I don’t feel the need to include meat in every meal. I’m fortunate that my children appreciate vegetables and seem to truly enjoy them as much as I do. Cooking a meatless meal seems less intensive, and I don’t have to worry about thawing anything out. That’s something this busy mom really appreciates.
But when I cook a meatless meal, I like to look for alternative ways to pack it with protein. Quinoa is a great plant source of protein, and I’ve started incorporating it into more of our meals.
Recently, I experimented with giving it a ‘Mexican’ flair with a recipe I discovered at damndelicious.net — and it was a huge hit!
Cooked quinoa has roughly five times more protein than the cooked white rice typically used in Mexican rice dishes. This is a great recipe but one you could easily change up to fit your tastes.
Mexican Quinoa
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and jalapeno, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in quinoa, vegetable broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro.
- Serve immediately.
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