Carrot, Tomato and Spinach Quinoa

Josh's tomatoes became ripe enough to pick from the garden, finally! I wanted to make a new recipe to showcase the splendid flavor of ripe tomatoes, so I decided to make "Carrot, Tomato and Spinach Quinoa," from allrecipes.com. 

I changed the recipe just slightly and added a quick mix-in at the end. I toasted up some pine nuts (probably 1/4 a cup or so) and stirred them in at the very end, after I wilted the spinach into the mixture. I added two cloves of chopped garlic and a whole onion since I love onions. Instead of the bouillon and water, I used  organic chicken broth. Also, I did not split up the boiling/simmering time. I just threw the onions, garlic and carrots in the pot, toasted the quinoa and then added the chicken broth, brought it up to a boil and lowered it to a simmer for 20 minutes. I seasoned mine with plenty of salt and pepper while I sauteed the veggies and then again at the end to taste.

Overall, I am very thrilled with how this recipe turned out because it was hearty and healthy! It was really simple to make and took no time at all to cook! Plus, it really filled me up, which is a hard to do!

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons olive oil 1/2 onion, chopped 1 cup quinoa 2 cups water 2 tablespoons vegetarian chicken -flavored bouillon granules

1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon thyme 1 carrot, chopped 1 tomato, chopped 1 cup baby spinach

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat; cook and stir the onion in the hot oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat, stir in quinoa, and toast, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in the water, bouillon granules, black pepper, and thyme; raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.
2.	Stir in the carrots. Cover and simmer until all water is absorbed, about 10 more minutes. Turn off the heat, add the tomatoes and spinach, and stir until the spinach is wilted and the tomatoes have given off their moisture, about 2 minutes.

I served this Carrot, Tomato and Spinach Quinoa with Trader Joe's Chicken Mango Sausage, but you could certainly eat it all by itself! Enjoy!