Quinoa (pronounced Keenwah) is one of those super foods everyone is talking about. It’s uber healthy. Go ahead, google it, I’ll be here when you’re done.
Done? Okay, now don’t go running away just because, ‘if it’s that healthy, it can’t possibly taste any good.’ It can taste good. It does taste good. But, if you’re like a friend of mine who ate it pretty much the same way every day – it can get boring.
So, while her and I were talking about her ‘boring’ lunch and my yummy lunch (tacos), I had a thought. “Why don’t you season it like you would ground beef or turkey for tacos and you could make tacos?” Then I went a step further…”in fact, if you want to stay super healthy, you could just replace the taco shells with lettuce cups.”
She looked at me as if I had just split the atom. “You’re brilliant. You’re the best. You’re the smartest person I know!” Okay, perhaps I exaggerate her compliments a bit, but she did find it to be a great idea to try.
So, I went home and, not trusting all that ‘you’re so brilliant, I must try it’ blathering, I made it myself. And, it was good. Damn good.
To be sure though I had to test it…on people…picky people. One would think I tested it on my son, but no, that’s too picky. He eats only chicken nuggets and quesadillas people. This is WAY to fancy for him.
No, I first tested it on my husband. He liked it… a lot. Not every day a lot, but really really liked it. Normally, when my husband doesn’t like something and he’s still trying to be nice because he knows he didn’t put any effort into the dinner, he’s smart enough to just answer, ‘it’s okay’. That’s my message to not make it again.
Okay, so he really liked it. Now, I had to test it on our friends. A particular neighbor friend who is picky and doesn’t really like to try new things if he doesn’t recognize all the ingredients. And?
He loved them!
So, without further ado – here’s the picture. What? You wanted a recipe? There is none. You just make the quinoa as you normally would and then treat it as if it’s ground turkey or ground beef – season like you would the meat for your tacos and whallah, presto, abracadabra – you have healthy taco ‘meat’. Put in lettuce cups, or put in actual taco shells, it’s all up to you. Or, make nachos. Mmmmm, nachos.
Okay, now for the picture…
Quinoa in lettuce cups with no toppings (that's garlic in the one on the top)
Quinoa Lettuce Cups with cheese & salsa fresca
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