BEEF QUINOA WITH VEGGIES (my daughter's favorite!)
Ingredients: (yields about 10-12 portions)
- 1 cup Quinoa
- 1 beef tenderloin/filet mignon (about 8 oz)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup baby carrots
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- dash of salt
Steam the broccoli and the carrots until they're really soft and set aside. Boil Quinoa with the chicken broth in a covered medium saucepan over medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed. Cut the beef into peanut-size bits and sautee in olive oil over medium heat until it turns brown everywhere, add some salt to taste, then immediately pour the contents of the frying pan (beef, its juice and remaining olive oil) into the quinoa saucepan, mix well, and cover. Mash broccoli in a large bowl with a fork, mash carrots in a separate large bowl as well. Add half of the quinoa/beef mix to the broccoli, add the other half to the carrots. Mix each one individually and well, so no pockets of "just quinoa" or "just vegetable" are left. I recommend using a fork for this. All done, you just created 2 quinoa dishes at once!
Variations: Feel free to use any two vegetables you want, just make sure they're steamed until really really soft. Instead of Beef you can use Fish, Chicken or Tofu, following the same recipe, although it seems to be the Beef that the kids really love, and it hides the taste of the vegetables really well. You can also use Vegetable or Fish broth instead of Chicken broth, though the kids seem to be more attracted to the chicken flavor. Be creative!
Freezing tip: I use little ziploc bags to freeze individual portions, shaping the quinoa inside the bag into a flat rectangle. That way it stacks nicely in the freezer and defrosts at room temperature in about 30 min.
Reheating tip: Place in bowl, add about 1/2 tbsp of chicken broth, cover and heat in microwave in a covered bowl for about 20 seconds, stir well & serve (if you're taking it right out of the freezer, heat it for 20 seconds to defrost before adding the chicken broth and then follow the reheating instructions above). Quinoa will suck up any liquid you give it, so adding some before reheating will make it nice and moist. Use more or less broth depending on how dry/soupy your child likes it.