Foods That Start with the Letter Q

I made a quinoa quesadilla tonight for dinner that was so wonderful I have to blog about it. I was inspired to make the quinoa (as opposed to the rice and canned re-fried beans I typically put on quesadillas) after watching a recorded episode of "$10.00 Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian" on the Food Network. It's one of the few cooking shows I still watch since her recipes are either meatless or easy to convert to meatless. She uses a lot of "inexpensive proteins", as she calls them, like beans and quinoa. At least one recipe per episode is usually meatless. (She does NOT refer to anything as vegetarian- that would be tantamount to treason on Food Network.) She also has great tips like suggesting that you soak and cook dried beans ahead of time then portion them out and freeze them for later use, like canned only cheaper (and without the bad plastic cans are lined with).

As for the episode that inspired the quinoa, she cooked the quinoa in the microwave. Rinse it well, then put one part quinoa to two parts water in a loosely covered microwavable dish, (I have a glass dish with a lid), and cook on high for 9 minutes. (I cooked mine for 8 per the package instructions.) Let it sit for a few minutes, fluff and flavor. Here is where we differed. I didn't make the Lentil-Quinoa Salad she made; instead I added caramelized onions and bell pepper chunks and some salt and pepper. I also threw some diced tomato in my bowl, but The Eldest asked me not to add it to the serving dish since she doesn't like tomatoes.

After the quinoa was done I used it on my quesadilla. I toasted a tortilla in a frying pan after spraying both sides with canola oil cooking spray. Once it started to brown I added the quinoa mixture to one half, topped it with a little bit of cheese and some diced lettuce and tomato, folded it over and let the cheese melt for a minute, then slid it out onto a plate. So simple and so delicious; I had to share the recipe!!