Fantastic Food Friday: Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf

I've been reading a lot about Quinoa around the blogsphare recently, enough I was interested in trying it out -- till I saw the $6 a box price tag! With the new dietary restrictions I decided to bite the bullet and get a box. This post talks about how easy it is to cook up Quinoa like you would rice. This post talks about how bland it is by itself, LOL. Armed with this info I knew I needed to try it in a dish, in place of rice, before presenting it to my unsuspecting family. My searching turned up this recipe which sounded like a good pairing for the roasted chicken I was planning.

Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 to 1 pound sliced mushrooms
1 cup veggie broth
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa
Salt and pepper to taste
2 celery stalks

In a large skillet, saute onions, garlic, and mushrooms till onions are translucent. Add the broth, water, and quinoa. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat, simmering over medium low heat for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the celery, add to the pilaf the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking (depending on how much crunch you want).

This was hands down a hit! Everyone in the family liked it. Can you believe it? Yeah, I had to pick myself off the floor, too.

Downside is the box of Quinoa will only do two meals (approximately a cup dried per meal) which makes it a very expensive alternative to rice. I'm going to keep an eye out, hope to find a bulk source, but at $3 per meal it looks like Quinoa won't be gracing our table as often as I'd hoped despite the success of this recipe.

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