoa is well mixed into the salad so it flavors every bite. The salad tastes great fresh, but even better on the second day. Just be sure to mix it up well before eating.