Meal # 9 ~ Broccoli & Quinoa Casserole

 I'm in love with quinoa (pronounced keen-wah ~ I didn't know how to say it until recently!!). I first discovered quinoa when I was making Connor's baby food; it was in one of my recipe books. Then, my healthy food/soon to be dietician friend, Liz, mentioned it to me one day when we were talking food! I wasn't able to find it easily in grocery stores until we moved to IL. Even now, if I want 'straight up' quinoa vs. boxed/mixed with other ingredients quinoa, we have to travel to Naperville (about 25 min) to a Whole Foods store to find it (best grocery store ever...if you have tons of $$ to spend on groceries each week). Here's why I love quinoa (and why you should too):

* Copied from Quinoa 365

~ High Protein, Maximum Nutrition... Quinoa has more recently garnered interest from the health-conscious crowd looking for maximum nutrition and those on high protein diets, seeking weight loss or those just wanting to eat better quality foods. Quinoa can promote weight loss, building muscle, alleviate migraine headaches, help diabetes, promote cardiovascular health and prevent hardening of the arteries. It has also been linked to helping prevent breast cancer, childhood asthma, gallstones and acts as a super antioxidant.

~Balanced and Unique... A balanced protein, quinoa has a complete combination of all life supporting nutrients, containing all eight essential amino acids. This balance makes it highly digestible and completely unique in the plant kingdom.

~Vitamin Rich... Not only high in protein, quinoa is high in fiber, and vitamins such as riboflavin, calcium, vitamin E, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid and beta carotene. It is also abundant in linolenic acid, the essential fatty acid that has proven to benefit the immune response.

~Gluten-Free... Quinoa is familiar to vegetarians as a protein source and to celiacs and those who are gluten-intolerant because it is completely gluten-free. 

~Intriguing & Unusual... the wow-factor of quinoa has encouraged cooks at all skill levels to use it to create unique dishes for themselves, their families and intrigued dinner party guests.

Here's my quinoa recipe for today (more to come later this week):

Broccoli Quinoa Casserole (very similar to Broccoli Rice Casserole)

Ingredients:

1 (10 oz) can cream of mushroom or broccoli soup (I choose mushroom)

1/3 c reduced fat mayo 

2 tablespoons of milk

1 1/4 c. reduced fat shredded cheese (cheddar, colby jack, etc.) (I choose cheddar)

1/2 teaspoon sugar (The recipe calls for Splenda. I'm not into Splenda, especially when pregnant, so I opted for plain ol' sugar)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Dash of ground nutmeg

2 cups cooked broccoli (I used frozen)

1/2 cups cooked quinoa (see how to cook quinoa below)

Freshly grated Parmesan

To cook quinoa:

3/4 cups of quinoa

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

Quinoa

1. Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve until water runs clear (about 1 min).

2. In a small saucepan, combine quinoa, water, & salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and cover, simmering for 18-20 min or until fluffy.

Boiling

Done!

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.

4. In a large bowl combine soup, mayo, milk, cheese, sugar, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in quinoa and broccoli.

5. Spoon mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

6. Bake for approx 35 min until bubbly and edges are golden brown.

** I made another pretty big mistake while making this (2nd day in a row...see meal #8). I swear I have major pregnancy brain or just too many distractions. In the middle of making this recipe, I realized our mayo was old, so Ryan ran to the store to get a new jar. Thankfully, we only live a few min from our grocery store. I was in a rush to get everything thrown together when he got back that I looked at the wrong amount when I added the mayo to the mixture. I ended up adding 4x's more mayo than the recipe called for!! Unbelievable!! Two days in a row!! This is exactly the reason I haven't enjoyed cooking in the past; I always end up doing SOMETHING wrong. I will break this streak tomorrow!! I will!

For dinner we had ham, my quinoa casserole, carrots for Connor, and salad!

The verdict: Well of course it was good. I transformed this recipe from something healthy to a heart attack on a plate!! It was actually too rich that I couldn't eat more than one small helping. I think it would be really good if I would have put the correct amount of mayo in the recipe. Quinoa pretty much takes on the taste of whatever you are cooking or baking it with. Next time I'll get it right! I will definitely make it again because it has the potential to be really tasty & healthy!

Link to Broccoli Quinoa Casserole recipe