Hurrah for Quinoa!

I have discovered Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I first tried it, not knowing what it was, at a LLL gathering almost 2 years ago. I thought, "I've never had this type of rice before. Yum." DH first tried it, and actually ate it regularly for breakfast, in Peru while on his mission. Makes sense, quinoa originates from South America.   

But it's not rice; it's a SEED! And whenever I think of seeds (I only think of them because I almost never eat them), I think of the Word of Wisdom and how we are encouraged to "eat seeds of every kind". I always thought that was interesting. 

So apparently The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has officially declared that the year 2013 be recognized as "The International Year of the Quinoa." 

Here are a few reasons why: 

-It's a complete protein source! Rice is not. You can use quinoa practically any place you'd normally use rice. 

-It has healthy fats (like omega-3s), anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, and antioxidants!

-It is a good source of folate, fiber AND magnesium. (Lately, I've been especially interested in magnesium, which I'll post about later. I'm developing a theory on how it relates to my morning sickness.) 

This is curried quinoa from allrecipes.com with some added vegetables. Results: It exceeded my expectations. It was so nummy! And we couldn't feed it to Oscar fast enough. We've also done a chicken and quinoa stir-fry as well as quinoa pudding (just add milk, cinnamon and sugar). 

What ways have you found you like to make quinoa? I'd love to hear your ideas.