Hi everyone and happy almost new year!
Many of us will be starting off the new year with a fresh and healthy menu for ourselves and our families. For this reason, I was so thrilled when Lara, a reader of Take Back the Kitchen, emailed me a recipe for a crunchy salad topper that is a heck of a lot healthier than bacon bits. It was the perfect solution for my leftover quinoa that was getting a bit hard and stale in my rice cooker. She said it is a delicacy in Hawaii and I do believe she just made it one in NJ and the rest of the Continental U.S. Try it and enjoy!
Sweet and Crunchy Quinoa:
Ingredients:
2 cups leftover cooked red quinoa or regular quinoa (or any amount you happen to have left over) Quinoa is sold at most supermarkets now and is very affordable at Costco
1-2 tsp olive oil
1-2 tsp of brown sugar
optional: add a sprinkle of any other spice you like such as my personal favorite, smoked paprika, ground coriander, cumin, chili powder or anything else
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Lay parchment paper over a cookie sheet
Lay the leftover, cooked quinoa over the cookie sheet
Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Spread in a thin layer over the entire cookie sheet
Bake for 20 minutes and remove from oven to cool-best to remove the quinoa from the hot cookie sheet so it does not continue cooking, potentially burning
Pour over salads, grains, ice cream or eat with a spoon like my family did! Thanks, Lara!