Alix

Tatoes and butter are heading for an overnight in the fridge. The mixture is a little… sticky? Not sure how that bodes for tomorrow.

Okay, second take of Quinoa was a cinch!

I soaked, re-soaked, and rinsed, then added to the pot with 1.5 cups of water instead of 2. Brought to a boil, then left simmering for 12 minutes and it was perfect. Woot!

I tried eating a bit with some Parmesan and green onions, but the green onions I had were really overpowering. I’m going to try it with different stuff throughout the week, though in the long run I think I may stick to The Whole Kitchen recipe.

Okay – making this was a bit of a nightmare, but of my mostly own doing.

Recipe: http://thewholekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/cinnamon-spiced-quinoa.html
Tutorial: http://www.squawkfox.com/2008/08/12/how-to-cook-quinoa/

First, I began soaking the quinoa, thinking I would get a mesh strainer at lunch, but last night was a late night and the strainer shopping got put off for after work (and a nap… and swimming). So I think it soaked a little too long. Also, in the tutorial it says to dump the water and soak in clean water after two hours. I did do that, but lost some of it in the process since I was just using my hands to strain it. And then I lost more when I was getting ready to cook it because the strainer I bought was way too small (I blame lack of sleep).

Okay, so all strained and in the pot, I added water—without taking into account how much quinoa went down the drain. Oops.

Anyway, once the quinoa, water, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon stick were in the water, the boiling and simmering were a cinch. Unfortunately because of the water issue I ended up having to strain it, since it was cooked before all the water was boiled. Also unfortunately when I strained the water out, the sugar, vanilla, etc. went with it.

So, I took it out, fluffed it, and added half a tablespoon of butter and a couple teaspoons of sugar back in.

And it was good! I think it’ll be better cooked properly, but it was really good. The one thing I felt it was missing was pecans, but I really like pecans and cinnamon together.

I’m going to try cooking it again on Wednesday, a bit more carefully, hopefully with a bigger strainer from IKEA, and a lot more sleep. Plus, I’ll take pictures!