Quinoa

I've just recently dared to try quinoa. I always hated the smell of it. Big surprise! After cooking it up I found it's actually really tasty, and everyone in the family liked it. If you have cooked quinoa on hand, it will make fast, versatile dinners! And even if you don't, quinoa cooks pretty quickly. 

Quinoa is a complete protein, is very nutritious and is gluten free. To properly prepare quinoa, you should soak it first. 

 To soak: 

1 cup quinoa 

 1-2 TBS of an acid (whey, buttermilk, yogurt, vinegar or lemon juice) 

1 c. filtered water 

 Put in a cooking pot, let it soak for 7-24 hours.  Rinse overnight in filtered water and an acid. In the morning, rinse it well. This is much easier if you have a fine meshed strainer, but if not, you can put in a tea towel. 

 Pour it back into the pot and add 1 c. filtered water & 1/2 tsp real salt. Bring it to a boil, then turn down to low. Cover it and let simmer for about 12-15 minutes. 1 c. dry quinoa will yield about 4 cups cooked quinoa. I cook extra and freeze it in 4 c. bags.

INSTANT POT VERSION: 
While soaking it first is best, this is a super fast way to get some cooked quinoa! 

1 cup quinoa 

1 cup chicken broth (low sodium) or water 
1/2 tsp salt 

Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and drain really well. 

Mix together ingredients in instant pot.   Put lid on, and seal vent knob.  Pressure cook high 12 minutes, let natural release 10 minutes then flip the vent knob to remove lid.  

Toasted Quinoa alternative: 
Set instant pot to saute.  Pour 1 TBS olive oil in the bottom.  Pour in quinoa and toast quinoa till fragrant.   Then add water & salt and pressure cook for 10 minutes.  Natural release 10 min.