1.27.2011

Baby Led Weaning - Quinoa

Made  a dish for the fam that Silver could enjoy too!  The recipe called for brown rice, but i'm not giving Silver that just yet, so instead I substituted quinoa.  Have you heard of this amazing stuff?

Quinoa (it's pronounced keen-wa) is an amino acid-rich (protein) seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when you cook it.  It is a recently rediscovered ancient "grain", dating back over five thousand years and once considered "the gold of the Incas."  It's cool because it contains more high quality protein than any other grain and contains no gluten.

Loved it!  It cooks up just like rice - a cup for a cup.  When you cook it do one part quinoa and one part water, stir it and cover.

I bought the kind from Ancient Harvest because it is pre-washed, so you don't have to rinse it (with other kinds you need to rinse it to remove the natural bitter saponin coating - I thought this might be difficult because they are pretty tiny.)

http://theamateursdish.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/quinoa2.jpg

I made a pilaf with the quinoa and left out some of the things that Silver shouldn't have just yet, like almonds and soy sauce (salt).  So... T.J. thought it was pretty bland.  My mom likes bland though so I gave her some to try and after tasting it she sweetly asked, is it pretty healthy?  Lol.  Yes, it was pretty much straight up vegetables.  :)

That's one thing that's going to be great about baby led weaning for all of us - it's going to keep our healthy eating in check!

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